Wild Tip - Add Wild Patches to Your Garden

I don't use any chemicals to control garden pests. Instead I strive to establish a balance between prey and predators. But without habitat for predators they won't show up and the pests will get out of balance.

Often this is the situation with our vegetable gardens. These manicured gardens filled with yummy annual vegetables in nice rows are just a buffet for pests.

So what can you do?

There are actually a number of solutions but one that I really like is to add wild patches to your garden beds.

The picture at the top of the post shows one of mine. Each of my garden beds has one of these wild patches.

These patches include snags, woody debris, nice thick mulch and rock piles. Plus, I'm planting native wild vegetables in these patches this fall that will provide harvests for me and my family while also supporting beneficial insects.

So do these patches work?

Well yesterday I had to take the one in the picture apart and rebuild it to deal with some grass that was leftover from the old lawn.

Inside the rock pile I found centipedes, some spiders, and best of all a garter snake! All predators and garter snakes were my main goal when building the rock piles!

The garter snakes in western Washington eat slugs and other pests making these snakes a great predator to have around the garden.

Without predators your vegetables will have pest issues. But with wild patches plus other nature based solutions you can strike a balance with the pests.

When you work with nature, nature works with you.

Check out this blog post to learn more about creating a balance with garden pests: Control Garden Pests without Toxic Chemicals

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