Pests

The apples are dropping, the squash is ripening, and its tomato harvest time! If you are one who enjoys putting up your fresh food for winter, your kitchen may be a busy place this time of year.

Bats often get a rep for being scary creatures of the night. But bats are actually super beneficial to your garden! Not to mention they play an important role in the ecosystem and are considered pollinators. Here's how and why you should build a bat house and welcome bats into your garden. 

This summer, I planted tomatoes, strawberries, celery, Swiss chard, pole beans, and a variety of other vegetables and herbs on my deck.

Have a garden but hate dealing with pests? Birds can help out! Not only are these adorable creatures fun to watch and look at, they're also great for getting rid of insects and vermin that can damage your plants.

Ladybugs are a gardener’s best friend. On top of being considered lucky, ladybugs are also great for getting rid of destructive pests like mites, scale, and aphids. Here's how to keep those cute little helpers around. 

For many gardeners, summer is the most rewarding part of their work.

After living in San Diego for several years, my husband and I moved to a small town in the Pacific Northwest where our closest neighbors are raccoons, owls, and, most abundantly, deer. We see them at all times of the day: in the morning from our bedroom window, in the afternoon grazing in the woods in front of our house, and at night, when I catch them taking nibbles from my garden. That is, until I realized I could create a deer-resistant garden that left nature safe and my garden intact.

Bats—the world’s only flying mammals—are, indeed, amazing flyers and give birds a run for their money.  In Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida, bats are also important native pollinators.  Those majestic Saguaro and Organ Pipe cacti you see in southern Arizona and Northern Mexico….they’re pollinated by bats.  As is agave

Powerfully minty-fresh with a cool distinctive fragrance, peppermint oil is quickly becoming one of the most versatile essential oils in the world. The rapidly growing perennial plant native to Europe and Asia supports a wide range of health benefits due to the nutrient-rich compounds present in peppermint leaves.

More than termites, rats, and wasps, Argentine ants might actually be the worst pests in the world. Based on their size alone, they might appear innocuous: worker ants are between 1.6 and 2.8 mm long, while queens are no bigger than 6.4 mm. Despite their tiny size, they’re major disruptors of native ant species. While they’ve only lived in the United States for little more than 120 years, they can be found across the nation with large populations in moderate climates like Southern California.