Ask Ariadne

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Ask Ariadne

This edition of Ask Ariadne is devoted to gardening, or more specifically, how to get rid of those crawly critters who have taken up residence in your garden, mowing down your seedlings and chomping away on your beautiful tomatoes, without having to resort to drastic measures.

The practice of planting marigolds and herbs in the vegetable garden to confuse or repel plant pests is a well-known example of the practice of companion planting. There are numerous other techniques, such as planting herbs that exude a strong fragrance to repel insect pests from neighboring plants; planting tall plants to shield smaller ones from sun and wind (which can sometimes hide a crop from pests); planting flowering plants and herbs which attract beneficial insects, like bees; and planting sacrificial “trap crops” which draw insects away from other plants. In addition, some plants give off secretions from their roots that benefit nearby plants. Other plant’s roots penetrate the soil deeply so that nutrients are brought up to the upper levels of the soil. These plants also help to break up heavy soil.

Some Planting Companions:
Beans-like celery and cucumbers, nasturtiums, but dislike onions and fennel, chives and garlic.
Beets-Bush beans, lettuce, onions, kohlrabi, and most members of the cabbage family are companion plants. Keep pole beans and mustard away from beets. Broccoli and Cauliflower-Like sage, pennyroyal, mint, oregano, parsley. Dislike tomatoes.
Cabbage-Celery, dill, onions and potatoes, sage, pennyroyal, mint, oregano and parsley are good companions. Dislike strawberries, tomatoes, and pole beans.
Carrots-Leaf lettuce, radish, onions, tomatoes, and feverfew (a deterrent against carrot fly) are good companions. They dislike parsnips and dill. Corn-Pumpkins, peas, beans, cucumbers and potatoes are good. Keep tomatoes away from corn.
Cucumbers-Corn, peas, radishes, beans and sunflowers are good companions. Cucumbers do not do well with aromatic herbs and potatoes.
Lettuce-Does especially well with onions. Strawberries, carrots, radishes and cucumbers are also good companions.
Onions-Do well with lettuce, beets, strawberries and tomatoes. Keep peas and beans away from onions.
Peas-Carrots, cucumbers, corn, turnips, radishes, beans, potatoes and aromatic herbs are good. They don’t like onions, garlic, leek, and shallots or chives.
Radishes-They do well with beets, carrots, spinach, parsnips, cucumbers and beans. Folklore has it that summer plantings of radishes near leaf lettuce makes the radishes more tender. They do not like cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kohlrabi or turnips.
Squash-Icicle radishes, cucumbers and corn are good companions.
Tomatoes-Carrots, onions, parsley and basil (deterrent against fruit fly), marigolds and lettuce are good companion plants. Keep cabbage and cauliflower away from the tomatoes.

For ants, plant marjoram, mint, oregano, onions, rue, tansy.
For aphids, plant chives, garlic, marigolds, mint, coriander, onions, oregano, or sprinkle crushed chrysanthemum flowers.
For fruit flies, plant basil.
For carrot fly, plant feverfew.
For cabbage moths, plant rosemary, sage, thyme.
For potato beetles, plant marigolds, nasturtiums, flax.
For flies, plant basil or tansy.
For leafhoppers, sprinkle dried and crushed chrysanthemum flowers.
For mosquitoes, plant basil, garlic or geranium.
For ticks, plant garlic.
For tomato bugs, plant borage.
For white flies, plant marigold or oregano.

Cutworms eat their way through seedlings and transplants, leaving you with a severed stem nub and separated seedling. Stop them with a cutworm collar. Cut an empty toilet paper roll in half. Carefully place collar over newly emerged seedling or new transplant. Press into the soil carefully. Cutworms will be unable to reach your plant and sever it in two.

You’ve heard, I’m sure, about leaving shallow bowls of beer to drown slugs, but this idea is even better because you can add calcium to your soil at the same time you are discouraging slugs. Save your used eggshells and dry them for at least a week. You can keep adding shells, but be sure to wait a week after adding the last shells. Crush the shells and sprinkle thickly around seedlings and plants in the garden. The shells can be sharp, so wear gloves. The slugs won’t crawl over the shells. You can reapply as often as necessary.

If you've got Japanese Beetles, you can purchase a Japanese beetle lure at gardening centers or hardware stores. You will also need a yellow bucket (it must be yellow, because the beetles are attracted to that color.) (By the way, you can find Japanese beetle traps at the hardware store, too, but the critters can chew through the plastic bags that these traps are made of and get right back to chewing up your plants!)
Place the lure about half way down on the inside of the bucket and place some dishwashing soap and a few inches of water in the bottom of the bucket, being careful not to get the lure wet. Hang the bucket at least 10 feet away from the garden, about 5 feet above the ground. Beetles will fly into the bucket and drown. You should empty the bucket daily and refill it with soapy water. Replace the lure every couple of months.

These are oils that you can get at nurseries and garden supply stores. When sprayed on plants they smother eggs, larvae, pupae and even adult insects, but must be used before the plant starts to bud out. Miscible oil is one that will mix with water when heated or agitated, and can be use to rid your plants of aphids, thrips and scales. Dormant oil also works controlling spider mites. Be sure to read the instructions carefully.

Insect-killing soaps are totally bio-degradable and environmentally safe. Like the oils mentioned above, they work as a smothering agent on a wide variety of insects: aphids, mites, whitefly, scale, leafhoppers and others, but are safe to use right up to harvest time. The soap must be sprayed directly on the insect for it to work.

Diatomaceous earth is a non-toxic flour-like powder made from a naturally occurring mineral compound from microscopic skeletal remains of unicellular algae-like plants called diatoms.
Although it is non-toxic, you don’t want to inhale or ingest the powder, so wear a paper mask and gloves when dusting your plants. If you have a large area to dust, you might want to get a dusting apparatus at your gardening supply store. DE must be dry to work, so it can’t be used in moist areas. DE will stop ants, potato beetles, grasshoppers, leafhoppers, and slugs.

Some of these garden tips were found at some of my favorite organic gardening sites: