Safe Homegrown Pesticides
(Page 3 of 4)
July/August 1986
By Diane Downs
For Squash, Tomatoes, and More
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To guard your maturing cucumbers and squash, border them with orange nasturtiums (Tropaeolum mafus). Then further guard them by strewing discarded onion skins across the top of each hill (to deter cucumber beetles) or by spraying a mix of equal parts of wood ashes and hydrated lime in water on the upper and lower surfaces of the spreading foliage.
Early in the year, you can fortify your future tomato territory by sowing dill (Anethum graveolens) and borage (Borago officinalis) to repel hornworms. Needless to say, you'll enjoy these two useful and flavorful herbs for themselves, as well as for their ability to protect your tomato crop from invasion.
If Japanese beetles appear to be your pri mary enemy, plan to plant castor beans (Ricinus communis. . . but warn youngsters that the bean seeds are poisonous), white-flowering geraniums, zinnias, and garlic throughout your garden area next year.
For more general-purpose garden guarding, consider the roadside herb, yarrow (Achillea millefolium). It not only repels a number of pests, but is commonly believed to enhance the growth and flavor of plants growing nearby. Furthermore, Achillea's friendly qualities can be utilized through the year if you simply brew the foliage into a liquid fertilizer and water periodically with the tea.
When your cole-family vegetables face an invasion of cabbage moths and their larvae (which can mutilate plants in a few short days), simply pour soured milk over the young cabbages, etc., to keep the moths aloft and the worms away.
Your special, tender greenhouse tenants need protection, too, so always allow a few shoo-fly plants (Nicandra physalodes) to occupy several places of honor in your solarium. The attractive, fast-growing annuals are toxic to all pests that chew them, and rebuff the whiteflies that often plague enclosed gardens. (Garlic sprays deter indoor aphids.)
Some herbs repel non-garden pests. Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) deters mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas (I stuff cloth tubes with pennyroyal to make flea collars for our pets). Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) can, if planted by your doorstep, discourage ants from entering your home. Dried leaves of sweet woodruff (Asperula odorata) spread throughout your boxes of stored woolens will repel moths. And a bunch of tansy or sweet woodruff hung in your dwelling or barn will help keep flies away.
