Common Pests In The Garden #5

1.Aphids

These creatures are incredibly common and are found in almost every garden or allotment setting. They are typically green but may also be black or pink depending on the variety of aphid. Reproduction happens very quickly and you can find yourself struggling to keep up with them if you don't deal with the issue very early. They consume the sap of plants and can cause it to wither and die back when they amass in large numbers. This video on my Youtube channel will show you an easy way to get rid of them.

2.Cats

Believe it or not, this beloved household pet can indeed become a nuisance in some gardens. I myself have suffered from their digging and pawing at my plants and lost quite a number of them because of it. You can try to attack a cats sense of smell by having plants such as Rosemary, Lavender & Thyme potted or planted nearby to deter them. This will decrease the chance of them ruining your vegetable plot or using the soft garden bed as a litter box which is not good either.

3.Birds

For those of you who know me personally this may be somewhat ironic since I am a big fan of birds and enjoy their presence. However some birds can also be pests because they can eat away at the seeds that some of your plants produce and can unintentionally cause extra damage to the crop in the process. They can also target fruit producing crops which allows them to enjoy it before you even have a chance to pick it. I made an article about how to keep birds away from your crops here.

4.Slugs & Snails

Another very common set of pests that are so well known I hardly need to say more. There are various ways to tackle them such as using slug & snail pellets, beer traps, using pieces of rock salt, using copper tape around your containers since it gives them an electric shock or removing potential shelters for them that may be in the dark corners of your plot such as broken pottery, buckets, large stones etc. If you have a pond with frogs, they can be handy at keeping the slug population lower since they eat them.

5.Spider Mites

These pests are rather small and create lots of webs all over your plants if you don't notice or tackle them early. They are arachnids making them related to spiders, scorpions and ticks. I had a number of them attack two of my cucumber plants in 2018 that was growing on my balcony. Unfortunately I noticed them far too late and they ended up killing a large portion of the plant. The good news is that I managed to harvest those cucumbers before that happened. Insecticidal soap is a good choice to get rid of them. Spraying neem oil is also another option that you can use individually or after using the insecticidal soap. It will eventually kill the spider mites.

These are a small handful of common pests that growers and gardeners encounter, I hope you may have learned something and benefited! Don't forget to check out my channel for gardening related videos. My Youtube Channel