Simple kitchen products foil pests

Keeping gardens pest-free is sometimes as easy as reaching into the refrigerator.

William Cureton, an organic gardener from Trussville, Ala., who lectures on the topic and goes by the nickname "Captain Compost," says that simple kitchen products can be used to alleviate the problems of garden pests and promote a healthy, eco-friendly garden.

"Basically, you're taking a salad dressing and killing a bug with it," he said. "The vegetable oils clog up the thorax of soft-bodied insects. Natural foods to us that we eat will hurt a lot of pests."

Experts like Cureton say that gardening in an eco-friendly manner can be beneficial not only to the garden but also to the gardener. Environmentally friendly gardening can be easy in method and easy on the pocketbook.

Cureton recommends starting from scratch when it comes to creating a healthy garden. He says the most fundamental part of any garden, the placement of plants, can contribute to a thriving, pest-free garden environment. He recommends gardens not be planted in rows but rather in clusters, as plants would grow in nature.

"Instead of growing rows, you've got to grow plants," he says. "Nature doesn't grow in rows."

This process is called bio-intensive planting, and it leads to a more lush, full garden. Such positionings as planting basil next to tomatoes can chase away certain harmful bugs through the scent of the herb, and planting beans with corn leads to a greater rate of nitrogen in the garden's soil.

Jerry Spencer, an organic grower at Mt. Laurel Organic Gardens in Birmingham, Ala., says this practice of improving the quality of the soil can be one of the biggest factors in a well-maintained garden.

"The soil is actually alive," he said. "It's alive with microbes and chemicals, and you start killing the microbes once you start using chemicals as fertilizers or pesticides."

He says the use of chemicals to kill pests leads to the use of more chemicals to revitalize the area, which starts an endless cycle of removing and replenishing microbes, both good and bad.