Container Gardening, Proper Pest Containment

A quick little rundown before I start the post, I live in a Condo with no ability to plant an “in ground” garden, so Kim (my girlfriend) and I make due with the copious amounts of containers that we have, as well as a bunch of dirt that is readily accessible from any (proper) gardening store. I grew up on a farm for 12 years of my life, which was fitted with a garden that grew just about everything, ranging from asparagus, to brussels sprouts, to potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce & cabbage. Needless to say, I have a green thumb, and I a’int afraid to use it.

An issue that Kim and I had last year, and that I had the year before that, was pest control. Let it be on my tomatoes (we’re trying for two different breeds each of two different types of tomatoes), strawberries or peppers. With peppers, I didn’t really have an issue, what bug would want to eat something that hot? Strawberries were most susceptible to infestation, with tomatoes following close behind. We fussed with pests midway through the season, and they kind of snuck up on us, and were not easily contained.

What happened was we had white flies (I believe) on our strawberries, and aphids on the tomats, and the whiteflies pwnd (for lack of a better word) the strawberries quickly & easily, even after proper pest spraying, etc. was done. I was not happy. The aphids were easy to keep at bay, you just had to spray once, then again in a week, then again two weeks later. They never came back, that I new of.

The biggest issue/cause for pest infestation, is the close proximity in any garden that the plants may be. Let it be in a containerized environment–like mine–or in a regular, in-the-ground scenario.

What happens (of course) is that the bugs hit one plant, and then basically “jump” to the others, basically causing a hard to control outbreak, due to the close proximity. If you spray one plant, they (the pests) simply jump to another, and the vicious cycle continues until one or the other is dead… and it most likely won’t be your pest.

I told Kim Saturday (when all the planting was taking place) that proper pest control is this years goal, and what it takes more than anything is a keen eye, and a hand on the bottle (spray bottle, not whiskey) ready to remedy the situation.

Of course, a proper spray is needed, as it needs to be “ingestion friendly” i.e. that it’s safe to eat the food after you spray it, as well as it needs to be “harsh” enough to kill any and all pests that you may have.

However, sprays aren’t always the way to go. You can sometimes control your “pest population” by implementing some ladybugs, as they will feast on your pests. Bugs are bugs, but when they’re working for you, they a’int.

Over the next few months (until October at least), I will be posting things regarding pests and the outcome of the containerized garden that was (semi) implemented on Saturday. What does it consist of? Well:

• Tomatoes (1 breed at the moment, with 3 additional to be implemented later)
• Strawberries (2 different breeds)
• Jalapa peppers
• Serrano pepper
• Heat-resistant lettuce
• Green onions (not planted as of yet)
• Lavender (not yet planted)

We had tomatoes, peppers, some flowers, and strawberries last year, and had only moderate success with the tomatoes, due to blossom-end rot, a possibly side effect of over-fertilization. The flowers & peppers were the biggest successes of the season, as we had too many to go around. We’re hoping to have the same successes, but garden-round this year.

Like I said above, I will be posting minor updates about the successes/tribulations, as well as pest discovery & termination. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment.