10 Clever Ways Smart Gardeners Keep Pests Away

Over the years I’ve learned to stop pests in their tracks by deploying 10 simple strategies. There’s no nasty chemicals involved – just smart, organic, nature-friendly know-how.

So here are the methods I use, including the best barriers to keep pests away from crops, how to attract the hungriest pest predators, and what to do when all else fails…

1. Choose the Right Barriers

Barriers are a foolproof way to keep almost any pest off your hard-won crops. If you’re short of time to inspect plants regularly to hand pick pests, or you just want a guaranteed way to keep super-vulnerable veggies and fruits safe, barriers are the answer.

Butterfly netting is perfect for keeping caterpillar-producing butterflies and moths and (crucially for me!) birds like pigeons off your crops. I use purpose-sold netting tents to protect young seedlings from being pecked or pulled out by pigeons, but for a cheap and easy alternative make a frame using upright bamboo canes topped with plastic bottles and drape netting over it. Or, simply throw netting over fruit bushes as your currants or berries start to ripen. Be sure to weigh down the edges securely, and check regularly in case any birds get caught up in it.

Different covers give different levels of protection. Lightweight, breathable fabrics like garden fleece are perfect for laying directly over plants, but if you only use one type of barrier, insect mesh is the most multipurpose and effective, and longer-lasting than fleece. It’s great for excluding flying insects like carrot flies and leaf miners. Both fleece and mesh let sunlight, air and rain reach your precious plants.

If using barriers to keep caterpillars at bay, make sure insect mesh or netting is suspended above plants and not touching leaves so butterflies can’t lay their eggs through it – which has been known!

2. Hand Pick Pests

Barriers or not, I check my plants regularly so I can act quickly on any early signs of an attack, because sometimes pests can crawl underneath barriers at ground level or get in through tears. I like to inspect crops whenever I water, keeping a beady eye out for pests or their eggs. If I do spot them, I can pick them off or squish them. This works great for the likes of caterpillars or soft-bodied, sap-sucking insects like aphids.

Caterpillars can go on the bird table as a treat for insect-eating birds. It’s a great task for early morning, when pests are often at their most active.

3. Keep Plants Healthy

It may seem obvious, but healthy plants that receive enough light, moisture and nutrition will grow strongly and, therefore, be more able to stand up to pest attacks. Most pests are cowardly, picking on the sickest plants, so if all yours are radiating health then they’re less likely to be singled out.

Aim to keep plants well hydrated by watering thoroughly in dry weather. And make sure they’re well fed too, with generous helpings of manure or compost added to the soil at least once a year. I also like to treat the heaviest feeders like tomatoes to organic feeds, such as my really rather special homemade fish fertilizer.

4. Grow Companion Plants

Many herbs and flowers can be used to help repel pests, so they’re well worth growing near pest-prone crops as a simple, low-fuss way to prevent problems in the first place.

For example, I grow plenty of marigolds near my tomatoes because their natural aroma helps confuse and, ultimately, deter whitefly, and also basil because its distinctive aroma is known to put off the likes of aphids, mites, and even tomato hornworms.

Dotting herbs like thyme, parsley or chives around your vegetables will not only add color, but help deter certain pests. Chives, for example, are great at shielding carrot family crops from carrot fly.

For companion planting combinations that’ll make your garden more resilient to pests – and more attractive to you – why not give our Garden Planner a whirl? Add plants to your plan then find their perfect partners using the Companion Planting button to give them their best shot at success!

5. Encourage Pest Predators

Then there are the companion flowers planted not to deter pests, but to draw in their predators. Pest munchers such as ladybugs devour aphids, lacewings tuck into thrips and mites, while hoverflies are connoisseurs of soft-bodied pests. It’s often the larvae of all these predators that are the very hungriest! Include flowers like calendula or sweet alyssum to draw them in and keep pests to a more manageable level, and allow patches of nettles to grow to support ladybugs and the caterpillars of many beneficial butterflies.

Insect-eating birds like wrens or robins will also chow down on pests, so set up birdhouses and areas for birds to perch and scout for bothersome bugs.

Toads and frogs make short work of slugs. I created a small pond and let the grass grow long in a naturally boggy corner of my garden, and frogs and toads absolutely love it. Inevitably I’ll also find them in and around the nearby vegetable garden, so it’s no wonder slugs rarely get out of hand!

6. Plant Trap Crops

Some plants are so irresistible to pests that they’ll settle in for dinner on them and leave other plants alone. By planting some of these ‘trap crops’ – also known as sacrificial crops – we can concentrate more pests in one spot, and hopefully spare our food crops.

One of the very best trap plants is the nasturtium. It’s a magnet for pests such as caterpillars and black bean aphids, and when planted close to susceptible crops it can take the brunt of a pest attack. It’s a bit like the canary in the mine – if I spot a pest on the nasturtium, I know to be extra vigilant elsewhere. I can let the nasturtium take the hit, then either pick off light infestations, or lift up and compost the entire plant before pests have a chance to spread. I also love the fact it self-seeds from year to year!

Radishes are another excellent trap crop, perfect for planting around cabbage family crops and leafy greens to intercept incoming flea beetle attacks.

7. Grow a Mix of Crops

Understand the lifecycles of key pests and we can get duck, dive and dodge them! For instance, cabbage maggots (the grubs of cabbage root flies) overwinter in the soil. So if you’ve moved your spring planting of cabbages and other brassicas to a completely new area of ground, away from the emerging grubs (and of course used fine mesh barriers to protect them) they’ll have nothing to feed on!

Similarly, root knot nematodes will find it harder to attack a new generation of plants if their host crops are grown in a new spot from year to year.

As gardeners we can grow a varied range of crops, unlike the big fields of a single crop grown by farmers, and this makes our plants a lot harder to home in on. Growing plants with different leaf shapes and textures side by side helps to disguise many crops from pests, as well as drawing in a more diverse crowd of pest-eating allies.

Other shifty techniques we can deploy are growing crops outside of the main danger period for their key pests. For example, grow spring-maturing cabbages to lift and enjoy before midsummer when cabbage white butterflies start to cause problems.

8. Set Up Slug Traps

While the frogs, toads and ground beetles in my garden are a major help, slugs can sometimes be a problem early on in the growing season when there are lots of delicate, tender seedlings for slugs to rasp away at.

So in spring I set up slug traps. They’re very simple: get a small plastic tub such as a used margarine tub, and cut holes in the sides near the top. Dig it into the soil so the holes are just above soil level, then fill them with either cheap beer or a yeasty solution made with flour. Put the lid on to keep other animals and rain out. The scent of the yeasty brew or beer attracts slugs, which then fall into the liquid and drown. It’s a completely safe, chemical free and surprisingly effective way to battle these slimy pests.

9. Employ Biological Controls

An enclosed environment like a greenhouse is an ideal setting to break open purpose-bought biological control. There are many types on the market including tiny little wasps to combat whitefly and mites to control thrips. They’re best used in a tunnel or greenhouse because they’re less likely to simply fly away, like they might outside. Just introduce them the moment you first spot the pest and let these tiny allies get to work eating them!

There are also nematodes to water onto soil for slug control, other nematodes for showing vine weevils the door, and a whole lot more.

10. Use Organic Sprays (Last Resort!)

If all else fails, the very final option is to use an organic spray made from natural ingredients. Sprays should really be a last resort, because even organic sprays may have an indirect impact on non-target species and even pest predators. So use them sparingly, and only in worst-case scenarios.

There are many homemade sprays you can make, but one of the very simplest is an oil-based insecticidal soap made by adding one tablespoon each of cooking oil and liquid castile soap to one liter (2 pints) of water. The natural castile soap is safe to use outside, and for the oil, use a vegetable, sunflower or canola oil. Give it a good shake and use against soft-bodied pests like aphids, whiteflies and spider mites.

Other natural options include garlic and chili sprays made from blended garlic, chili peppers and water to repel chewing and sucking insects, and there are also off-the-shelf options such as neem oil and Bt.

Bugs, Beneficial Insects and Plant Diseases

Whitefly Guide

Diamondback Moth Guide

Carrot Rust Fly Guide