eChipmunks - Natural pest control for vegetables?

Natural pest control for vegetables?

I'm in the middle of preparing a new garden and am planning on growing broccoli and onions to start off with. Only thing is that I'm not keen on using pesticides and want to keep the garden as organic as possible. What are some good ways such as natural sprays or even companion planting that will help keep pests away from broccoli and onions?

Public Comments

Take the hair from your hairbrush and place it around the plants. This is an old organic method and has worked well for me. It repels many garden pests.
Marigolds repel quite a few bugs that can attack vegetables. Here's a more complete list of tips for companion gardening: http://toadstoolponds.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/why-plant-marigolds-in-your-vegetable-garden/ Some people swear by Neem oil as a natural repellent. It's a vegetable oil frequently used by organic gardeners. In between waterings you can use flour sprinkled around the roots of plants to keep snails away, and corn meal to keep out ants if they're a bother. You can buy a container of lady bugs if you have problems with aphids. Good luck.
warm water minced garlic and biodegradable washing up detergent. aphids, snails etc hate the smell of garlic. and it wont affect your veggies its all natural...
You have some wonderful answers already. I would like to add coffee as a slug/snail repellant, it literally makes them go hyper and die. There is also an organic slug and snail killer that actually feeds your plants simultaneously. http://www.lakeland.co.uk/organic-slug-killer/F/productimage/51101?returnURL=/organic-slug-killer/F/product/51101?src=gpgarANDsq=organic+slug+pelletsANDsrc=gpgarANDsq=organic+slug+pellets Use fleece during the appropriate months to keep cabbage whites from laying on your brassicas. Plant mustard as a green manure. It produces a chemical in its roots that partially sterilizes the soil which will control eelworm. Marigolds do the same thing but make sure it is tagetes Tagetes minuta and T. erecta you use not Calendula. Finally to prevent cabbage root fly on your broccoli place a 6 inch diameter collar of carpet or underlay around each plant. This will prevent the fly from laying eggs on the soil near the plant. Thick cardboard works well as does most materials which do not rot too quickly.
Insects are more of a problem in large open agricultural fields where they have lots of plants, lots of room, and lots of time to multiply and spread around. For a small garden, they don't really cause a problem. I've had many small gardens, and never had a problem with any pests at all.
The comment Jenna made about neem is simply untrue. It doesn't impact the nervous system. Rather, it prevents certain pest insects, such as aphids, thrips, etc, from molting. It effectively suffocates them. This is a quote lifted directly from a neem brochure: "Neem Oil is not known to be harmful to mammals, birds or beneficial insects such as earthworms, butterflies, honeybees and ladybugs" So with that in mind, neem is safe to use, but only use it if you develop a notable bug problem. Otherwise, spray your plants periodically with Liquid Fence. It's marketed as a repellent for deer and rabbits (and works wonderfully for that purpose), but it also repels insects. It's really liquid gold for the gardener, probably the best stuff I've ever discovered. See the below link: http://www.liquidfence.com/deer-repellent-1-qt-con.html
You got some great answers, but this article covers the issues of beneficial plants and insects, as well as a recipe for an organic solution to spray on your garden plants. http://www.ehow.com/how_5033940_use-products-control-pests-garden.html