Growing a pesticide free garden

It is absolutely possible to grow a garden without using pesticides: by using principles of biodiversity, ecosystem building, and healthy plants, we can create a garden that functions as part of nature rather than damaging it.

In this video we go over three concepts that will help you develop your eco friendly, pesticide free garden (plus a bonus tip to help protect flowers like dahlias that may still be suffering from pest damage even if you’ve implemented these strategies).

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42 Comments

@christinepemberton5077
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

We're covered with fire ants! I have even used pesticides, in the past to get rid of them, and they just move off and come back! They cover EVERYTHING and ruin it! What can you do about fire ants without pesticide?

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@LauraSchwarz-j8u
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

You're brilliant!! This is exactly the approach I have with gardening. I really appreciate especially you mentioning the importance of natives over and over again. Most people aren't aware of the tremendous role these plants play for native wildlife/insects. Gardencenters here in Germany sell mostly exotic plants which also are proved to be sprayed with various pesticides/fungizides etcetera AND are labeled as beneficial for the pollinators". Such a sickening system we are living in..

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@ej4753
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Thank you! It is very helpful! I do not use any kind of pesticide in my garden and actually enjoy the diversity if insects living in it!

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@VirginiaReyes1983
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Thank you so much for this video! Wow! I paused and started taking verbatim notes! This is going to be super helpful for the future. I was actually thinking of doing a skip year for the squash next year. Do the squash vine borers attack cucumber vines too?

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@charlesbale8376
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Enjoyed the video and found the information very useful.

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@ajb.822
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

On garden pests, here in WI anyway. This is in the context of keeping on having to move, start new gardens on crappy soils with tiny budget and composts that proved to be far less than ideal (tho not toxic or anything). I had a HORRIBLE problem with cucumber beetles starting early in my marriage of 16 yrs/own gardening journey, and getting worse by the year. Didn't realize for 1st few of the problem, that it wasn't a downy mildew prob. but a cuke beetle problem. By then, they were crushing my zucchini production and making advances on my winter squash. Tried everything OG and some non. To little to mostly NO avail. Cukes being my favorite summer snack, I was despairing. Found in my notes from my mom's copy of "Carrots love tomatoes" a note that was something like this application, but given for squash bugs. For some reason tried it for cuke beetles, and it seems to be what has basically eliminated my problem/prevented the pest issue ever since ( 7 years and 4 or 5 dif. gardens across 3 counties in N.W. WI and one in N. IL). I got the only plain tobacco we knew how to find, pipe tobacco, and ya place a palmful in the soil at planting or transplanting time (or working it in near root area asap afterwards). I do this for all cucurbits and apparently tomatillos & ground cherries need it too, are attractive to the cuke beetles.
Japanese beetles : Never had em til IL, and now have em in newest rental place, on very dead, sandy soil in 2 very dry yrs in a row, in western St. Croix co. WI. Attacking my pole beans mainly. All I've done so far is knock em off into a lil pail of soapy water, and need to begin that sooner/immediately next time. Didn't get many beans. Had some bush beans at a 2nd garden nearby at friend's, they did ok, & for whatever reason had no Jap. beetles.
The only other major pest issues we deal with around here that I know of/that's frequent/continual and prevalent anyway, are potato beetles and the cabbage loper (butterfly and it's larvae). I guess slugs too, if there's habitat and etc. for them esp. , they love the brassicas but eat most things, esp. as seedlings, too. For potato beetles I use the OG approved spinosad stuff, otherwise they'd completely wipe out the plants usually, if once u see them you wait and see for long.. . Hitting them very hard, repeatedly seems so far to make them less of an issue the next year. But they're an issue even when it's the 1st garden that property has had in many years or ever, and there's no commercial potato fields nearby. They do seem much worse in horrible soil conditions.
The cabbage loper… I'm trying to get to where I'm using the insect netting, but so far don't have all I need for that and have just used nothing at all and made do with whatever level of gross worms in my food… ( I don't eat them), &/or trying to prevent/kill them by spraying the OG approved stuff for them.
The spinosad btw is harmful to bees it says, so I take the time to pick off any flowers incl. buds soon to open on my potatoes and anything ( like weeds) in or by them, b4 I spray. Tossing the flowers well away from the patch, to avoid a bee still seeing and landing on it ! Not because I think bees are the only pollinator and without them we'd all starve, but because I don't want to harm anything I don't "have to" , esp. not the "good guys" .

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@kellygoodwin1439
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

I'm glad you mentioned BT. I've seen so many people recommend it saying it's organic. But I still didn't feel good about pumping my plants full of it.

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@theawilkins3417
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

I love this video. Thank you! As I garden more and more, I'm starting to get into the mindset of knowing that there will be failures in the garden, but there are always successes, too. That's just how it is, and I shouldn't get so bent out of shape when a crop succumbs to pest damage. It actually makes me learn more about that bug and understand its role in nature.

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@katiekegley764
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Can anyone recommend any books that educate the layman on this topic? I find this interesting. Soil chemistry, biodiversity, permaculture, organic gardening practices, cover cropping, native plants by zone, etc. Thanks.

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@lindaangledal6330
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Thank you so much. So helpful as I start my organic flower patch journey. I was looking into organic pesticides only yesterday and had no idea they were also harmful to bees. So glad I didn’t buy any!

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@amypearce8242
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Such an important video, thanks for sharing! x

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@jeaninewalsh5120
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Hello, I recently found you. Can you do a video on fungus gnats? I winter sowed some seeds, we put in a vegetable and flower garden and I did some indoor sowing as well and ended up getting fungus nuts inside. Never had them before and now they are flying around my new beds we just put in. I sprayed my indoor plants because now they got infested with neem oil and got those yellow strips. I'm completely organic our soil that we just got is organic and I did water from the bottom. I do know they came in an organic bag of soil.

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@gagustribal2360
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

🎉🎉🎉

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@zeyemurgy881
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Birds… How to deal with flocks of 800~1,000 starlings?

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@jwhite5396
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Most of my neighbors have a company spray chemicals on their grass. Can anyone recommend a natural weed and feed for grass?

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@helenachase5627
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Boring topic. Just plant things you'll love

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@meghanmurphy3623
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

One note about gooseberries is they are illegal in some states as they are a vector for rust. Plant aronia, elderberry and natives with berries. 🙂

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@dksgardenoasis
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Great video! I do everything I can to be pesticide-free. But neighbors spray for mosquitos and it drifted into my yard and killed I'm sure my native bees and😮😢 most of my monarch caterpillars perished and died being poisoned. They say it's safe and organic and i say, " a caterpillar is an insect and your organic spray kills insects. So frustrating getting that point across to them.

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@cg3251
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

I went to a no spray garden about 5 years ago…I decided it would live or die. No matter what I was NOT going to spray anything, for any reason. My garden had lightening bugs in it for the first time a couple of years ago. From what I understand they only choose to live in a healthy environment.
My garden has thrived and I have not had any problems. The beneficials take care of the pests without much intervention on my part. I did educate myself on good bugs and bad bugs, I do some catching Japanese beetles in jars of water, and squish bad bugs when I see them. I DO cover my zuccini plants with nets for the beginning of the growing season, bc of squash vine borer. Squash type crops are the only crops I have had to take measures to mitigate pests.

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@lyndeer2173
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Do you have leaf footed bugs? I’m in zone 8 and are infested with then every year, any suggestions would help.

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@SeattleStevie
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

This was such an informative video! I stopped using neem oil a couple years ago mostly because I found it messy and annoying to deal with, but thank you for bringing to light how detrimental it really is. Same goes for Bt. I used it when I first learned about it, but I felt more comfortable either picking them off the plant as I saw them or just covering my brassicas with netting. Do you recommend leaving the caterpillars on the plants for the birds to find, or can I maybe leave them near one of my bird feeders as I pick them off my plants?

Thank you for all of the content you provide. I've only been watching for a short time since I found you through Epic Gardening, but have learned SO MUCH from you already! The world needs more channels like yours.

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@debsmith8102
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Ground squirrels are my bane! How do I get rid of them without killing them?

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@ecocentrichomestead6783
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

A "pest" is a wild animal eating what we don't want it to eat.
I prefer the terms "herbivores" and "carnivores"
Pesticides are herbivore poisons

Wrt "beneficial insects" many so called pests are also pollinators. It's the population that it the problem.

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@ellengoodall5450
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Loved this! Thank you 🙏

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@lawrenberghanson4401
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Love this!! 😍😍😍😍🐦🪱🥒🥕🌽

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@PartTimePermies
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

We use those bags on our fruit trees (apple, peaches, etc) as well

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@PartTimePermies
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Love your approach. Completely reminds me of my permaculture class.

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@jen_bolt
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

I’ve never seen the bag over the blooms before! I’m going to try that on my flowers this year!

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@Cat-id3jh
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

I want to grow pesticide free, but dont know how to eliminate fungus gnats. Do you have any suggestions? Btw, love your channel!

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@lindat23
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Can’t talk about attracting birds without making sure cats are indoors. Second reason for the declining bird population

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@myrrhidian3166
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

My husband and I are unwilling to kill anything, so we never spray with anything other than organic deterrents. I used Surround, which I believe is just kaolin clay that you dissolve in water and spray onto your plants. Caterpillars and beetles don't seem to like chewing on anything with the clay on it. I use it on my young fruit orchard, as well as tomato and squash plants with great success. Our garden is still fairly new, and though our bird population is high and we have a lot of diversity, the soil is taking a while to improve. I'd like to eventually reach a point where I don't have to use any sort of deterrent, but until then, the clay is really useful. For brassicas, which are too waxy for the clay to stick to, we use insect netting.

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@levanera
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

60% of my yard is natives, 30% grass (gets smaller every year), and 10% left is for veggies. birds and bugs everywhere. There are some pests I've simply never had a problem with – tomato hornworms for example. The only time I've ever seen them is when they're infested with wasp eggs. On the other hand, trying to get rid of flea beetles when your yard is almost fully covered with leaves…? it's not gonna happen.

Also, I have the same bags, use them for tomatoes though

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@petefredrick3784
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

What a great video! So much information! I love your practices. I have about 100plus organza bags on my dahlias when they start to bloom. I can't tell you how many people ask what they are for. lol It's makes me giggle. When I tell them the pests that are eating away at my dahlias they get it. Keep making these videos! <3

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@aimeesgardens
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

So helpful!!! And you are 100% right, it's so disheartening when you are semi new to gardening and all the recommendations for organic pesticides. I remember when a light bulb went off and I realized it doesn't matter to the bees, or praying mantis or spiders ect if I am using organic pesticides or not. It's going to kill them too. It seriously made me want to cry thinking about the harm I caused by not knowing any better. But when you know better, you do better. And I aim for better every season.

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@erbliving6741
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Thanks for nailing this topic! After YEARS of lifetime being trained, taught and shown so many damaging ways to garden, I finally found the important knowledge of the soil being in good health, using native plants and caring for our living creatures! Thank you for sharing so much valuable knowledge!

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@LauraStepney
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

The biggest thing I struggled with last year was an excessive amount of ants. I didn't spray anything and just watched the situation play out and it looks like I'm going to get a ton of ants again this year. The weirdest thing is that when I did a google deep dive everyone seems to be saying that it's because I have sandy soil, but I don't…I have really heavy clay so that's probably not what's going on. I live in a really sterile suburban area with very little biodiversity (I'm working hard to improve our property for this but still in progress… planting more and more each week) and I know that all my neighbours spray for ants every year because they've been pressuring me to do the same. Do you have any suggestions for the ants? I want to live peacefully with them if possible.

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@EvelynM-vlogs
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Yup, don't use any pesticides, nor do I use fertilizers. I rely on my soil health to feed the plants. I also don't use any plastic row covers because that just means the birds can't get at the soil to scratch. I find my plants to be super healthy and relatively pest free as well as weed free, all thanks to the healthy soil and the freedom of birds to forage.

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@shawnsg
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Scrolling by the thumbnail looked like it said Grow a Pesticide Garden lol.

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@MsTfromYYC
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Great video, thank you!

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@ElderandOakFarm
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

I would love to see some garden tours of your farm this year!

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@ElderandOakFarm
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Great video! It kills me to think of all the poison I used to spray when I was a young adult (before learning about things like beneficial insects, a healthy ecosystem, etc.)

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@thecunningkrugereffect
May 23, 2025 @ 3:12 am

Really well conveyed message. This was super informative, thank you!

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