A Squeamish Gardener's Guide To Growing The Best Fruit And Veg

 

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Growing your own fruit and veg is one of the most eco-friendly changes you can make to your life, and can significantly cut down on your carbon footprint at home. Growing your own can also be a great activity to get stuck into, providing you with a sense of satisfaction you’ve likely not experienced before. Just imagine, you could be entirely self-sufficient and living off your land in no time. There’s just one problem – you might encounter a fair few pests along the way.

From slugs to larvae, vegetable gardeners can experience it all at some stage. Small caterpillars could even appear within your kitchen when you’re prepping with veg that’s ripped right from the soil. For a lot of people, these unwelcome friends are a sacrifice worth putting up with for the greater good of home grown grub. But, if you’re a squeamish gardener, the thought of pests in your kitchen may be just too much to bear.

We understand the struggle, but you mustn’t let these fears get in the way of your home-growing dreams. Keep on reading to find out how even the most squeamish gardener could get growing without the risk of pests. 

# 1 - Get a Greenhouse

There’s no better way to keep your crops pest-free than to simply grow everything in a greenhouse. Admittedly, not all produce will grow well in this environment, but crops like cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, and the majority of herbs can thrive within a greenhouse setting all year long. If you intend to grow solely within this space, then the best greenhouse for your purposes should be generous in size and fully secure from outside critters. Use growing pots or compost grow bags to give your plants the best chance. Then, rest easy so that you’ll never stumble upon a slug when you’re getting your hands dirty.

 

# 2 - Opt for Raised Beds

Not all gardens can accommodate a greenhouse large enough for decent yearly growth. If this applies to you, then building your own raised beds can be the next best pest-free option. Defined borders on high-set beds like these might not be enough to stop every pest in the world, but they can significantly lessen the risk of unwanted guests on your fruit and veg. Strengthen the pest-control benefits of beds like these with the addition of insect mesh and other barriers, which will reduce the risk of airborne insect invasion, while your bed’s height handles floor-level insects like caterpillars and slugs.

Raised beds are surprisingly simple to make by investing in some railway sleepers and following a simple tutorial online. Equally, you could buy ready-made raised beds, and get started with your new growing set-up in just an afternoon of work.

 

# 3 - Think About Your Fertiliser

We all know that plants need fertiliser to grow well and quickly, but did you know that the type of fertiliser you choose can also have a notable impact on the risks that your plants, and potentially your fraught nerves, will face? The majority of fertilisers contain phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium, each of which helps with plant growth, strength, and protection. Potassium, in particular, helps plants to fight insect damage if they do come under attack. But that doesn’t help you all that much. To keep pests away in the first place, you’d be better off also taking steps to avoid fertilisers which are too high in nitrogen. This is because nitrogen-rich fertilisers will often encourage rich leafy growth across your plants, which then becomes a shining beacon for bugs like aphids. 

# 4 - Encourage the Right Kind of Wildlife

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Ultimately, you’re growing your own foods because you want to do your bit for the environment, and looking after wildlife fits very neatly into that goal. You’re not the villain here, after all, and while you don’t want bugs on your plants, you don’t want an entirely derelict garden either. Instead, it’s worth encouraging the right kinds of wildlife into your garden, which can then help to address growing pest problems in a way that your best efforts never could. Bats are particularly useful for tackling airborne pests like aphids, and you can easily encourage them with a comfortable bat house, or even night-blooming plants like Moonflower and Nightflox. Putting out a bird feeder can also be helpful, as birds are great for burrowing away and dealing with any lurking larvae. 

# 5 - Choose Pest-Resistant Crops

Let’s say you’ve done your best to keep your crops pest-free but are still dealing with more creepy crawlies than you might like. At this stage, it’s time to call in the big guns and settle down to choosing pest-resistant crops that can give your other protective efforts an additional boost. Strange as it might sound, some plants simply don’t attract bugs in the same ways as others, either because of their taste or, more often, because of their smell. Many vegetables are also naturally more resistant to bugs.

Great pest-resistant crops to choose from include radishes, garlic, cabbage, leeks, and onions. Surprisingly, crops like broccoli are also pretty pest-resistant because they produce glucosinolates, which naturally keep pests at bay due to their pungent taste. You could also take steps to keep pests away using the other plants in your garden. Flower varieties including lavender and marigolds produce strong scents which will keep pests like aphids at bay, while simultaneously encouraging bees and butterflies.

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Takeaway

If you’ve ever avoided growing your own because you’re worried about the pests you might encounter, then it’s time to put your fears to bed. Using these tips, even the most squeamish gardener could grow some great stuff pest-free, and with way less hassle. Forget discovering dreaded fly larvae as soon as you start digging, taking steps to prevent pests in these ways could see you with fresh, fear-free growth. Keeping your crops clear also has the benefit of enabling stronger plant growth, meaning that your fruit and veg could quickly become the best, and tastiest, in town.

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