Organic Pest Control By Companion Planting

Organic pest control can backfire on you. Organic gardeners are often advised to spray garlic water or soapy water on their plants to kill pests. But you might find yourself fighting a losing battle.

One of the keys to organic gardening is to let nature take its course. If you spray an organic chemical like garlic into your garden, you are upsetting the balance of nature by discouraging 'good' bugs as well as 'bad' bugs.

You can encourage a good balance of insects in your garden by choosing the right plants. Here are some that I will be trying next year:

Onions: Instead of planting your onions in a row by themselves, intersperse them with your other plants. They will keep some insects away. Don't plant them near your beans, though!

Garlic: The same goes with garlic, another pungent bulb - specifically, it repels Japanese Beetles, which like to eat just about everything.

Marigolds: These flowers go well with Potatos and tomatoes, and also repel asparagus beetles and bean beetles.

Mint: A nice herb, it is also a good companion plant to protect cabbage. It attracts beetles and other predators.

Anise: this licorice flavored herb repels aphids. Anise hyssop repels cabbage moths.

Asparagus: plant asparagus among your tomatoes.

Fennel, yarrow, and other plants with small flowers attract tiny wasps, good predators to have around.

Other methods: Trap the pests. For example, plant collards around your cabbage. Pests will gather on the collards instead of the cabbage - all you have to do is pull the collards and throw them out. Likewise, nasturtiums attract aphids.

Poison them: Larkspur and 4 O'Clocks will attract Japanese beetles and kill them. Use caution with this method - you might attract Japanese beetles who wouldn't otherwise come to your garden.

How does this work?

This is all a function of evolution. Some plants have developed defenses against predators. One way they do this is by producing chemicals that bugs and animals don't like. You might be familiar with a couple: caffeine and nicotine.

Other plants have features that attract certain bugs or birds which prey on the bugs that prey on your garden. The plants usually get some benefit from this - pollination, seed distribution, or protection from predators.

I'm trying to stick with plants that I can eat or otherwise use. There are lots of other plants that are good for your garden. For more information you might try this page at grinningplanet.com or try the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.

Don't reject the other methods of pest control, either. I still plan on spending time in my garden next year getting rid of pests the old fashioned way: picking them off.