I was double blessed with my grandmother’s gardening genes; and my mother’s healthy eating habits. Long before organic gardening was so popular, my grandmother was making her garden chemical free and my mother was feeding us an organic plant based heavy diet. Living on the Oregon coast my grandmother planted her vegetable garden in the sand dune behind her house. She’d drive her old pickup to the beach and pick up kelp that had washed up to shore. She would then make a trip to the local mink farmer for natural fertilizer. The farmer also into organics, raised them for their byproducts. ( No minks were harmed in the process).
The mixture produced the best and most plentiful produce. In keeping with my heritage, I’ve followed her teachings in trying to use organic matter to fertilize and control pests in my garden. I am always searching for natural methods in my garden, as well as in my day to day life.
This last weekend when I got to my garden I surprised a rabbit that was happily eating one of my pepper plants. I was disappointed as he hopped away to see he had eaten it down to the stem. In sharing this story with my mother she told me about one of her recent organic findings, Organic Garlic concentrate. She lives in an area where creatures of the forest; deer, squirrels, wild turkey, etc. wonder through her backyard daily. Her defense against them eating all her roses and plants led her to discover Organic Garlic Concentrate. As a bonus, it repels, aphids, mosquitoes, and ants. She is one of the only people in her community to have roses and flowers in her garden. It seems that animals do not like the smell or taste of garlic.
The brand she has tried, with success is “Sun Joe”. It can be found on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Joe-SJ2-SGD32-Defense-Mosquito-Repellent/dp/B00VDW3FT2/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528298263&sr=8-2&keywords=sun+joe+garlic It is absorbed directly into the plants and provide protection from roots to leaves. It is non-toxic, to children and pets, and safe around other plants. The garlic smell fades for humans but lingers for the pests. It will not affect taste of veggies. You can also make your own by boiling several cups of water with a few heads (Yes heads! Not cloves) of smashed garlic and strain when cool to use in a spray bottle.
Hints for effective controls are to spray every 2-3 days and after a heavy rain. Best applied in the evening.
I ordered it and have since applied to our new sod in our front yard and will be at my garden later today to test this on my garden. This morning we did not see any rabbits on our front yard! Results hopefully will be finally, having pepper plants the rabbits do not eat!
Happy Gardening!
Mary Church