• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • How to Garden
    • Seed Starting
    • Plant Profiles
    • Tools & Equipment
    • Raised Bed Gardening
  • Vegetables
  • Fruit
  • Herbs
  • About
    • Books & Classes
      • Herbalism Classes
      • Books for Christian Herbalists
      • Privacy Policy

Outwitting the Insects

July 11, 2016 by Jeanne

I’m on a quest this year to outwit the insects in my garden. Between the Colorado potato beetles that threaten to eat everything to the grasshoppers, squash bugs, stink bugs, white flies and God only knows what else, I’m left to wonder why anyone gardens at all. Outwitting the insects is my mission this year, and I think I’ve found a way to get there….

outwitting insects

Outwitting Insects by Changing Planting Times

Sometimes, outwitting insects means changing the expected environment they love. I’m talking about planting things slightly outside of the usual sequence to keep insects from finding the food or nesting places they love.

This is my theory: insects need specific plants for food, shelter and breeding or nesting sites. Their life cycles are governed by these needs. If I withhold what’s needed from them, and plant it at times when they’re least expecting it…maybe, just maybe, I can squeak out a crop without them noticing it.

[Tweet “Experimentation is half the fun in the garden. My experiment with organic insect control.”]

That’s my theory, at any rate.

Here’s what I’ve done this weekend:

  • I removed all of the weeds from the potato bed and pulled up the little potatoes that were left. The Colorado potato beetles pretty much decimated the leaves, but the roots had a little time to develop. The roots are where you find nice potatoes. I harvested a bowl full and we enjoyed fresh Yukon gold potatoes yesterday, and I have enough for a few more meals, so I’m satisfied.
  • The remaining Colorado potato beetles will seek similar nightshade family plants. That means tomatoes. I am finding a few on the tomato plant leaves, but not nearly as many as were on the potatoes. These I pick off by hand and dunk into an empty detergent bottle with a little soapy water at the bottom.
  • For other beetles, like squash bugs, who enjoy infecting my squash, zucchini and cucumbers with microbes that spread wilts and bacteria diseases, I waited until this weekend, July 10th, to plant the seeds. It’s very late in the season; typically, I’d plant these by mid-May. But my guess is that the insects who love them may have moved on to other places seeking food. At least I hope so. In the meantime, I do have empty spaces where I pulled up the bolted lettuce, and I had the seeds, so what’s to lose? Nothing except a few seeds. Since I already have a mouse eating through the seeds in my basement…and yes, I have six cats, none of whom are taking any interest at all in catching the rascal…I may as well plant the seeds!

So that’s my grand experiment. Will it work? I have no idea. But part of the fun of gardening is experimentation.

vegetable garden

My raised bed vegetable garden this weekend.

Many times, I speak with people and they just want to know the “right” thing to do. Sometimes there really isn’t a right thing to do. Sure, you can use pesticides to kill those “bad” bugs, but when you use the pesticides, you may accidentally kill some “good” bugs too. You can use barriers like floating row covers. You can use trap crops, or plants that you sacrifice to keep others alive, the way I let the potato beetles enjoy the potatoes to save my tomatoes. There are plenty of organic gardening methods you can use.

But it’s not always a cut-and-dried answer to your gardening questions. Sometimes, you just have to take your best guess and try a solution that does the least harm to the garden. Who knows if it will work? When the rewards of the garden outweigh the bother of planting a few seeds a little later in the year, it’s well worth the trouble.

Filed Under: Home Garden Tips

Previous Post: « Trench Composting
Next Post: New Gardening Tasks and Tips for July »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram

As Seen in Porch

 As Seen in Porch

We were featured in Porch.com and answered reader's questions about indoor plants.

Explore All Gardening Articles

a zucchini growing in a raised bed

Growing Zucchini in Raised Beds

kale growing in a raised bed

Replenishing Raised Bed Garden Soil

raised bed garden

How to Build a Vegetable Garden Using Raised Beds

a watering can next to a seed tray on a sidewalk

What Veggies Can I Plant Now?

Herbalism Classes & Supplies

Goods Shop by Herbal Academy – botanically inspired products

Disclosure

Home Garden Joy participates in two affiliate programs: Amazon and The Herbal Academy. Home Garden Joy earns a commission from qualifying purchases as an Amazon Associate. As an Herbal Academy Associate, HGJ also earns a commission when you sign up for classes or purchase herbs or supplies from The Herbal Academy. Herbal information and recipes on this site are provided for educational purposes only.

Footer

butternut squash growing in a raised garden bed

How to Grow Butternut Squash Organically

Learning how to grow butternut squash organically ensures you know how to grow this tasty, nutritious vegetable in your home garden. I’ll share with you some basic information on growing butternut squash, followed by some organic gardening tips that have been helpful for me here at Seven Oaks Farm in dealing with the various pests…

Read More

herbs in a pink dish

How to Make the Perfect Cup of Herbal Tea

Make the perfect cup of herbal tea, right from your own garden! In May, I gave two free talks on how to grow, harvest, dry, and create your very own herbal teas. This lecture proved so popular that I recorded the narration and uploaded it to YouTube. You can view it below: Supplies to Make…

Read More

tent caterpillars on a pear tree

How to Get Rid of Tent Caterpillars

I spent last Saturday morning getting rid of Eastern tent caterpillars from the apple and pear trees in the orchard here on the farm. Malacosoma americanum, the Eastern tent caterpillar, is a regular visitor each spring. We first spot the shimmery webs on a clear spring day. The small ‘tents’ built by the caterpillars quickly…

Read More

kale growing in a raised bed

Replenishing Raised Bed Garden Soil

Raised bed vegetable garden soil soil needs to be replenished periodically. If you’ve done your job right and selected great soil, and amended it with nice compost, you’re going to have super garden soil for the first few years. Because you don’t walk on a raised bed garden the way that you do with typical…

Read More

  • Privacy Policy
  • About
  • Awards

Copyright © 2025 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme