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 Growing A Healthy Garden
Our Water - Our World Fact Sheet (www.ourwaterourworld.org)
A healthy garden filled with a wide variety of flowering plants will be more resistant to significant pest damage. A healthy, diverse garden will also attract beneficial creatures, such as dragonflies, ladybugs, lacewings, syrphid flies, and "mini wasps," which feed on pests.
Attracting and Keeping Beneficial Insects
• Reduce or eliminate the use of broad-spectrum pesticides in your garden. Bumble bees and other beneficial insects are often far more sensitive to pesticides than the pests you might be trying to kill. Once pesticides eliminate the beneficial insects, pests are free to multiply without a natural check. As pest populations rise, you may be tempted to spray more frequently, but pesticides leave genetically resistant strains of pests to breed, creating an increasingly resistant pest population. The harder it becomes to kill the pest, the more you'll need to spray and the fewer natural enemies you'll have to help you out.
• Provide food and water for the adult forms of beneficial insects. Although many beneficial insects perform their pest control services only during an immature stage, the adult stage feeds on nectar and pollen. You can attract and keep a wide variety of beneficial insects in your garden by including flowering plants that are rich in pollen and nectar. Some adult beneficial insects also need water from dew, irrigation, or other sources to sustain them during dry periods.
Choosing the Right Plant
One of the most important preventive steps in the pest management process is selecting appropriate plants for a particular location. Usually we choose plants for their beauty, but to minimize pest problems, consider other plant characteristics and the site where it will grow. It's easier to plant a compatible species for your site than to try to alter the growing conditions.
• Understand the soil conditions in your yard. Soil conditions must match the requirements of your plants. For example, some plants are well adapted to salty or compacted soil or soil with poor drainage.
• Know the sun and shade characteristics of your garden. Consider times of day and different seasons.
• Know that watering requirements differ depending upon the soil and plant type.
• Select pest- and disease-resistant plants.
• Don't plant invasive species (some are available as garden plants), and remove those growing on your property
• Plant a diversity of species. Include native plants. This ensures that a single pest problem will not devastate your entire landscape.
• To attract and keep beneficial insects, include "insectary" plants in your landscape (see below).
• You can get help in choosing the right plants from your local nursery.
Planting and Caring for Your Plants
Start your plants out right by choosing healthy specimens and planting them properly. Keep your plants healthy by correctly watering, pruning, and fertilizing them (if needed).
• Before you buy a plant, ask to examine the roots. Do not buy plants with roots that are kinked or circling the container. Also check the "root crown," the region where the roots meet the stem or trunk. Don't buy the plant if that area is soft, rotten, or deformed.
• Don't pile soil around the plant any higher than the root crown. Don't plant in a depression that will allow water to wash soil down around the stem or trunk and cover the root crown. A continually moist root crown can cause rot.
• Since a young plant doesn't have an extensive root system, it can dry out quickly. Water thoroughly and keep the soil moist, but don't drown the plant.
• Cover bare soil with mulch. Mulch conserves soil moisture so plants don't dry out as quickly. A four-inch layer of mulch will prevent most annual weeds from growing, and any weeds that do sprout can be pulled out more easily.
• Use a mulch of leaves, bark, or composted manure and/or garden waste to provide organic matter to the soil and a slow, steady flow of nutrients to plants.
• Use organic fertilizers only if soil testing indicates a specific deficiency.
• Different plants require different kinds of pruning (if they need it at all). Learn how and when to prune your plants, and do so judiciously. Severe pruning can damage the plant and encourage pests and diseases.
Insectary Plants
The flowers on these and many other plants have nectar and pollen that are accessible to beneficial insects.
Aster (Aster)
Baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii)
Calendula (Calendula)
Calif. lilac (Ceanothus)
Calif. poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Chervil (Anthriscus cerefolium)
Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum)
Coriander (Coriander sativum)
Cosmos (Cosmos)
Coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana)
Fleabane (Erigeron)
Holly-leaved cherry (Prunus ilicifolia)
Monkey flower(Mimulus)
Native buckwheat (Eriogonum)
Pincushion flower (Scabiosa)
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Rudbeckia (Rudbeckia)
Sunflower (Helianthus)
Sweet alyssum* (Lobularia maritima)
Tidy-tips (Layia platyglossa)
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
Yarrow (Achillea)
Zinnia (Zinnia)
*Do not plant on or near coastal bluffs. Can be invasive.
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