3 Tips for Preventing Garden Pests beginning in Fall



Image: Wikimedia Commons

 If there’s one thing I cannot stand it’s people and pests going into my vegetable garden uninvited and doing as they please whether picking a vegetable that’s not ripe or munching on my plants. While I can talk to people, some of them require more than one polite talking to, there is no reasoning with garden pests. When it comes to dealing with pests, often called the “bad bugs,” I go at them pretty hard with a few tricks I’ve learned over the years starting with prevention in the fall.

Bad Bug Prevention: Fall To Do List

Tip #1: Weed the Garden

I know, I know, it’s fall and you’re more concerned with raking leaves than weeding the garden. Trust me, if you pull whatever weeds remain in your garden now, you’ll help prevent the bad bugs from invading in spring by taking their shelter away. You’ll also be taking away a convenient food source once spring rolls around and insects are hungry.

Tip #2: Remove all Plant Debris

That’s right, by simply removing all the dead annuals in the garden in fall, you can prevent garden pests in spring and summer. Many bad bugs will lay their eggs or borrow under piles of garden debris to stay protected from winter’s cold temperatures and harsh weather. By removing these make shift homes, bad bugs will move on and find another place to live.

Tip #3: Till the Soil

Tilling the soil in your garden in mid to late fall goes a long way towards helping to prevent garden pests. The tilling motion aids in digging up and exposing bad bugs, their eggs and larvae to harsh winter conditions which kills them off. Some of them may even be killed by the actual tilling.

Which “bad bugs” called your vegetable garden home this year?