Gardening When You’re Afraid of Bugs.

I’m afraid of bugs. Yes, it’s true. I love admiring nature in the garden, but I definitely keep my distance from bugs. That advice people give to pick off garden pests and flick them into a container full of water just doesn’t work for me. And still I manage to grow vegetables and keep my pollinator gardens going, so I wanted to share some tips on coexisting with garden bugs.

Let’s get one thing straight: fearing something doesn’t mean you can’t still admire it and encourage it in your garden. I feel joy, real joy, when I see a praying mantis hanging out on a plant or on my window sill because I know it is beneficial to my garden. I know my mantis friend will eat up lots of garden pests and keep my plants in order, but I also always pray that I won’t run into him outside. Inevitably, I will encounter a mantis on a garden hose or on top of some other thing I need to use and in that case I will gently nudge it off with a stick. I would never dream of killing it and you shouldn’t either. Praying mantises keep pests in check, they are food for other animals like birds and frogs, and they eventually die out any way in late fall/early winter here in the Northeast.

Thank God for winter.

Fearing garden bugs doesn’t mean you’re not cut out to garden. I find that if I do some extra work in early spring, I can have my gardens set up to need minimal weeding and maintenance during the summer when all the bugs are out.

In early spring, around mid April, I start surveying the gardens and weeding out tiny crabgrass, plantain, mugwort, and star of bethlehem plants. Any noxious weed trees like tree of heaven or norway maple saplings are removed then or no later than a few weeks later. I make paths* if they are needed and I re-support/repair my garden beds as needed. As the weeks go by, I continue weeding as much as possible (at least an hour once per week but probably more).

*Paths are a good idea for natural/native front gardens because they make the garden look more deliberate and they make weeding and maintaining water features and bird feeders much easier. You can make an inexpensive mulch path by putting down some cardboard or weed fabric, attaching it with garden staples, and placing (cedar) mulch on top. My garden is higher than the sidewalk so I dug a path about 1-2 inch deep before adding the cardboard and mulch. This kind of path is not permanent and needs to be redone every 1-2 years, but it’s quick and easy.

I remove the bird feeders at the beginning of May because by then there are plenty of weed seeds and bugs for the birds, and I don’t want to encounter insects in the feeders. By this time there are also more weeds about to flower, so I yank them out. I also check out-of-the-way locations like the side of my house for poison ivy and remove that. I know that in a few weeks I will not be setting foot back there, so I try to leave it as weeded as I can. If I had more than a few small vines, I would probably call a professional poison ivy removal service because problems like these only get worse as the season goes on and if you’re afraid of bugs, chances are you won’t be waist deep in greenery clearing out poison ivy in the middle of summer!

In the vegetable garden, I place a layer of newspapers and mulch in my raised beds to cut down on weeds. I plant marigolds in every bed as well as bug repellent herbs, like basil and mint. I add supports for large and vining plants the moment I plant them so I don’t have to get in there and do it once the plants are huge and full of bug-filled greenery. Once plants are in full swing, I do find pests, but I usually don’t need to do much about them. I make sure I plant lots of tomatoes and cucumbers in different locations, so there is plenty to go around for me and the bugs. Each year I find frass (caterpillar poop) on leaves or between the beds, but I never actually see the caterpillars in question and it doesn’t affect my plants. The only vegetable that I run into trouble with is zucchini because it always gets infested by the squash vine borer, which is a revolting grubby worm that tunnels through the zucchini plant stems and slowly kills the plant. This year, I am planning to sow it later in the season to avoid this pest instead of starting it indoors.

I find that garden bugs really start moving into my area around mid May/beginning of June. I refrain from spraying pesticides because I worry that it will disrupt the balance that I have tried so hard to establish by not spraying for so many years. Since I do put bird feeders out during the winter, the birds tend to hang around my property all year round and eat pests like Japanese beetles and other bugs. I also keep a small birdbath and a water fountain which encourages dragonflies and damselflies- two bugs that eat mosquitoes. If I notice aphids on my milkweed, I don’t worry too much because the ladybugs usually show up at some point in the season and eat them. The point is I really try not to overreact with chemicals in the garden. Praying mantises and other beneficial bugs will appear in your garden and keep other insect populations in check if you don’t spray pesticides. If you feel you have a bad infestation on a plant, you can try spraying the bugs off with a hose or removing the plant. Keep in mind that even natural or homemade pesticides made with dish soap can still harm beneficial bugs like bees and butterflies (kills their eggs and caterpillars).

Takeaways:

• start getting your garden in order as soon as possible before all the bugs appear.
• Encourage beneficial insects that will act as natural pest control.
• Don’t freak out and start spraying chemicals everywhere; weigh the pros and cons even if you’re using a homemade pesticide.
• Tip: ask a friend for help doing buggy tasks.
• Tip: Use a long stick to shake areas you are headed towards so bugs can move away.

Whatever you do, don’t let the fear of bugs keep you away from the garden!