Backyard Gardening Tips

Have you ever thought of the results of your actions? If you’ve gotten into an analytical, philosophical, or educational frame of mind, you may have considered the many aspects of using natural insecticides.

You could say, “Big deal, so they help nature. How does that benefit me?” Well, it’s like a domino effect. You line them carefully in a row, touch one, and that one touches another and so on. Life is that way when it comes to nature. Your choices about everything in life can have a domino effect in many ways.

So, who benefits from natural insecticides? Other insects can benefit if you use them wisely. The beneficial insects would thrive without the pesky insect predators, which means that your garden benefits. That, in turn, helps you get more usable vegetables, herbs, and fruits. This benefits your family. Using the natural resources of the natural insecticides benefits our eco-system and our economy, which also benefits your family.

Other ways the use of natural insecticides can benefit your family is through the different jobs provided. Growth of things that produce natural insecticides can provide an income. There are jobs that study natural insecticides like scientific jobs, entomologists, chemists, teachers and instructors.

People get jobs in warehouses connected to the plant farms that grow ingredients for natural insecticides. Plant nurseries offer jobs as a result of the use of natural insecticides. If their nurseries thrive because of the use of the insecticides, it means sales increase, which means more employees are needed.

People who write books, articles, newspaper stories, farm reports, and newsletters benefit from natural insecticides. Health stores that sell herbs can benefit from natural insecticides since herbs can be used to create them. Grocery stores benefit from the sales of those herbs, which helps ensure the job of the person put in charge of their care. People involved in importing goods benefit from natural insecticides. Jobs that are connected to their shipping and sales, driving the transport vehicles, and so on, are some of the benefits of natural insecticides. Those who study nature, insects, plants, chemicals, animal health, and medicine to counteract the harmful effects of those used unwisely benefit from natural insecticides.

The jobs created are sometimes a direct result and sometimes an indirect result. But the fact exists that a positive impact is created in so many ways, and it is hard to pinpoint them all. One action, one person, one positive choice can make a difference. Sometimes it is a big difference all at once, and sometimes it is a difference that must be seen as a result of several things combined.

Sure there is a downside to using natural insecticides. There’s a downside to eating too much ice cream, too, but if you get sick once from it you can learn to be more cautious in the future. Sometimes it’s a matter of learning from experience; sometimes it’s a matter of gathering useful information before you make a mistake. But everything has a positive side and a negative side, and so does the use of natural insecticide. Education, awareness, and research… that’s the key to a positive future in this field.

Image via WikipediaWould you like to cut down on the areas you would normally have to mow grass? You could plant roses as a groundcover. This will produce an effect that is quite pleasing to the eye. Roses as a groundcover won’t kill underlying weeds, therefore you will still need to prepare your ground to cut down on the chances of weeds growing underneath your groundcover.

They can grow out as wide as six feet and upwards as high as 2 feet. This may help you decide how many plants you’ll want to buy for adequate coverage.

The image of a rose plant is usually that of a rosebush, not as a groundcover. This is a fairly new concept. The beauty of it, of course, is more than just the benefit of coverage, but also that of gracing your yard with the ever-popular rose.
Why use a groundcover at all? It helps prevent erosion on banks, grows low, and covers a wide area. The groundcover rose is not to be misinterpreted as a ground-hugger.

It’s best to choose for repeated blooming and disease resistance. Pruning may still be necessary, depending on the effect you desire. Of course, to keep the groundcover looking its best, monitor for dead stems.

Some available choices for groundcover roses are: Flower Carpet Coral, Flower Carpet Appleblossom, The Fairy, Baby Blanket, Red, White, or Pink Meidiland, Foxy, My Rosy Carpet, and Sea Foam.

If you want strong fragrance, be sure to check on that feature before you purchase your groundcover rose. Many modern roses are simply not bred for a strong fragrance, but more so for your viewing pleasure.

Groundcover roses do tend to be quite thorny. Thorns for a true rose grower are but a minor inconvenience. If you’ll need access to the areas or plants nearby, you’d do well to consider placement so you aren’t continually fighting the abuse from being pricked and scratched. Weed removal is more of a challenge with this type of plant.

A particular favorite among groundcover roses seems to be the Flower Carpet Series. However, Rosa ‘Glacier Magic’ has a spectacular white flower. It is said to have glossy, large, self-cleaning flowers that are highly pest and disease resistant. The white blooms help the plant stand out and demand attention. It’s like adding a light to the darkness of a non-blooming groundcover!

Some groundcover roses don’t resemble your traditional expected vision of a rose. For example, the Rosa ‘Nearly Wild’ has fewer petals and opens wide. It’s a colorful vision that is still a joy to own.

When deciding where to plant your groundcover roses, remember to avoid areas where foot traffic would be a hindrance or vice versa. Consider whether you’ll need to drag a water hose out to the area. If so, you may want to purchase a soaker hose, and make sure it will be the proper length. If you’ll have a big area to maintain or if your groundcover will be spread out to include various areas of your yard, the purchase of a wheelbarrow could be an asset. Gloves that protect against thorns may be needed. Such items as a hoe for weeding, clippers for pruning, and knee pads could be necessary purchases.

Image by sharkbubbled via FlickrAnts can be a nuisance, a threat to those who are allergic to ant bites, and have been known as killers.  It wouldn’t seem possible of such a tiny creature, but their biggest defense seems to be their numbers.  They multiply rapidly, easily, and quickly.  They can take over a yard if left to themselves.  A small child who accidentally falls into a fire ant bed and becomes quickly covered in them will be in misery and pain, sometimes having to be rushed to an emergency room.  A dying animal can be overtaken by them and used as a food source.

Ants eat a wide variety of things.  They’re not nearly as picky as we humans when it comes to their dinner choices.  They don’t even need silverware!  They can carry large weights in comparison to their body sizes.

It’s human nature to immediately grab a can of ant spray or a bag of granules and begin walking the yard to search for their colonies.  If you’ve lived in places like Texas and Louisiana, you know that ant beds can become huge.  The fire ants are aggressive and dangerous.  It’s much better to control an infestation than to wake up one day and realize that your property now belongs more to the ants than to you.

Sometimes insects can become immune to the chemicals sold on the market.  Ant bait and ant poisons can lose their effectiveness due to overuse and years of enduring the same poisons.  The chemicals can also cause harm to other insects and animals.  If you don’t store them properly, your children could become poisoned by them.

While it’s true that many natural insecticides can be dangerous as well, they are safer for our environment and safer overall than chemical poisons, especially if you know how to use, mix, and store them properly.

Natural or organic insecticides are those which come from natural resources.  Boric acid, which is a form of the mineral boron, is used on ant beds.  Sometimes it is mixed with other things like sugar and boiling water.  It can also be mixed as borax soap with sugar and water and is safe to use around pets and small children.  Many people sprinkle it along the entry points in their houses and apartments or campers.

Another natural insecticide to use as an ant control is cayenne pepper, made into a liquid and used as a spray.  You can grow your own pepper plants just for this purpose.  Hot peppers are also used to control or kill other insects.  Just make sure you don’t let your small child have access to your pepper plants.  Hot peppers can sometimes cause blisters when eaten.

Corn meal can be used as ant control; it’s a low-cost alternative to poisonous chemicals.  If you grow your own corn, you may even know how to make your own corn meal.  It’s a food the ants like to eat, but can’t digest.

There are many solutions for natural insecticides that can benefit your pocket book, your plants, and your environment.  It’s a way to treat insects that can help everyone win!

Image via WikipediaGenerally the location of your garden will be determined by many factors that cannot be changed such as the location of any buildings on the property. Aside from the obvious constraints that you will need to work with, you will also need to take other factors into consideration.

These factors will include the lay of the land, where the land is shaded or how much sun it gets during the day, the view from the rooms of the house, privacy factors and more.

Before the first plant goes into the garden you need to have a plan of what you want and what you want the garden to do for you in terms of display, privacy, shade etc.

Without a plan the garden won’t have a cohesive flow and that will show when the plants have matured.

You will also need to consider irrigation and drainage as these will determine how well you will be able to manage the soil and whether you will be able to supply the plants with the necessary nutrients over time.

Your decisions might even determine whether your plants will survive and as some plants can be quite expensive, you need to get your research right from the start.

You might even need to consider the proximity of the plants on your neighbors side of the fence as these can also affect the growth of your garden if they are shading your property from the sun, or their roots are taking the nutrition from your soil.

When buying plants, also consider their height when mature as a large tree blocking the view can actually devalue your property.

Once you have a good plan that is well thought out for the long term of your garden you will be ready to start digging, and that’s when the fun starts.

Have you decided to go all natural? All natural diet, all natural pet food, all natural medicines, natural insect control, and all natural gardening have become the wave of the present and future. Many people think something is new just because it hasn’t been in the spotlight. But natural alternatives have been around for years. They just didn’t receive their kudos because of the convenience people prefer from leading busy lives. Most have found, though, that convenience can be damaging to our environment.

Convenience has hurt our rivers and roadsides because of packaging being tossed away carelessly. Convenience has hurt our family time because of lost time preparing food, eating at the family dinner table, and gardening together. Convenience has hurt our ozone layer. This doesn’t mean convenience is bad; it is what you make it. If you allow anything to take over your life it can turn into a negative.

Natural insecticides take a little more effort to use if you make them yourself. They take a little more time because they can require multiple uses and degrade quicker. But the rewards you reap from preparing your own natural insecticides can be great. It will give you something to discuss with others at family reunions, club events, and when traveling. You can join people in discussions on the internet about organic gardening and natural insecticides. You can increase awareness of the benefits so that others are prompted to engage in the use of natural insecticides. You can help promote a healthier world, a healthier family life, ways to make the most out of your garden and landscaping. You can even save money by making your own natural insecticides.

There are rules to follow, of course, like mixing properly. If you mix the wrong ingredients you could either cause more harm or even be wasting your time if the items use cancel out each other’s effectiveness. You should understand how to use what you make, how much is safe, what plants or insects will be affected in a negative way so as not to harm the good ones, how to avoid foaming, how to store and for how long.

Prevention is always best. But because it isn’t always possible, taking safe alternatives to treatment is the next best thing. People have become disgusted with rising prices, so they decide they can do better if they just make their own products. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you don’t research and educate yourself, you could be doing more harm than good. Some mistakenly assume that natural means safe, and they neglect to learn about the effects and proper uses of natural insecticides.

Cooking is a way to kill harmful bacteria in some instances. But the heat from cooking can destroy the active ingredients of some of your homemade insecticides. Also, the water you use can destroy the effectiveness. If you have hard well water, there may be certain minerals that cause a problem. So, if you decide to make your own, know how to prepare them properly.