Can anyone give me some tips on how to keep bugs away from my vegetable garden organically? Also…how to keep finches away from tomatoes. Just in case someone doesn’t know what finches are..they’re birds. Last year I didn’t have a bug problem with my tomatoes..but the finches ate them before I could get to them. I’ve heard you can use silver pie tins and that will scare them away.
The first thing you can do as you plant a garden is to include flowers and herbs that repel insects, such as marigolds, garlic, sage, thyme or rosemary.
Try kaolin clay. Mix one quart of the clay with one tablespoon of liquid soap and two gallons of water. Spray your plants with this mixture. You can find kaolin clay at stores that sell organic products, or from suppliers of pottery clay. Note: While it is quite effective, this method does leave a thin film on your plants, which is fine for a vegetable garden. If the plants are for purely aesthetic appeal, try the next method.
Mix dry granulated garlic into the soil around the plants. You can also spray them with a garlic product, available at garden centers that sell organic products.
Mix strips of aluminum foil with your garden mulch. Spread around as usual. This will deter the bugs from your vegetables. As an added benefit, the foil will reflect light back up onto your plants.
Dangle strips of aluminum foil from the branches using the fishing line. This will frighten the birds away from your fruit!
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Silver pie pans and old CD’s make a racket in the wind, and flash light which scares them. This only works temporarily, because they are fairly intelligent. The soon figure out that the noise and flashes don’t hurt them. I have heard planting Basil near your tomatoes will ward off bugs and give your tomatoes a wonderful flavor.
Garden netting is fairly cheap and it will keep your tomatoes from the birds.