Pest Control Breakthrough in the never ending battle around home and garden

Since I am not only an avid gardener, but also much
concerned about the environment, I'm always looking for
safe methods to grow plants including pest control in home
and garden.

Think about pest control and how it works: We spray
chemicals on plants or pests and the bugs die or stop
reproducing because the chemicals are toxic to them.
Unfortunately, many of these products are also toxic to
humans and animals. Reading warning labels on pest control
products makes you wonder why anybody would want to risk
using them. Exposure to the fumes of these  products can
result in headaches, feelings of nausea and other
discomfort  Pesticide use can also results in chronic
illness such as allergies, in miscarriages, sterility,
cancer and even death.

We not only spray and fumigate in home and garden, we also
apply bug killing toxins on our pets and expose them and
ourselves non stop to a variety of chemicals to kill fleas,
ticks and more.

Over  the years, I have had some success with such Earth
friendly things as vinegar, diatomaceous earth, garlic,
cayenne pepper and Saver Soap in my never ending battle
with bugs that invade home and garden. My quest also led me
to pure essential oils which repel or kill bugs, yet are
actually healthful to people and their pets.

Experimentation lead to the discovery that if the oils are
used undiluted, they repel the pests, but if the oils are
mixed with water, they often become "insecticides". In
other words, if you like to repel insects from entering
your home, you can do that by putting a few drops of the
appropriate oil on your fingers or some other applicator
and then brush or spray the oil along the line of
demarcation such as a windowsill, a door jamb, or other
point of entry.

To kill or disable pests, mix a few drops of a specific oil
with water  in a spray bottle, shake frequently and aim at
the pests. For example, to discourage aphids and ants from
roses and other plants, generously spray infested plants
with the mix. While the pests will leave or fall off, there
is no harm done to the plant itself. (Best not to do that
in mid day when temperatures go above 100 degrees F.)

You can keep ticks, chiggers and fleas off yourself and
your pets when in the outdoors by using the appropriate
oils. Either spray on exposed areas or rub on cuffs around
neck, wrists and ankles. Avoid using oils near the eyes.
Should you get oils in the eyes, dilute with vegetable oil
- NOT with water. If an oil should be too strong for the
user, experiencing a slight discomfort, apply a little
vegetable oil to dilute. For your pets, you can put
recommended oils around the neck, legs and along the back,
but keep oils from around the eyes and other tender areas.

If an oil should be too strong for the user, apply a little
vegetable oil on the area to dilute.

The following oils have been used successfully in the
elimination of pests from home and garden:
ANTS: Peppermint, Spearmint
APHIDS: Cedarwood, Hyssop, Peppermint, Spearmint
BEETLES: Peppermint, Thyme
CATERPILLARS: Spearmint, Peppermint
CHIGGERS: Lavender, Lemongrass, Sage, Thyme
CUTWORM: Thyme, Sage
FLEAS: Peppermint, Lemongrass, Spearmint, Lavender
FLIES: Lavender, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage
GNATS: Patchouli, Spearmint
LICE: Cedarwood, Peppermint, Spearmint
MOSQUITOES: Lavender, Lemongrass
MOTHS: Cedarwood, Hyssop, Lavender, Peppermint, Spearmint
PLANT LICE : Peppermint, Spearmint
SLUGS: Cedarwood, Hyssop, Pine
SNAILS: Cedarwood: Pine, Patchouli
SPIDERS: Peppermint, Spearmint
TICKS: Lavender, Lemongrass, Sage, Thyme
WEEVILS: Cedarwood, Patchouli, Sandalwood

I like to add these cautions about essential oils: Not all
essential oils on the market are safe. Many are diluted
with harmful chemicals. Many essential oils are ineffective
due to the  way they are processed.  Please make sure that
you use safe, pure, properly distilled oils.


----------------------------------------------------
The author has a Home and Garden Decor business. She is
also an avid gardener with many years of experience and
likes to share her knowledge with others. Find great value
here
==> http://www.buyhomeandgardendecor.com/home.html
For more information on pure organic oils
==>  http://www.AZaroma.com
which offers a free report about the use of essential oils
==> http://www.essentialorganicoils.com/pet-health.html

 

Planning a Flower Garden - Things to Consider Before You Plant

One of the first things to consider in creating a flower
garden is the style of flower garden that you would like.
Another thing to consider is where it is going to be
placed, and what type of soil the flowers will need.

What kind of flower beds do you want? Are you going to have
color all year, or just at certain times of the year? These
questions need to be answered before the first plant is
placed in the ground.

If you decide to go for a small flower garden, then using
pencil and paper to create your design is fine. In the
design stage you will factor in such items as concrete or
mulch for walkways, brick for walls, seating, water
features or lighting or any other accessories you might
want to add to your new garden.

Considering Water, Light and Soil

With any gardening undertaking, a flower garden must have
its sufficient supply of water, light, and rich soil. To
begin your garden, select a sunny area, as flowers usually
requires 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight each day.

Are you going to water by hand or does your yard have
automatic sprinklers. If you are going to water by hand, is
the flower garden easily accessible to a water supply?

Planning for Color Year Round

In order to have constant color available, consider when
each flower blooms. Other things to consider include the
question of whether the garden and house complement each
other.

If you want flowers blooming throughout the year then you
will need to investigate what plants produce flowers in
different seasons. Then you will need to plan where you are
going to scatter these various flowers throughout the
garden so each area continually has color.

Preparing the Soil

A flower garden, just like any garden you wish to plant,
requires good quality soil that will meet the needs of the
plants you put in it. If your soil is rather poor and lacks
proper nutrients, there are many available fertilizers and
plant food available that you can add to the soil.

Planting the Flowers

You are now at the stage where you have designed your new
flower garden, installed your hardscaping, prepared the
ground, amended the soil and purchased your plants and
seeds. Since you already planned out the location where you
want to put each flower, all you have to do is follow your
plans. By planning in advance where you want to put each
kind of flower, you have tremendously simplified this last
job.

Enjoying the Results

Planning carefully and planting ahead of time, you will
have the garden filled with an array of flowers and color
for all of the year round.


----------------------------------------------------
Carol Stack has always enjoyed gardening. She lives with
her husband, children, dogs, and cats in the United States.
They have a large yard that they are continually trying to
keep looking good. Her website, http://www.howtogarden.info
covers lawn care, organic gardening, landscaping and more.

 

Garden Remodeling - Plan Early

Many homeowners are actually glad when winter arrives and
they can basically forget about yard work for several
months. This does not mean that they are not aware of the
shape their garden is in. Particularly when those garden
catalogs arrive in the mail, or when they open a Sunset
Magazine, the urge to remodel their yard comes over many.

While everything is covered with snow and the ground is
frozen it is actually a great time to start planning.
Landscaping takes some doing and homeowners who first
identify their goals usually achieve better results.

Define how much work and money you want to spend on your
project. Look what you have already, what you want to keep
and what you want to change. Be clear what is important to
you. Is it beautification, privacy, ease of maintenance?
Does outdoor entertaining play a big role in your life or
is food production you major goal? Another vital factor in
landscape planning is safety and convenience. It is
important that your paths and steps are lighted and lead
where you want them. If you consider all these points
before you start, you'll surely end up with the garden you
want.

Whether your garden encompasses an acre or is just a tiny
plot, certain considerations are the same.  With small
children or dogs, sturdy plants may have to be planted. If
sports are a popular activity, decide how to allot space.
Maybe you want to run the tracks for your model railroad
through a corner of the yard.  If you have a problem area
in your yard, how will upgrading it affect the rest of the
garden. Will adding a patio cut down on the lawn area? Will
trellises block your view?  Will planting  trees produce
too much shade where sun is wanted?

Learn what kind of materials are available and what you can
do with them. Wood, vinyl, brick, concrete and others all
have advantages and disadvantages. A wooden arbor blends in
more naturally with the surrounding plants, but a vinyl
arbor is practically maintenance free. Concrete is
relatively inexpensive and strong but also can easily crack
on shifting land.

Other guiding principles to consider are proportion,
balance, unity and variety.

Proportion. Choose plants and garden structures that are in
scale with the architectural lines of your house. Always
think ahead to the size the mature plant will have. An
8-foot poplar today could overpower a one-story house once
it reaches 80 feet while a lonely 6-foot bush would look
lost at the corner of a two-story structure.

Balance. We are talking of the balanced, not symmetric,
distribution of landscaping elements, which create the same
visual weight on either side of a center of interest. A
large tree on the right of the entryway, balanced by two
smaller trees on the left draws the eye to the focal point,
the front door, where a single tree would draw it away. The
'visual weight' does not have to be mass. It can also be
form, color or point of interest.

Unity. An indiscriminate assembly of unrelated plants and
structures creates a chaotic overall picture. Unifying the
various landscaping materials is essential for creating a
pleasing landscape. By repeating common garden elements, a
sense that everything belongs together will be achieved.
Grouping a certain plant together next to the patio edge
and planting a few more along the path, followed by another
group at the end, ties one area of the garden with another.
Avoid planting too many distinctive areas; it makes it
harder to achieve unity.

Variety. This  is a welcome element in landscaping, it
provides surprise. If you plan to have predominately
conventional plants, add something exotic, or plant a
purple leafed tree in a predominantly green color planting
scheme.

Apart from these principals you have to consider what style
of garden you want. Formal, rustic, native, oriental,
shade, dry. Your decision about a garden style determines
many things. The kind of plants to buy, what structures to
add, gates, fences, walk, etc. etc.

Climate is one of the most significant factors to weigh.
How does the path of the sun throughout the year affect
where you will plant what. Where will heat be trapped,
where will the wind need to be controlled. Don't forget the
seasons. With careful planning it is possible to increase
the number of days you can enjoy outdoors.

So many things to consider, so much to learn. That's why I
say start early, while you have no yard work. Get those
books about landscaping. Study what you need to know. Check
out what materials are available.   Go talk to a landscape
specialist while he is not yet busy. When those first fine
spring days come you will be ready to start your project
and have it done to enjoy all summer.


----------------------------------------------------
The author has a Home and Garden Decor business where she
makes sure that her customers get the best deal as well as
expert advice. She is also an avid gardener with many years
of experience and likes to share her knowledge with others.
http://www.buyhomeandgardendecor.com/home.html
Planters and plant stands add interest to your garden  as
well.
http://www.buyhomeandgardendecor.com/planters_and_plant_stan
ds.html

 

Garden Insects - Not All Are Pests

There are gardeners who think that every insect they see is
a pest and needs to be destroyed as quickly as possible,
when in reality there are some insects that actually help
your garden. They catch and eat any number of their harmful
cousins. To know which ones are beneficial will help you
decide which insects to eliminate and which ones to welcome.

It is important to realize that there will always be some
harmful insects in your garden, the key is to keep them
under control. Three insects that can help you to do this
are praying mantis, ladybugs and lacewings.They are
ferocious hunters and most beneficial to have around.

Lacewing larvae can eat up to 60 aphids in an hour. They
also eat whiteflies, mites, the eggs of caterpillars and a
variety of other small pests.

Ladybugs and their larvae consume up to 40 aphids per hour.
They also devour spider mites, beetle grubs, whiteflies and
other soft bodied insects.

Praying mantis are fierce predators that will eat a wide
variety of pests.

Apart from these three,  there  are other beneficial
insects which are common and can  help destroy garden pests.

A variety of  predator mites feed on harmful spider mites
and thrips without harming plants themselves.

Parasitic nematodes are microscopic worms in the soil that
eat their way into numerous soil dwelling pests including
grubs, sod webworms, carpenter worms, weevils and destroy
them.

Different kinds of wasps are very effective when it comes
to insect control. The Trichogramma wasps deposit their
larvae into the eggs of caterpillars, from where they eat
their way out, destroying the eggs. The Aphytis melinus,
another  tiny parasitic wasp attacks and kills red scale
and Metaphycus helvolus attacks black scale.

Several species of small wasps attack whiteflies in their
immature stages. Many other tiny wasps help to control
flies when they lay their eggs in the pupae of  several
types of them, including houseflies.

Most of these beneficial insects can be bought from
nurseries and garden supply stores for a few dollars. It is
best to release them in the evening because daylight
encourages flight. Be aware that without access to prey,
water and shelter they will fly away. It is necessary to
provide the right environment by growing many kinds of
plants in your garden. In return these 'good' insects will
help your garden to stay healthy and reduce the need to use
chemical pesticides.


----------------------------------------------------
The author has a Home and Garden Decor business where she
makes sure that her customers get the best deal as well as
expert advice. She is also an avid gardener with many years
of experience and likes to share her knowledge with others.
http://www.buyhomeandgardendecor.com/home.html