Thanks for nailing this topic! After YEARS of lifetime being trained, taught and shown so many damaging ways to garden, I finally found the important knowledge of the soil being in good health, using native plants and caring for our living creatures! Thank you for sharing so much valuable knowledge!

I would love to see some garden tours of your farm this year!

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

You got it!! Once we get planted we will do a tour!! ❤️

@ElderandOakFarm

Жыл бұрын

@@Blossomandbranch Awesome!

So helpful!!! And you are 100% right, it's so disheartening when you are semi new to gardening and all the recommendations for organic pesticides. I remember when a light bulb went off and I realized it doesn't matter to the bees, or praying mantis or spiders ect if I am using organic pesticides or not. It's going to kill them too. It seriously made me want to cry thinking about the harm I caused by not knowing any better. But when you know better, you do better. And I aim for better every season.

I went to a no spray garden about 5 years ago...I decided it would live or die. No matter what I was NOT going to spray anything, for any reason. My garden had lightening bugs in it for the first time a couple of years ago. From what I understand they only choose to live in a healthy environment. My garden has thrived and I have not had any problems. The beneficials take care of the pests without much intervention on my part. I did educate myself on good bugs and bad bugs, I do some catching Japanese beetles in jars of water, and squish bad bugs when I see them. I DO cover my zuccini plants with nets for the beginning of the growing season, bc of squash vine borer. Squash type crops are the only crops I have had to take measures to mitigate pests.

Until you mentioned it, I have not thought about the birds and their positive impact. I was always considering their negative impact, getting into my produce. That tomato hornworm is no joke, as I had one take down a single plant in 24 hours. Don’t know how they can eat so much… Well done and thoughtful.

This is such a great video! I feel like I learn some new every time I watch one of your videos.

This was such an informative video! I stopped using neem oil a couple years ago mostly because I found it messy and annoying to deal with, but thank you for bringing to light how detrimental it really is. Same goes for Bt. I used it when I first learned about it, but I felt more comfortable either picking them off the plant as I saw them or just covering my brassicas with netting. Do you recommend leaving the caterpillars on the plants for the birds to find, or can I maybe leave them near one of my bird feeders as I pick them off my plants? Thank you for all of the content you provide. I've only been watching for a short time since I found you through Epic Gardening, but have learned SO MUCH from you already! The world needs more channels like yours.

Yup, don't use any pesticides, nor do I use fertilizers. I rely on my soil health to feed the plants. I also don't use any plastic row covers because that just means the birds can't get at the soil to scratch. I find my plants to be super healthy and relatively pest free as well as weed free, all thanks to the healthy soil and the freedom of birds to forage.

Thank you so much. So helpful as I start my organic flower patch journey. I was looking into organic pesticides only yesterday and had no idea they were also harmful to bees. So glad I didn’t buy any!

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful!

I’m actually one of those people that doesn’t like the look of mono crops. I like to think of my beds as a flower bouquet with a lot of diversity.

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree! The more jumbled craziness the more I love it!!

@thebuddinghomemaker

Жыл бұрын

I love that you compared your flower bed to a bouquet! What a great comparison! I also hate the look of mono crops and row gardens, even in my vegetable garden! I cannot make a row of one crop to save my life ha!

Really well conveyed message. This was super informative, thank you!

My husband and I are unwilling to kill anything, so we never spray with anything other than organic deterrents. I used Surround, which I believe is just kaolin clay that you dissolve in water and spray onto your plants. Caterpillars and beetles don't seem to like chewing on anything with the clay on it. I use it on my young fruit orchard, as well as tomato and squash plants with great success. Our garden is still fairly new, and though our bird population is high and we have a lot of diversity, the soil is taking a while to improve. I'd like to eventually reach a point where I don't have to use any sort of deterrent, but until then, the clay is really useful. For brassicas, which are too waxy for the clay to stick to, we use insect netting.

One note about gooseberries is they are illegal in some states as they are a vector for rust. Plant aronia, elderberry and natives with berries. :)

I love this video. Thank you! As I garden more and more, I'm starting to get into the mindset of knowing that there will be failures in the garden, but there are always successes, too. That's just how it is, and I shouldn't get so bent out of shape when a crop succumbs to pest damage. It actually makes me learn more about that bug and understand its role in nature.

Thank you! It is very helpful! I do not use any kind of pesticide in my garden and actually enjoy the diversity if insects living in it!

What a great video! So much information! I love your practices. I have about 100plus organza bags on my dahlias when they start to bloom. I can't tell you how many people ask what they are for. lol It's makes me giggle. When I tell them the pests that are eating away at my dahlias they get it. Keep making these videos!

I'm glad you mentioned BT. I've seen so many people recommend it saying it's organic. But I still didn't feel good about pumping my plants full of it.

Loved this! Thank you 🙏

Love this!! 😍😍😍😍🐦🪱🥒🥕🌽

...Also, I'm very interested in your opinion on worm bins/castings - I haven't heard you mention that. It occurred to me that you didn't recommend adding any castings to your soil block mixture so I thought I would ask. 🤗

Great video, thank you!

Love your approach. Completely reminds me of my permaculture class.

For me I found ,The best way to control Insect pests is keep your plants as healthy as possible. And avoid too much nitrogen in my feeding

Wonderful information as always! Thanks 😊

Such an important video, thanks for sharing! x

Excellent video And very thought provoking

I’ve never seen the bag over the blooms before! I’m going to try that on my flowers this year!

Super vid and very informative. I'll try and incorporate some of your tips into my channel. Thanks for sharing 😊

Thank you. This was so informative

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!! ❤️

Enjoyed the video and found the information very useful.

Great video! It kills me to think of all the poison I used to spray when I was a young adult (before learning about things like beneficial insects, a healthy ecosystem, etc.)

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

I hear you! I didn’t always think about the chain either!

Your channel is amazing, shocked that you don’t have more followers.

Thank you so much for this video! Wow! I paused and started taking verbatim notes! This is going to be super helpful for the future. I was actually thinking of doing a skip year for the squash next year. Do the squash vine borers attack cucumber vines too?

We use those bags on our fruit trees (apple, peaches, etc) as well

On garden pests, here in WI anyway. This is in the context of keeping on having to move, start new gardens on crappy soils with tiny budget and composts that proved to be far less than ideal (tho not toxic or anything). I had a HORRIBLE problem with cucumber beetles starting early in my marriage of 16 yrs/own gardening journey, and getting worse by the year. Didn't realize for 1st few of the problem, that it wasn't a downy mildew prob. but a cuke beetle problem. By then, they were crushing my zucchini production and making advances on my winter squash. Tried everything OG and some non. To little to mostly NO avail. Cukes being my favorite summer snack, I was despairing. Found in my notes from my mom's copy of "Carrots love tomatoes" a note that was something like this application, but given for squash bugs. For some reason tried it for cuke beetles, and it seems to be what has basically eliminated my problem/prevented the pest issue ever since ( 7 years and 4 or 5 dif. gardens across 3 counties in N.W. WI and one in N. IL). I got the only plain tobacco we knew how to find, pipe tobacco, and ya place a palmful in the soil at planting or transplanting time (or working it in near root area asap afterwards). I do this for all cucurbits and apparently tomatillos & ground cherries need it too, are attractive to the cuke beetles. Japanese beetles : Never had em til IL, and now have em in newest rental place, on very dead, sandy soil in 2 very dry yrs in a row, in western St. Croix co. WI. Attacking my pole beans mainly. All I've done so far is knock em off into a lil pail of soapy water, and need to begin that sooner/immediately next time. Didn't get many beans. Had some bush beans at a 2nd garden nearby at friend's, they did ok, & for whatever reason had no Jap. beetles. The only other major pest issues we deal with around here that I know of/that's frequent/continual and prevalent anyway, are potato beetles and the cabbage loper (butterfly and it's larvae). I guess slugs too, if there's habitat and etc. for them esp. , they love the brassicas but eat most things, esp. as seedlings, too. For potato beetles I use the OG approved spinosad stuff, otherwise they'd completely wipe out the plants usually, if once u see them you wait and see for long.. . Hitting them very hard, repeatedly seems so far to make them less of an issue the next year. But they're an issue even when it's the 1st garden that property has had in many years or ever, and there's no commercial potato fields nearby. They do seem much worse in horrible soil conditions. The cabbage loper... I'm trying to get to where I'm using the insect netting, but so far don't have all I need for that and have just used nothing at all and made do with whatever level of gross worms in my food... ( I don't eat them), &/or trying to prevent/kill them by spraying the OG approved stuff for them. The spinosad btw is harmful to bees it says, so I take the time to pick off any flowers incl. buds soon to open on my potatoes and anything ( like weeds) in or by them, b4 I spray. Tossing the flowers well away from the patch, to avoid a bee still seeing and landing on it ! Not because I think bees are the only pollinator and without them we'd all starve, but because I don't want to harm anything I don't "have to" , esp. not the "good guys" .

@Blossomandbranch

4 ай бұрын

Excellent tips, thank you for sharing!!

The biggest thing I struggled with last year was an excessive amount of ants. I didn't spray anything and just watched the situation play out and it looks like I'm going to get a ton of ants again this year. The weirdest thing is that when I did a google deep dive everyone seems to be saying that it's because I have sandy soil, but I don't...I have really heavy clay so that's probably not what's going on. I live in a really sterile suburban area with very little biodiversity (I'm working hard to improve our property for this but still in progress... planting more and more each week) and I know that all my neighbours spray for ants every year because they've been pressuring me to do the same. Do you have any suggestions for the ants? I want to live peacefully with them if possible.

@dannyomo

Жыл бұрын

I watched something recently about soil related to ant problems and it was saying that ants need soil that can hold the colony structure well. Your (and my) clay-heavy soil likely does that. Unfortunately, I've yet to see a solution that doesn't take years or is just replacing the entire top 6" of earth.

@IridescentTea

Жыл бұрын

From my little experience, ants, especially red ones, absolutely love decomposing wood. Maybe it's not your case, but it is something I found interesting :)

@LauraStepney

Жыл бұрын

@@IridescentTea Ya that's another thing the internet told me when I was Googling but that doesn't fit either because our property was bare lawn when we moved in and there's no rot in the house. They're small black ants. Very strange.

@LauraStepney

Жыл бұрын

@@patriciacole8773 I always forget that diatomaceous earth exists since I usually see it in the context of indoor plants. From what I understand it still kills bugs since they ingest the sharp particles...which is not what we're trying to do, so wouldn't it still be classified as a pesticide?

@arlenewallin3769

Жыл бұрын

I poured boiling water on them. It worked.

60% of my yard is natives, 30% grass (gets smaller every year), and 10% left is for veggies. birds and bugs everywhere. There are some pests I've simply never had a problem with - tomato hornworms for example. The only time I've ever seen them is when they're infested with wasp eggs. On the other hand, trying to get rid of flea beetles when your yard is almost fully covered with leaves...? it's not gonna happen. Also, I have the same bags, use them for tomatoes though

Cool

Hello, I recently found you. Can you do a video on fungus gnats? I winter sowed some seeds, we put in a vegetable and flower garden and I did some indoor sowing as well and ended up getting fungus nuts inside. Never had them before and now they are flying around my new beds we just put in. I sprayed my indoor plants because now they got infested with neem oil and got those yellow strips. I'm completely organic our soil that we just got is organic and I did water from the bottom. I do know they came in an organic bag of soil.

Hello! I asked this on your last video but I'll ask again here... regarding wool pellets... I'm assuming the pelleted form is not entirely necessary? Wool can be used if cut up by hand in the same way? I'm guessing for soil blocks, it's important to have tiny pieces. I absolutely 💖 your channel!!! 🐿

@mindyweber9429

Жыл бұрын

She’s answered this question for me in the past and you are correct that pelleted isn’t necessary. She told me the pelleted isn’t treated in any way it’s just in a different form so cut wool by hand has all the same benefits and use but less convenient ;)

@jazstar7681

Жыл бұрын

@@mindyweber9429 That is so kind of you to answer this question for me. I really appreciate it. It's possible that we might be able to send some of our wool in for pelleting but if it doesn't have to be, that's awesome!

Do you have leaf footed bugs? I’m in zone 8 and are infested with then every year, any suggestions would help.

Do you have a source you might recommend for native plants/shrubs such as golden current, gooseberry or choke berry? I don’t think any of my local nurseries have any natives other than echinacea. I also have a pesticide free garden and need to pay more attention to our bird population. I’ve always felt they were kind of a pest but now I see it differently. TY ❤

@serenakoleno9338

Жыл бұрын

Service Berries are typically available at nurseries in Mid-Michigan. Beautiful shrub/small tree. Even big box stores usually carry them.

🎉🎉🎉

I want to grow pesticide free, but dont know how to eliminate fungus gnats. Do you have any suggestions? Btw, love your channel!

Can anyone recommend any books that educate the layman on this topic? I find this interesting. Soil chemistry, biodiversity, permaculture, organic gardening practices, cover cropping, native plants by zone, etc. Thanks.

Great video! I do everything I can to be pesticide-free. But neighbors spray for mosquitos and it drifted into my yard and killed I'm sure my native bees and😮😢 most of my monarch caterpillars perished and died being poisoned. They say it's safe and organic and i say, " a caterpillar is an insect and your organic spray kills insects. So frustrating getting that point across to them.

@serenakoleno9338

Жыл бұрын

Our community sprays routinely for mosquitoes. I still had lots of bees and butterflies.

Last year I had leaf miners in my beets, green beans, and collards. They became devastating and ruined any hope of harvest. I am at 8400’ in Central CO. What can I do to get rid of them? There are many native plants around the garden, it was the first year in my raised bed, my garden is small (10’ x 10’)and I had beets, radishes, and carrots together. The beans were next to cabbage. Collards we're in their own pot.

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

Look for plants that will specifically attract soldier beetles and ants!!!

Ground squirrels are my bane! How do I get rid of them without killing them?

Scrolling by the thumbnail looked like it said _Grow a Pesticide Garden_ lol.

Most of my neighbors have a company spray chemicals on their grass. Can anyone recommend a natural weed and feed for grass?

Birds... How to deal with flocks of 800~1,000 starlings?

What do you recommend of animal pests? I have squirrels that just won’t give up on destroying almost everything in my garden!

@Blossomandbranch

Жыл бұрын

W shave squirrels, we find they’re usually thirsty so we do a couple things… we give them sacrificial sunflowers to eat, and put out dishes of water which seems to help with nibbling-otherwise you may try netting!

@kathrynmettelka7216

Жыл бұрын

Gardeners Supply sells sturdy cloches though Jenny from Harmony Hills Home and Garden found some cheap wire baskets at one of the Dollar Stores which she uses. These cloches are not a complete solution, but they can protect tiny plants until they are sturdy enough to survive some damage.

@sbffsbrarbrr

Жыл бұрын

I have about a dozen squirrels that visit my garden, mainly because I feed them and the birds. My biggest issue is the digging. So I purchased about 3 dozen of the wire baskets (black blends well) from the Dollar Tree to cover young transplants. The baskets are secured with 2 garden staples and work great until the plant is about 8-10" high. At that point, the root system is better established and even if the squirrels dig, the plant is just fine. If you do wind up using netting, please don't use bird netting. Birds can get stuck in it and die. On the Robbie and Gary Gardening Easy channel, Robbie uses green tulle, which can be purchased in various widths and lengths on eBay and Amazon and is pretty inexpensive. She uses green so it blends better. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I get a kick out of the squirrels.......even though sometimes (or often) they can annoy the heck out of me 😁

@kelsikellogg3637

Жыл бұрын

@@Blossomandbranch thank you for the response! I planted hundreds of sunflowers last year and only six survived. They chewed right threw my netting fence! But I’ll try the water idea and maybe even individually netting around just the sunflower area heavily.

Can’t talk about attracting birds without making sure cats are indoors. Second reason for the declining bird population

@roxanneroehrig324

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunately, a nearby neighbor is feeding all the feral cats in my neighborhood, and they have used EVERY flower bed as their litter box!!! It's so disgusting to be weeding & of course, I forgot my garden gloves, and YEAH, CAT SCAT FINGERNAILS!!! UGH!!! They have been attacking my birds soooo badly the past 2 years, every other day I'm finding remnants of dead birds!!! Not sure how to address this here locally, but I've had it!!!!

@serenakoleno9338

Жыл бұрын

Just saw something on another channel. Said to put feeders near bushes or trees. Should scatter feeders, not just one, or in one spot. Plastic forks in beds/ pots might deter cats. A squirt gun if you catch them. On the plus side, you probably won't have mice.

Boring topic. Just plant things you'll love

I love your videos. They are always super informative.