Avoid Using Toxins in the Garden: Reduce Pests the Organic Way.

First thing every morning, check your plants for bugs, damage or other signs of ill health, including circular spots or rings on leaves, spots on fruit, wilting or discolored foliage and stems, and slimy or decaying roots. Remove damaged leaves or branches.

* Plant different species side-by-side, and a few different types of the same species in your garden. This sort of diversity provides many benefits. It will keep unwanted insects and fungus from destroying all of one sort of plant, say your tomatoes for example, and the variety will attract beneficial insects. Some plants also promote the health of others: growing carrots and leeks will drive away both the carrot fly and the leek moth, while tomatoes will keep asparagus beetles from your asparagus.

* Reduce the chance of late blight destroying your tomatoes, by planting a variety of types of tomatoes from seed, or get the seedlings from a local grower or nursery. If late blight occurs in a small nursery it’s relatively easy to isolate it before it has a chance to spread.

* Wash off aphid infestations with a strong blast from the hose.

* Use diatomaceous earth which has sharp edges that kill insects when sprinkled around plants in need of protection.

* Employ pheromone traps against peach twig borers, which can kill perennials, shrubs and trees, against codling moths which infest apple trees.

* Install wire mesh around tomatoes and other plants to deter critters.

These are all low cost solutions to common pest problems.