Now that Spring is here and we are all out in the garden more there are a few things you can do to help your plants out.

I try to keep our garden a messy jungle of veggies and flowers, I don’t tend to plant in lovely neat rows, I just dot things everywhere all mixed up in the hope that it will confuse any unwelcome bugs, hopefully if they do turn up then the predator will turn up as well, otherwise we have chooks and ducks on hand as well as essential oils to help us out.

Here are some fun ideas that really work…

Slugs and Snails

To deter slugs and snails spread eggshells and of course coffee grounds.

Also use jars filled half way with beer or dishwash and buried to the rim.

Cedarwood, Purify and the Fir oils are the best essential oils for keeping snails off of your plants.

Apply diluted oil in a ring around plants where slugs and snails like to visit. Refresh as needed.

Companion planting to confuse bugs. plant garlic chives, marigolds, leeks amongst the plants.

Unwelcome Bugs

Spray with essential oils, to create a broad-spectrum all-natural insect repellent, mix equal parts of rosemary, peppermint, thyme, and clove oils (about 10 drops of each) in a spray bottle filled with water. Remember to shake well before each use.

Apply anywhere you want to get rid of skittering, creeping, crawling, or flying pests, the bonus is your veges will thrive on it too, our tomatoes love their watering with basil oil.

Our AWESOME aphid recipe, this came about one year when we had an abundance of little black aphids, they lovingly destroyed our garlic crop and covered our fruit trees, this worked amazingly well, the aphids are sure to love it to death! Luckily the ladybirds arrived as well the following year and dealt with them.

2 chillies

2 brown onions

Chop and add to 1 litre water overnight, strain and add

8 drops peppermint

5 drops wild orange

5 drops lavender

Add to 1 litre water and spray.

Or put concentrate in funky hose sprayer connect the hose and spray