Home and Living

Imagine your summer garden for just a moment. Think about the beautiful flowers, the full, green hostas, the perfect butterfly bushes, the tasty summer vegetables, and the bugs that keep eating everything you plant. Bugs? This is the single most common problem home gardeners face during the spring and summer growing season. There are so many terrible little pests that may decide to feed on your garden; it can be difficult to know which pests you have and how to kill the pests so your garden will have the look you desire.

Diagnosing your pest problem is the first step to taking back your garden. While many lawn and garden companies offer a free pest analysis, the cost of the analysis is often dependent upon your willingness to sign a long term, expensive contract with the company, so working with a lawn and garden company to deal with your little pest problem may not be the best idea in the world. However, if you feel uncomfortable with the research or you just don’t think you can handle killing those tiny little creatures who are destroying your perfect garden world, perhaps a lawn and garden company is the best step. If nothing else, you will get the peace of mind from seeing that someone is taking care of the problem for you. If, however, you decide to go it alone, there are several steps you need to take in diagnosing your lawn’s pest problem.

One of the first things you must do in this long process is decide what kinds of problems you are experiencing in your garden. Are there holes in the plants? Are particular plants dying back without a good reason? Do you have flying insects when you go out to work in your garden? Understanding the answers to these questions will help you to get a good handle on what’s going on with your garden area.

Once you’ve identified your primary results from the pest problem, the next step in the process is to start thinking about what kinds of pests may live in your area, and may be invading your garden. There are a number of ways to do this, but one of the first is to do a bit of regional research. Your local department of conservation office may be able to help in this regard, as may your local library or some type of regional pest information website. Remember that pests vary by location and region, so just because your sister’s hosta was turning brown and dying back because of one particular insect variety a hundred miles away from your home, the chances are quite good that you have a very different kind of pest problem all together.

When you have completed your research, it’s time to do a bit more detective work in the garden area. Get down on your hands and knees. Dig in the dirt in and around your plants. See what kinds of insects are living in your garden. Physically seeing the insects will better help you to identify the, which will help you to treat them better. Once you figure out what they are, you are ready to find out what kills them to save your garden. If, however, you can’t figure out what they are, there are a number of companies who will allow you to send them insect samples, and, for a fee, they will help you diagnose your garden problem, putting you on the path to success.

There are several fairly common garden pests with fairly common remedies. Aphids are terrible on your garden. These tiny creatures will, quite literally, eat your entire garden, and there are a few good ways to get rid of them. First, your lawn and garden store probably carries chemicals that will help you deal with the problem. However, releasing ladybugs into your garden will take care of the problem quite quickly. Slugs are other fairly common garden pests, and some careful clean up and chemical treatment is the best way to get rid of these little guys.

Garden pests are a hassle, but doing your research will help you to diagnose the problem and get rid of it so you can begin enjoying your garden again.