For most of us, the backyard is our kingdom and our vegetable garden is our bread basket. And we don’t like intruders ransacking our kingdom, biting us as we BBQ, and pillaging our precious veggies.
However, lots of folks are questioning whether or not dousing your yard with nasty chemicals is the best way to “protect” yourself and your kingdom. You might wonder, aren’t there some steps they can take to avoid, or at least minimize, the use of chemical pesticides in your yard?
Well good news. The answer is yes, most definitely.
To help you get started, we have gathered a list of bug repellent and natural pesticide that you can make from common household items, along with some basic techniques for keeping your garden safe.
Not only will this help keep you, your family and any pets safer but it can also help you control pests in a SHTF scenario where commercial repellents and pesticides aren’t readily available.
Photo by Joe Goldberg
1. Coffee Insecticide: Caffeine and Herb Spray
This concoction is simple to make and is a surprisingly potent weapon against an array of annoying garden pests.
Directions:
Mix 2 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of used coffee grounds (perfect for upcycling!) to any one cup combination of the following herbs to create a potent insecticide:
Artemisia, lavender, catnip, thyme, rue, pennyroyal, tansy and yarrow.
To get the best results, you will need to let your mixture marinate for a minimum of 24 hours, followed by straining it before you put the remainder into a spray bottle.
This DIY bug spray will be particularly effective against aphids!
NEXT: #2 The Tried and True “Fence” Technique
Photo by David Joyce