Welcome one and all to my Butterfly and Hummingbird garden. Yes, I know it's winter -- and in my little corner of the world, Ole Man Winter has indeed arrived. My trees, flowers, shrubs, and even our little bird feeder roofs are now covered with a fluffy blanket of bright white snow. My plants are no doubt settling in for a nice long winter of "doing their thing" underground beneath that cozy little blanket, just as they do every winter.
Those pesky aphids, slugs, mealy bugs, grasshoppers, and various other unwanted creepy-crawlers not kept in control can quickly make "tossed green salads" of some of my lush green foliage if I don't keep right on top of them. There are, however, some safe methods to help control--or totally eliminate--these noxious fellows from our gardens.
To learn about some of these methods, I invite you to read the following enlightening article written by my "special" guest contributor.
Issaquah, Washington is home to thousands of people, many of whom did not grow up in this area. I grew up next door to a cherry orchard in Eastern Washington, where I watched small planes dump huge sprays of chemicals over the orchards.
Now, after seeing many of the natural areas of King County disappear, I am committed to protecting what is left as much as I can.
We can all do our part to achieve this goal through organic, sustainable maintenance and installation practices in our own gardens. The best methods for all of us to follow are found in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
The IPM approach is similar to troubleshooting any problem. Start with the most common ailment and the simplest solution. Follow these four steps:
1. Implement cultural controls.
Know your soils, drainage, and exposure. Make sure you have the right plant in the right place.
To choose the right plants, we need to understand our basic soil type. Keep in mind that each yard may have more than one type of soil.
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