Weeds and pests

Over the years the science and technology world has created thousands of kinds of sprays designed to beat the natural enemies of monoculture farmers. Farming is another story, but many of these sprays have also been adapted and made available to backyard gardeners.

Weeds and pests have long been the bane of gardeners and each year a fortune is spent in a massive attempt to control these naturally occurring annoyances. Little consideration is given to the after effects of spraying backyards with chemicals and filling the soil with excessive amounts of nutrients from synthetic fertilisers.

If principles of organic gardening are practiced, most weed and pest situations can be overcome without the use of these products. Organic gardening is about creating a natural balance by following some basic rules of thumb, eg:

• Look after the health of your soil
• Avoid using chemical sprays and fertilisers
• Use natural fertilisers like animal manures and compost
• Plant a diverse range of plant species
• Border your veggie garden with herbs, native plants and other companion plants
• Practice crop rotation in the veggie garden
• Practice garden hygiene
• Mulch, mulch, mulch (especially with compost)

A healthy backyard will contain a balanced ratio of pests and predators, all of which are necessary to maintain the ongoing health of your backyard. Ladybirds will clear up aphids, birds will feast on caterpillars and other creepy crawlies. Well balanced soil will feed your plants with the correct nutriant balance required for healthy, disease and pest resistant plants.

Weeds don't need to be sprayed either. Annual weeds can be carefully pulled from the soil and added to the compost. Alternatively use them to make liquid fertiliser. Never let them flower and set seed. If annual weeds do flower, set seed and provide you with a carpet of weeds, all is not lost. Smother them with manure and a thick layer of newsprint (at least one newspaper thick) followed by at least 4 inches of mulch. Alternatively, cover the newspaper with 12 inches of compost and plant seedlings directly into the compost. This is a great way to get rid of some lawn if you have enough compost. Those persistent perennial flat weeds and grasses can be controlled in the same way. Once these measures have been taken, it's important to be vigilant. As soon as you see weeds appear, do something about them. And make sure your mulch is continually topped up.

This is just the begining of the weeds and pests section. Click on the links above for a taste of what's to come.