Obiaks Blog

Flowerless, no problems grow your own organic flowers part 2

Organic pest control
In our opinion pests are a part of nature and should be tolerated, they add to your gardens diversity, organic flowers by definition, will not be like the blemish free supermarket produce that are odorless. Organic flowers will have beautiful flagrances and sweet aromas that you will love.
However there are a few useful tips if you really must get rid of those pesky buggers
One of the best solutions is to buy or lure ladybirds (ladybugs) to spread throughout your garden. Ladybirds are particularly fond of the following plants that you can add to your garden, fennel, dill, cilantro, caraway, angelica, tansy, wild carrot & yarrow.
Ants and termites
You can kill these with an old fashioned trick, boiling water
Aphids
Gardeners best friend the ladybird also try organic insecticidal soap
Caterpillars
Hand pick off individual flowers or try using the organic derris pesticide
Slugs and snails
Another old fashioned trick that does work, set up traps containing beer, barriers can also be helpful
Organic disease control
Most of the diseases are fairly simple to deal with, It is always sensible to try to prevent the diseases from taking hold and spreading in the first place, rather than treating them when they occur.
You can treat black spot a common fungal disease of roses by pruning the bush roses into a goblet shape, use disease resistant cultivars and dust affected plants with sulphur
A new all-round concentrate, serenade garden disease control is an excellent, economical alternative for gardeners, this organic fungicide provides effective disease control against many important garden problems such as mildews, molds, blights, leaf spots, rusts, whilst protecting roses and other flower varieties.
Beneficial predators in your garden
The best way to protect your flowers and promote healthy growth in your garden is to introduce or lure beneficial predators, a good way of doing this is to section a part of your garden off for a natural area containing a pond. Let natural weeds and plants grow here and do not prune, cut or tidy.
List of beneficial predators
Anthocorid bug, Bats, Birds, Centipedes, Earwigs, Frogs, Toads and newts, Beetles, harvestman, Hedgehogs, Hoverflies, Lacewings, Ladybirds (ladybugs), Mites, Nematodes, Parasitic wasps, Slow worm, Spiders, Tachinid flies and Wasps.