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By Donna LaPre Special to the Rappahannock News
Well, this column was supposed to be about fertilizers and cover crops, but spring garden madness pushed that column from April ahead ‘till late summer. More timely now, as many people are planting or getting ready to plant their gardens, is a subject which probably drives people mad: insects!
It has never felt right to me to use pesticides or to intentionally kill a bug. Sure, Fve lost a few plantings to insect damage, but not often. Each year I've learned to identify the garden insects (there are hundreds) and to observe the conditions which cause stress for certain plants. Knowledge of plant/insect relationships, prevention through planting healthy plants at the correct time, using row cover for young seedlings and a spritz of garlic spray to deter bugs and cabbage moths goes a long way to keep problems in check.
The best long-term solution for insect control though, comes quite simply and naturally in the form of plants.
For a garden to be truly healthy, balanced and environmentally sound, it needs insects, the creatures which have co-evolved with plants for millions of years. Insects range, in our perspective, from the good, the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. The typical gardening approach of removing all the native vegetation and planting food or flowers solely for human use creates an unbalanced ecosystem.
Worse, sprays designed to kill insects, whether they are synthetic chemical or organic biological types kill beneficials as well as the insects deemed pests. This leaves no prey for feeding the beneficials, while pests, over time, genetically evolve to become immune to the pesticides.
When we garden, we are mostly inserting “foreign” plant collections into established ecosystems, ones which have been functioning already without our help and improvements! By planting to provide nectar and shelter for bugs, we can repair damage to the natural balance and go a step further to aid nature in doing its miraculous job;
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