Hey everyone!
I’ve spent years battling aphids, slugs, and rodents in my garden, until I realized my landscaping choices might be inviting pests instead of repelling them. After replacing my water-hungry lawn with native drought-tolerant plants, I noticed fewer mosquitoes (no standing water!) but more earwigs hiding in mulch. Now I’m experimenting with strategic design:
- Raised beds lined with copper tape to deter slugs.
- Marigold borders to confuse nematodes.
- Rock gardens to discourage rodent burrowing.
But is this just wishful thinking, or can intentional design truly reduce infestations?
Lavender and rosemary around my veggie beds keep moths and flies away! Slugs avoid gravel paths too.
Switched to cedar mulch, fewer termites but more pill bugs. Now I use oregano ground cover, pests hate the scent!
Raised beds + copper tape = Slug Armor. But earwigs invaded my straw mulch. Switching to rubber mulch next.
Birdbaths attract dragonflies that eat mosquitoes! Planted sunflowers for birds to perch and hunt aphids.
My koi pond became a mosquito paradise. Added floating plants (water lettuce) and BTI dunks, problem solved! @SkepticalSue rubber mulch smells weird… worth it?
Swapped lawn for prairie grasses, no more grubs! But voles love the dense roots.
Flagstone paths with sand gaps deter ants from reaching my patio.
@SkepticalSue lavender is pest-proof!
@CaveDweller666 rubber mulch lasts longer but heats up soil.
@MightyMouser diatomaceous earth in path gaps stops ants cold.
@ScienceBuffBen voles are the worst, try owl boxes!