The Naturally Bug-Free Garden: Controlling Pest Insects without Chemicals

by Anna Hess

Overview

Are you sick and tired of pesky insects in your garden? Do you want to stay away from pesticides and harmful poisons that could be hazardous to your health and your garden? If you answered yes to both of those questions, The Naturally Bug-Free Garden has all the answers to your troubles.
This book will show you how to bring your garden ecosystem into balance so that beneficial insects and larger animals do the work of pest control for you.
Anna Hess has had seven years of experience growing all of her family’s vegetables. Here, she sums up all of her knowledge and expertise, teaching you many hands-on pest-control techniques, such as succession planting, choosing resistant plant varieties, and shielding plants with row covers. Paying attention to the nutritional needs of your vegetables can also deter pests, and the remaining insects are simple to handpick.
With Anna’s expertise, you too can grow beautiful, healthy, organic vegetables for you and your family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781632206305
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	03/10/2015
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	3.60(w) x 11.90(h) x 5.00(d)

About the Author

Anna Hess is a homesteader, writer, and blogger whose first book, The Weekend Homesteader, helped thousands of homesteaders-to-be find ways to fit their dreams into the hours leftover from a full-time job.

Table of Contents

Introduction vii

what is a naturally Bug-Free Garden? ix

Part 1 The Garden Ecosystem 1

Chapter 1 Identifying Your Bugs 3

Tyes of Invertebrates 4

Identification Resources 5

Chapter 2 Worst Garden Pests 9

Aphids 9

Cabbageworms 10

Corn Earworms 12

Cucumber Beetles 13

Cutworms 14

Grasshoppers 15

Japanese Beetles 15

Slugs 16

Squash Bugs 18

Squash Vine Borers 19

Tomoto and Tobacco Hornworms 19

Whiteflies 20

Other Bad Bugs 21

Chapter 3 The Good Bugs 23

Soil Workers 23

Invasive but Beneficial 26

Pollinators 28

Gardening with Beneficial in Texas 36

Predators 38

Attracting Predators with Weeds 45

Chapter 4 Helpers with Backbone 49

Mammals 49

Birds 52

Reptiles 53

Amphibians 57

Farm Animals 59

Scatching Up Codling Moths 64

Part 2 Controlling Pests 67

Chapter 5 Letting Nature Take its Course 69

Natural Plant Defenses 72

Chapter 6 Timing Planting to Bypass Bugs 74

Squash Vine Borers 74

Cicadas 76

Chapter 7 Helping Plants Resist Insects 80

Resistant Varieties 80

Row Covers 84

Companion Planting 86

Plant Nutrition 87

Chapter 8 Handpkicking 91

How to Pick Bugs 91

Picking by the calendar 92

Trap Crops 93

Chapter 9 Changing Your Mind-Set 96

Acknowledgments 97

Resources 99

Glossary 102

Abot the Author 110

Index 112