Pesticides are poisons designed to kill insects, plants, fungi, molds, and rodents. This may appear ideal and easy but they don’t stay in one garden; they drift throughout neighbourhoods, and flush into our storm drains and salmon streams. According to the Sierra Club of Canada, over 34 million kilograms of pesticides are used annually across Canada. Research suggests wildlife is affected in various adverse ways: reproduction, growth, neurological development, behaviour and the function of the immune system. A large flock of Canada Geese died after exposure to diazinon – a lethal chemical used on lawns. In Manitoba, a pesticide, declared as ‘safe’, wiped out 13 kilometers of trees. Over 800 children were poisoned from playing on sprayed grass and by ingesting pesticides, according to the Quebec Poison Control Centre.

CHEMICAL-FREE PEST CONTROL

Monique Atherton of Arden’s Garden in Grimsby Ontario, pays her children fifty cents for every tomato bug they pluck and feed to the chickens. Here are a few other ideas

• Plant flowers that attract bugs to keep them away from your veggies. Nasturtiums for example, are havens for dot moths, garden carpets and the large white butterfly
• Herbs such as garlic, mint, basil, chives, dill and onions interspersed around vulnerable plants, will help deter pests
• An upturned, scooped out half grapefruit skin becomes a slug trap. Check daily to remove captured slugs and move them away from vegetables
• Ground eggshells or powdered ginger sprinkled around plants helps deter snails and slugs
• Slug and snail baits made from iron phosphate are harmful to the infiltrators but harmless to pets, birds and wildlife
• Alternative insecticide sprays made from chrysanthemum flower head extracts and canola oil, kill bugs in all stages of development from larvae to adulthood
• Insecticide soaps containing plant-based, fatty acids help control pests inside your home as well as in your garden.

H&L