By David Wall
Every year, it seems like just when the garden is starting to really produce, grasshoppers, beetles, and several other pests show up to start chewing on the leaves, punching holes in or eating the fruit and generally making an unwanted nuisance of themselves. So, what to do? Get out the Sevin or some other toxic pesticide that will kill both the bad along with bees, ladybugs, spiders, birds? Why not, that’s what our parents and grandparents were doing way back when. Shouldn’t there be a better, non-toxic solution that won’t kill the good bugs, even birds, along with the bad? Well, as it turns out, there is!
Garlic is one way, but it involves more work than I really want. Take two bulbs of garlic and puree them in ½ cup of water. Then crush the garlic, put into a bowl, pour boiling water into it and let it steep overnight. The next day, strain the mixture before putting into a spray bottle so pieces don’t clog the pray nozzle.
Personally, I like a red pepper garden spray, which, like garlic, doesn’t really kill anything, but it certainly does make pests want to go somewhere else. You need one tablespoon of ground cayenne pepper, 6 drops of almost any dish soap and a gallon of tap water. Some might say use bottled water, but if it’s water that you’re willing to drink, it’s suitable for this recipe.
Pour the pepper into the gallon of water and let it sit for 24 hours. Then, add the six drops, shake well and you’re ready to spray. You can pour some into a sprayer bottle, garden sprayer, or a garden hose spray bottle. Now, spray your garden plants. The soap helps the spray to stick to plants. Use the el cheapo spray weekly!