Lower your expectations. Who says that everything has to be perfect all the time? Learn to live with some insect damage. Try to ignore the mildew on those roses you just couldn’t bring yourself to remove. If you simply can not get a plant to ever look decent without tons of fertilizers and chemical sprays, get rid of it! It wasn’t meant to be!

Practice preventive maintenance. Get out in the garden once a week with a spray nozzle on a hose and wash your plants down with a firm spray of water. Pick and eliminate diseased plant parts and fruit whenever possible. Remember that your best chance for healthy fruit trees and roses lies in dormant sprays, which are various combinations of horticultural oils, lime and sulfur. The easiest way to apply these sprays in the home garden is with an Ortho “Sprayette” hose-end spray applicator.

Teach yourself basic pruning techniques. Plants need air. Don’t just keep pruning things back. Thin them out once in a while, removing old gnarly wood and diseased parts.

Just say “No” to toxins. Currently other than dormant sprays, I am using just one insecticide/fungicide, the so-called superior horticultural oil spray. It simply coats the insect, egg case, or leaf with oil. Some of my gardening friends recommend Safers Insecticidal Soaps, Lemon Joy and water, or anti-transpirants such as “Cloud Cover” which creates a waxy coating on the leaves, making them unpleasant to snails and slugs, and inhospitable to fungus. Follow the directions on the label.

Think I.P.M. (Integrated Pest Management). I.P.M. involves introducing beneficial insects and organisms into the garden to set up a natural system of checks and balances. Chemicals are relegated to a position of last resort. Although your garden will never be free of pests, they will theoretically never be out of control. A pest control substance called Neem (developed from the Neem tree) is effective against 170 plant-eating insects and is ostensibly harmless to most beneficial insects when used properly.

Smith and Hawken now have an I.P.M. package in their catalog. They call it a ‘beneficial insects variety pack’. In the S.F. Bay area, Dirt Cheap Organics is a great source for a full range of organic garden products, including ecological pest controls Shepherd’s Garden Seeds catalog offers a listing of flowering plants that attract beneficial insects. These plants also tend to be easy to grow.

About snails and slugs. (A confession) I have been using snail baits for many years and I regret it! The garden guides have always said ‘Bait for slugs and snails’ and that’s just what I did. Now I am quite sure that these baits are bad news, not only for our domestic animals, but also for our wild birds. If you can’t bring yourself to hand-pick snails, and you don’t want little saucers of beer all over the place, send for the Gardens Alive catalog. They claim their environmentally safe, superior diatomaceous earth kills slugs, silverfish, and ants. The Gardens Alive catalog also has an index of common garden pests and their natural control agents. I highly recommend it as a homeowner’s handbook to sustainable pest extermination.

Although many natural controls may not be as effective as broad-spectrum toxins, there is no question in my mind that the trade-off is a healthier world for us all.

See the Resources and Bibliography page for addresses of companies, organizations, and books mentioned in this text.