Skip to main content

7 Plants to Help Control Pests in Your Kitchen Garden

Plants to Help Control Pests 



Worried about pests ruining your kitchen garden crops? Learn which herbs and vegetables to plant to control pests and keep those pesky pests at bay!


The joy of growing a kitchen garden in your yard is imagining the delicious recipes and dishes you will create using your home-grown herbs and vegetables. Do you know what stands in the way of that happiness? Errors. Gross, invasive, plant-eating, vegetable-killing pests! I see you, tomato horn! I will never forget the first time I grew tomatoes on a large scale. I would come out to look at my kitchen garden and see that some of my tomatoes were chewed up and others were missing leaves or the stems were completely bare. The culprit that year was the tomato hornworm, which cost me almost half of my tomatoes (and my mind). Needless to say, I didn't consider using plants for bug control at the time.


I've learned over the years that side planting (or companion planting) is a great way to help plants grow with each other. This is a great way for some plants to protect others from bugs and other pests. Here are 10 plants that can help control pests in your kitchen garden.


1 Basil



Basil is a great herb to plant near tomatoes, and really any other vegetable, because it repels houseflies, mosquitoes, asparagus beetles, and tomato hornworms. You can make your own insect repellent using basil by steeping the leaves in boiling water and mixing in some rubbing alcohol.


2 Chives


What if I told you you could enjoy your bagel with cream cheese and wedges and kick some beetle and aphid butt! Chives are high on the list of pest control plants in your kitchen garden as they repel pesky pests like carrot flies, Japanese beetles, and aphids.


3 Coriander/Cilantro



You say cilantro, I say cilantro! Anyway, this plant (while sometimes polarizing in recipes) is an excellent plant for bug control. Aphids, Colorado potato beetles, and spider mites won't stand a chance against this delicious (or soapy-tasting, depending on your genes) herb.


4 Fennel


I've said it once and I'll say it again, fennel is underrated as heck! Whether eaten raw, used in soups, or baked into cheese and breadcrumbs, it's an often overlooked powerhouse vegetable. Planted in your kitchen garden, this licorice-scented plant becomes a deadly weapon against aphids, slugs, and snails.


5 Dill



Dill is a generous herb, lending subtle flavor to everything from Grandma's potato salad to savory tzatziki, and don't forget roast potatoes. It's a great garnish for soups and roasted vegetables, and of course, a great addition to pickle recipes. Planting dill in your kitchen garden can help keep aphids, squash bugs, spider mites, and cabbage loopers at bay.


6 Garlic


Question: How to repel both vampires and rootworms? Answer: Plant some garlic! Garlic is one of the best pest-control plants in your kitchen garden. Garlic is an excellent companion plant for broccoli, cauliflower, and kale because it can help repel rootworms, cabbage loopers, Mexican bean beetles, and peach tree borers.


7 Radishes



One of my favorite ways to enjoy radishes is to thinly slice them with my mandolin and add a little salt and olive oil. That's it! I love the peppery flavor with a satisfying crunch. Radishes make great kitchen garden plants because they keep cabbage worms and cucumber beetles from invading your vegetables.

Labels:
Location: United States

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7 Big Impact Dwarf Flowering Shrubs

Scale with dwarf flowering shrubs Big gardens have a season in life, and we have unlimited energy to maintain perennial gardens and a quarter acre vegetable plot that produces enough food for the entire neighborhood. But if you're starting out with a three-story balcony garden or have a small garden, you can still use dwarf shrubs to create a beautiful outdoor living space. Dwarf shrubs are perfect for small space gardens When thoughtfully designed, a small space garden can be as visually appealing and emotionally pleasing as a sprawling yard. No need to sacrifice your favorite shrubs like roses and lilacs. You need to choose the right size varieties to match the size of the space. A short hedge or even a casket of flowering shrubs may be all you need to make your patio feel like "home." Dwarf flowering shrubs for your garden It's best to be selective when curating plant palettes for a small space. If the large shrubs you've seen at local nurseries ar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gardening Plants you can walk on

These tough little floor coverings can withstand occasional trampling Mulching the 3 acres of display and test gardens in my perennial nursery turned out to be expensive and time-consuming, so I decided to investigate ground covers that eliminated the need for mulch. As I experimented with several ground covers to complement my perennials and shrubs, I was struck by the plants that were strong enough to withstand the foot traffic of people strolling through my gardens and trampling pets. It was clear which ones were hardy enough to withstand the heat and humidity we experience each summer, stay evergreen, and display beautiful flowers for months. Here are my favorites. 1. Green carpet rupturewort: The toughest of the tough I often refer to Green Carpet Rapturewort as my "tractor-trailer" plant because even though stray vehicles sometimes make deep impacts in my garden, the rapture never turns yellow. Creeping stems of small, bright green leaves form a dense green...
Post a Comment
Read more

10 Red Flowers for Big, Bold Color in Your Garden

Red flowers are a great way to draw attention Add a variety of eye-catching red flowers to your garden, and you’ll be delighted with the gorgeous color they add to your landscape. Red flowers are a great way to draw attention to a garden. Planting all red flowers can practically stop traffic! Red flowers, especially red roses, symbolize love, but scarlet flowers can symbolize strength, family bonds, good luck, protection, and prosperity, so adding this bold hue can bring many good things to your garden beyond beauty. A bouquet of freshly cut red flowers will brighten up a kitchen table or master bedroom nightstand in a way that no other color of flower can. Red flowers pair beautifully with orange, yellow, and white flowers. Read on to learn about some of our favorites to add to your garden. We’ve got everything you need to know to grow them and add color to your landscape. 1. Zinnia One of the best annual cut flowers, zinnias bloom in a wide range of colors. They don’t min...
Post a Comment
Read more