I was asked on fb yesterday how to keep bugs down in my garden. My knee jerk reaction was to say 'you gotta hold your mouth right' because I don't have one go to thing that keeps the pests down. I don't have 'one fix'-I'm not reactionary in my garden, the gardening experience is based on synergy and pests are taken care of within that. Mostly, anyway. It gets late enough in the season and the production dies off and bugs do become a little more forceful-more on that later.

First thing I do is have healthy soil. I'm in Central FL and that means a lot of sand-and while I grow a lot of produce that does pretty well in sandy hot conditions (okra, sweet potatoes and southern peas for example) I do grow other produce that likes a little more nitrogen. I don't go nuts with perfect compost, I don't make cow manure tea. I got nothing against such things, but I have so much going on in my life that I work with the path of least resistance that moves along with the way the farm is going anyway, and that's the way that (smart) ol timers did it anyway.
So for soil-I have chickens and sheep and cows. I have sheep bedding and chicken bedding-plain old hay that either we have cut or bought-that the chickens poop in and scratch in. We also let the chickens freerange in the sheep pen and they break that down and it is pure gold in the garden! When we muck it out (and most of the time it is really dry, not a wet mess) We let it sit in a pile for a week or so and then I mulch my plants and beds all to hell and back. Do I sit and calculate how long the manure has broken down? Nope. Do I measure the ph? Nope. I throw a pile down and plow or hoe it in the soil. Then I put out my seedlings whenever I get around to it-sow in the morning and plant in the evening and it works good for me.
Yes, I do compost, but my go to is the manured bedding.
Now when the plants are kicking it pretty good and they act 'right' I get some more of that chicken/sheep mulch and spread it around the plants in the rows. Then I water [I]at the base of the plant[I] pretty good. Be mindful that if you water the leaves of the plant too much and it stays damp it will get fungus or blossom end rot. Do your best to keep water at the base. The plants get green and healthy and will grow so fast you can almost see it.
Healthy plants repel bad pests and 'call' beneficial ones.
See, a plant wants to live, and when it's healthy it has the strength to repel nasty bugs. I have seen it for years, now.
Now I also companion plant and I admit I am lazy about that-I know that carrots love tomatoes so I plant them around each other, and I do know marigolds will keep bugs away around any plant. I plant a ton of those and let them die back and then come spring sure enough I have a hundred little marigolds sprouting in the garden-so I transplant. There are all sorts of 'rules' for companion planting and I won't get into all of them here-best bet is to look at what you plant and see what works (or doesn't) with them. For instance I love hot peppers and I plant a lot of them near my cucumbers and they do fine. Some say it doesn't work, but it does for me. So do onions and garlic.
When the garden gets bigger-plants aren't little weak seedlings-I let the chickens roam and they will clear an area of bugs. I can't advocate this highly enough, Just make sure the plants aren't tiny.
I will say this-tomato hornworms often have to be looked for, picked and squished and those things HIDE and can eat a tomato plant in no time. What the chickens miss I look for.
I have used sevin dust in the past-but I haven't for awhile now and I don't recommend it.

I could go on for days about gardening. But what you have to remember is that you gotta get out there and experiment, get your hand dirty. You will make mistakes, you will kill plants, but you'll eventually get it right and it is sooo worth it. Oh, and always plant 50% to 100% more than you think you need. Some plants, no matter how perfect you do things, will die no matter what. Prepare for that and plant more. Always plant more.
If ya got any questions feel free to ask. I don't know everything but what I DO know, I know!
Natural pest control at work:
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