Deter Garden Disease, Insects, & Pests Naturally

As a child, my mom always had a garden.  She grew tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, cantaloupe, okra, and more depending on where we lived at the time.  Many late summers I remember seeing my mom can tomatoes.  Homemade strawberry freezer jam was a regular in our home.  I guess I grew up enjoying the “fruits” of home gardening and canning, but never really appreciated it because my primary job was pulling weeds!

Years later when I was a missionary along the Volga in Russia, my exposure to gardens went to a whole new level!  Most Russians have maintained a great degree of self-sufficiency with food — the majority of Russians have a garden plot, or “dacha”, where they grow a lot of their own produce.  After the feast of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, potatoes, apples, cherries, plums, strawberries, raspberries, and whatever else they grow at harvest time, these foods are preserved at home and eaten all winter long.

A couple of years ago I got my hands dirty with large-scale gardening for the very first time.  I had a fantastic experience gardening the backyard with my roommate Emily.  I feasted on organic tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow squash, and zucchini for a couple of months.  I canned homemade salsa with some of the tomatoes.  I made pies, muffins, soups, and other delicacies with the pumpkins.  My experience with gardening two years ago hooked me for life.

Even though some of the things we planted didn’t grow well — there were no carrots, beets, broccoli, or cauliflower to speak of, and the cabbage came in very meagerly — we were really blessed to have few problems with pests or disease besides some kind of powdery mildew on the squash leaves toward the end of the season.

Last July I got married and moved, and so didn’t get to participate in gardening.  This year we are in an apartment and will be planting a huge container garden.  I hope we don’t have too many problems with pests, but if we do here’s what we’ll be using!

The Problems

Hungry and curious animals, including birds, deer, rabbits, snails, slugs, and more can wreak havoc on a garden!  Two summers ago one of our heads of cabbage had a huge, I mean HUGE bite mark in it from a snacking mystery creature!  Of course, insects including aphids, mites, and various types of beetles are known to literally eat away at the succulent green leaves and luscious fruits growing in your garden, leaving you to scrounge through their leftovers.  And various types of disease — from fungal root rot, powdery mildew, and blights to viral & bacterial infections — can destroy crops and garden plants literally from the ground up!

The Essential Oils

Savvy gardeners know that planting such things as garlic or marigolds in their gardens can help deter pests.  Apparently pests don’t enjoy certain aromas, and prefer to steer clear of them.  This is where essential oils can come in.

Such essential oils as peppermint, citronella and lemongrass (in the Purification oil blend along with a few others) have powerful insect repellent properties, whether used in the garden, in your home, or on your body.  Specifically, peppermint deters ants, aphids, caterpillars, flies, moths, bean beetles, and even mice!  The essential oils in Purification can deter carrot flies, fleas, gnats, mosquitoes, nematodes, ticks, and more.

Purification, Thieves, and Oregano oils all have powerful anti-fungal properties, with Thievesand Oregano having additional power over viruses and bacteria.  Some people have found Melrose oil — with it’s melaleuca and rosewood essential oils — to be another great oil to use in the garden.  Additionally, others have reported great results using the Thieves Cleaner in their gardens.  Cedarwood oil  is said to deter snails and slugs.

The Methods

Essential Oil Spray — Make a spray to deter pests or against disease by adding 4-8 drops of essential oil to 1 gallon of water.  Spray onto flowers, fruits, and vegetables.

Cotton Balls — Apply a couple drops of peppermint and/or Purification oil onto cotton balls and place in animal burrows and nests to cause them to relocate.  Repeat as needed.

Cartons — Place 3-4 drops of your chosen essential oil(s) in old yogurt containers.  Bury them in the ground with the tops of the containers level with the ground in order to deter animals and other pests.  Repeat as needed.

Strips of Fabric — Apply a drop of an essential oil to strips of cloth and hang them from trees.  Apply more essential oils to the strips as needed.

String — Soak string in water and essential oils and hang them between rows of vegetables to deter flying insects.

(for more information on using essential oils in the garden and a lot more, get “The Complete Book of Essential Oils & Aromatherapy” by Valerie Ann Worwood)

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Why go through the trouble of planting a garden if you’re going to use toxic chemicals to keep the pests away?  Mother Nature has made ample provision for substances that deter pests and keep disease to a minimum.  If you are planting or have already planted a garden this season, find out what types of pests and diseases are common in your area.  If you try any of these essential oil solutions out, let me know how they work for you!

- Julie =)

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Julie Behling-Hovdal is a reflexologist/holistic healer and founder of Essential Survival where she teaches people how to prepare for the #1 cause of death in the event of an economic collapse — lack of access to medicines.  In 2005 Julie was able to get off 4 prescription drugs and heal from a 6-year stint of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia with products from Young Living Essential Oils. Get a free copy of her report “Fast Track Survival Medicines” at http://essentialsurvival.org/fast-track-survival-medicines/.

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Statements made about the essential oils that come in the Essential Oil Survival Kit and and other products offered by Essential Survival have not been evaluated by the FDA.  These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.  Anyone suffering from disease or injury should consult with a physician.

Last updated by Julie Behling-Hovdal at April 2, 2013.