VeggieF n
Possible ways to avoid pests
Weeds
​
To avoid weeds in your garden you have to weed your garden around once a week. There are a few ways in which you can avoid weeds taking over your vegetable garden.
​
-
You can lay mulch around your plants. The mulch makes it impossible for the weeds to grow as the weeds cannot see sunlight and that makes it impossible for them to grow.​​
​
-
​If you see weeds, try to pull them out of the soil together with the roots. To get the roots together with the plant out of the soil it is easier when the soil is wet as then the soil is looser.
​
-
Weeds take large amounts of moisture and nutrients out of the soil, therefore it is important that you get rid of them.
​
-
It is easier and better if you remove the weeds from your garden when they are still very young and tender. When they are young they do not take large amounts of moisture and nutrients.
​
-
To get your weeds out of the soil you can dig into the soil with a digging fork to loosen the soil. This will make it easier to get rid of the weeds as they are now separated from the soil.
​
-
When chopping off the heads of the weeds the weeds are unable to seed. This has to be done once a week. IF they cannot produce seeds, you avoid more weeds to come in your vegetable garden.
​
Snails & Slugs
To avoid snails from eating from your vegetable garden:
​
-
You could lay cocoa shells around the plant as snails/slugs do not like the feel of cocoa shells
​
-
You could lay pieces of shell around the plant as snails/slugs do not like the sharpness of them
​
-
You could make a beer trap. Dig a hole in the ground as deep and big as a glass, fill the glass with beer. The snails are attracted to the beer and fall inside the glass and drown
​
-
A possible organic pesticide against snails/slugs is 'Escar-Go tegen slakken' by ECOstyle. You spread the blue grains around your plant and the snails will stay away
​
Birds​
​
Birds really like to eat from your vegetable garden. To prevent them from eating from your vegetable garden you could: ​
​
-
Cast a net above your garden. By using a net, the birds are unable to eat your fruit/plants.
​
-
Make a scarecrow to keep the birds away.
​
-
Shinny objects also keep birds away such as cd’s, aluminum foil. Rotate your avoiding methods because eventually they will get used to them and ignore your avoiding methods.
​
But have a think before banning the birds out of your garden as that they eat the snails, slugs, caterpillars and other animals that can be harmful for your vegetable garden.
Caterpillars
​
Caterpillars are very difficult to avoid and fight against. Caterpillars are larvae from butterflies and moths. The butterflies and moths lay eggs on leaves of a specific plant of what they know the caterpillars will eat. The caterpillars will only eat the plant on which they are born. When the caterpillars are on your plant it is very difficult to get rid of them,
​
To avoid caterpillars or get rid of them you could:
​
-
Take them off your plant when you see them and kill them
​
-
Cover your plants with horticultural fleece so that the butterfiles and moths cannot lay their eggs on the plant.
​
-
Cover your plants with fine mesh for the same reason as above
Mildew
​
Mildew develops on a lot of plants and takes away the nutrients which makes the plant become weaker. It affects both the leaves and the stem of the plant and develops mostly in wet seasons but also when it is moist and warm. Therefore, mildew can develop on a wide range of plants in both moist and warm conditions. It also develops when the plant has water stress (too much water). Mildew is mostly found on plants on the ground and can be tranfered to other plants by the wind.
​
To get rid of mildew you could:
​
-
Remove the affected leaves and burn them or throw them in the garbage bin. Do not throw them on the compost pile because they will affect where they land
​
-
Furthermore, there are no other real ways to avoid mildew
​
