Some gardeners use specially made garden barriers, beer baths and other unique methods to keep pests from chewing on tender plants. For the purists, natural pest control means handpicking pests off plants and destroying the critters. Others encourage snakes, bats, frogs and toads to take up residence in the garden and feast on the undesirable insects. It's also true that gardeners are by nature pretty generous. Most gardeners find that a few bugs chewing on a plant is a small price to pay for a garden that is chemical-free.
Healthy gardens are definitely possible without the use of chemical pesticides.
And we will all be better off for it. Carol Boncella is education coordinator at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and garden writer for the Journal-World. When people plant corn they are saying, let's stay here. And by their connection to the land, they are connected to one another. Tonganoxie Mirror Baldwin City Signal Kaw Valley Gardening is a production of Lawrence Journal-World Web Works.