Written By: Madelynn Gevaert 3/31/2023
If you are someone who is looking for a cleaner and more eco-friendly way of repelling pests, or just wanting your garden to be a little less upkeep, keeping certain plants around in your garden will help to repel pests and allow for a better harvest and less disease. Check out this list of effective, cheap and chemical free plants that can help your garden.
Lavender
Lavender has been cultivated for many years, having a great varieties of uses. Aside from it being used medicinally, or for cooking this plant is an exceptional natural pest repellent, because of the terpene inside called linalool. This terpene can be found in many pest repellents and can be used to help keep pests like fruit flies, fleas, spiders, ants, ticks, mosquitos and even bed bugs from your garden and home areas. An extra benefit is that you can use the oils from the plant to apply as relief from an itchy bug bite.
Marigold
Growing marigolds in your garden is such a great way to help protect your garden and crops from pests and the diseases they carry. Marigolds have been used for many years as a way to keep those pests like whitefly, aphids, nematodes, beetles and snails away from your precious crops. Now it is not in the way you might think, marigolds actually attract pests to themselves drawing the pests attention to the marigolds rather than your garden and crops. Aside from its pest-repelling properties, marigolds are a great plant to also attract beneficial pollinators to come to you garden. Overall marigolds work super well as a companion plant.
Garlic
Besides keeping out vampires and tasting delicious in meals, garlic also keeps many garden pests away from your crops and plants, this is due to its strong scent, the scent is so strong due to the sulfur compounds that it contains. Because garlic has such a strong and potent scent, it is a great pest deterrent and can actually be toxic to some bugs. Repelling bugs like aphids, root maggots, Japanese beetles, worms, ants, snails, carrot flies, it has been proven that when placing garlic near a garden that there is in fact a lesser amount of pests. Try this method out next time you are planning your garden!
Chrysanthemums
These flowers are quite often used as a decoration or for aesthetic purposes in the garden, but it has many other uses for the garden as well. Being part of the Asteraceae family, which includes marigolds which we previously went over. Chrysanthemums contain a compound called pyrethrin, this is commonly used in pesticides, which kills insects but is harmless to humans and animals. Repelling bugs like ticks, ants, spider mites, roaches, Japanese beetles and bed bugs, you can Take it a step further you can make your own organic pesticide from this flower at home. This plant will make a great addition to any garden, repelling pests and also giving it a nice pop of colour!
Citronella Grass
A great natural way to repel pests that has been around for a long time and I’m sure you are used to seeing products labelled as citronella sprays or candles to keep the mosquitos away during the warmer weathers. This plant can be super beneficial to keep around in the garden, being nontoxic the way this plant works to repel pests is by outputting scents like carbon dioxide and lactic acid. Citronella grass repels pests like spiders, ticks, flies, fleas, mosquitos, mice and even cats. This is another plant that you can make your own pest repellent with at home.
Basil
Another great companion plant, basil can be planted strategically to help prevent pests like thrips, mosquitos, gnats, flies, and other bugs. This is due to its strong scent and the intense terpenes that are within the plant, containing high amounts of limonene, myrcene, camphor and thymol. Being a great herb to have in the garden whether its being used for culinary purposes or to keep bugs away this herb is a must in the garden.
Dill
Another very common herb used a lot for culinary purposes also doubles as a pest repellent. This is excellent for repelling cabbage moths, spider mites, and aphids it also has great properties as it attracts beneficial insects that will help to pollinate your crops. Placing dill away from the tomato plants in you garden will draw the pests to the dill rather than the tomatoes.
Nasturtiums
These beautiful flowers can be found all over, some people planting them for aesthetic purposes in the garden and other to help protect their crops. This plant is great for the garden as insects like aphids, cabbage moths, whiteflies and cucumber beetles will go for the nasturtiums first, instead of attacking your crops like cabbage and other vegetables. This flower will make a great addition to your garden and add a pop of colour too.
I hope you have learned something new and are going to try something new out! Nature is so complex and yet simple at the same time, try one of these pest controlling plants out and see the difference they can really make.