Once you’ve received and planted your organic veggies from Rocket Gardens you will be very excited to see your plants growing. And you’ll be looking forward to harvesting them. But it’s important to be on the lookout for pests as you don’t want them eating your veg before you do! Here are the 5 that seem to cause the most strife, and how to keep them at bay….
- Slugs and Snails.
Can affect all plants. If you’ve never experienced a slug eating your newly planted lettuce, we’d love to know how you’ve done it! There are all sorts of organic ways to prevent them getting to your plants – eggshells and grit around the base of plants, copper tape, beer traps and the good ol’ night patrol with a bucket and your gardening gloves collecting them as you spot them by torchlight. Read our post on slug deterrent. - Pigeons.
These naughty birds will peck your brassicas to pieces in no time. Keep them away with some simple netting, or better still, horticultural fleece which will help with caterpillars too (see point 3). It’s a good idea to plant your brassicas in one area of the veg patch so that you can net them all together. - Caterpillars.
You’ll often spot clusters of eggs (usually green, white or dark brown) on the undersides of leaves and at the base of stalks. This is inevitable with brassicas, and chard and spinach often suffer too. Horticultural fleece draped over plants is a good way of preventing the problem. Do a regular inspection too and wipe off any eggs/baby caterpillars before they do too much damage. - Aphids.
These tiny critters will turn up on leaves of tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and various others. Look out for them and wash them off with a hose where you find them. There are plenty of things you can plant alongside vulnerable plants that will help – read our post on avoiding aphids. - Cabbage Root Fly.
Flies will lay eggs at the base of any brassicas…when they hatch the larvae will bury into the ground and eat away at the roots, slowly killing your beloved plant. Brassica collars placed around the base of plants when you first put them in the ground will make this much less likely to occur. You can buy these collars from a garden centre or cut a 15cm circle out of cardboard or old carpet, make an incision from the outside edge to the centre of the disc and lay it around the base of the stem.
