Fall Garden Cleanup Mistakes That Bring Pests Back

Fall Garden Cleanup Mistakes That Bring Pests Back

You raked, you bagged, you hauled six trash cans of leaves to the curb, and you patted yourself on the back for a job well done. Then April rolls around and your hostas are lace, your tomato seedlings have aphids before they even hit six inches, and there’s a vole tunnel running straight through what … Read more

How to Stop Garden Pests From Overwintering (So They’re Not Waiting for You in Spring)

How to Stop Garden Pests From Overwintering

You cut your tomato plants down, rake up most of the leaves, and call it a season. Then April rolls around and your “fresh start” garden gets hit by the exact same aphids, squash bugs, and slugs that wrecked your zucchini last July. Sound familiar? Here’s the thing nobody tells new gardeners: most garden pests … Read more

Homemade Mosquito Yard Spray: How To Take Your Backyard Back Naturally

Homemade Mosquito Yard Spray: How To Take Your Backyard Back Naturally

Nothing kills a summer evening faster than slapping your own leg every ten seconds. I get it. You finally get the kids outside, the burgers are on the grill, and within five minutes everyone’s covered in itchy red bumps and begging to go back in. I spent three summers dumping money into store-bought mosquito foggers … Read more

11 Beneficial Insects for Natural Pest Control (And How to Actually Attract Them)

Beneficial Insects for Natural Pest Control

You walk out to check on your tomatoes and there they are: aphids, packed onto every new shoot like commuters on a rush-hour train. Your first instinct is to sprint for the spray bottle. I get it. But that spray bottle is about to undo months of work, because most broad pesticides don’t know the … Read more

Fall Garden Pests: How to Spot Them Before the Frost Hits

Fall Garden Pests: How to Spot Them Before the Frost Hits

Your tomato leaves have holes in them. Your kale looks like it went through a paper shredder. And you just found a pile of something suspicious near your cabbage that definitely wasn’t there last week. Sound familiar? You’re not losing your mind, and you’re not a bad gardener. Fall is prime time for pests to … Read more

7 Eco-Friendly Pest Control Ideas for Autumn Vegetable Gardens

Eco-Friendly Pest Control Ideas for Autumn Vegetable Gardens

Your fall greens are finally thriving, and then you spot it: a cabbage looper chewing lace through your kale, or a squadron of aphids setting up camp on your broccoli. Autumn pests don’t get the same press as their summer cousins, but they’ll wreck a cool-season garden just as fast if you let them. Here’s … Read more

How to Stop Fall Insect Invasions in Houseplants Before They Take Over Your Living Room

How to Stop Fall Insect Invasions in Houseplants

Every September, my phone starts buzzing with the same panicked text from my neighbor Claudia: “Why are there tiny bugs flying around my pothos every time I water it?” My answer is always the same. Fall is moving day for bugs, and your houseplants just became the warmest, safest apartment building on the block. Here’s … Read more