Nature is a superstore filled with green and healthy options to sustain-life. This includes pest management when growing gardens.
Let’s face it…we grow our produce, flowers, and foliage for us, not them. And frankly, I don’t take issue with sharing a few sprigs here or there, but when the rodents and pests steal forty dollars-worth of peonies roots as well as a plethora of bulbs hours after planting them, I’m less inclined to love the little fellas. That said, I don’t want to poison them either nor myself for that matter.
This compelled me to do a bit of digging regarding how I might naturally prevent the ravaging of my newborn blossoms before they actually settled in. And what I came up with would have surely made onlookers raise a few eyebrows, given any would have strolled on into my garden area amid my active planting. Then, had they continued to observe me, they might have thought I was seasoning a steak in each of my raised garden boxes.
I spent the day prior collecting shells from the shoreline in which I live. Certainly those who observed me scooping them into my very large bag thought nothing of my behavior…unaware of why I actually was collecting them nor that every last one would soon be purposely hammered into shards. But that was, indeed, their fate. I placed a single handful into each hole then covered them (ever so slightly) with a layer of dirt. The root or bulb was lowered in next, only to be hidden by a thick layer of dirt. The rest of the shells were then sprinkled over the top. These would deter digging. Watering each box came next. Then the funny part…
I took used coffee grounds and dumped them into each box. If that wasn’t enough, I sprinkled garlic powder and chili powder around every hole. I couldn’t stop chuckling to myself as I did so, thinking “Who in the world could have imagined this?” But apparently many. Gardeners swear by the odor of coffee grounds to deter critters from feasting just as they do garlic and chili powder to dissuade them from burrowing.
I haven’t found a single hole in my garden boxes since. There are many other all-natural remedies that will spare the lives of Mother Nature’s finest. Not only will doing a bit of Googling help in this regard but it will save you money too. Everything that I needed, I found in my pantry already and I got a giggle out of the novelty of these alternative solutions to boot.
So if you are so inclined, I suggest you join me in doing a bit of digging prior to beginning any actual digging this planting season. You will be surprised at how much you will find and learn. To that same end, you will also feel better about what you grow too.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: Geo Darwin on Unsplash