The most exasperating discovery for someone who looks after his or her garden with great care is to walk out and find that the garden plants and leaves are full of holes when just hours before they seemed perfectly healthy.
The culprits of these ravages are garden pests, notably caterpillars, slugs, worms, snails, and birds. Not much can be done against these pests for their natural habitat is the garden after all, especially in places where leaves pile up or debris is left to rot.
There are, however, certain ways to prevent these insects and pests from approaching your plants and destroying them.
By removing all those places where the pests are likely to proliferate, such as weeds, piles of dead leaves, or any other decaying plants that are left in the garden. Turning the soil regularly will also help reduce the number of insects in the garden.
You can also use a dormant spray to eliminate these parasites, during the months of February to early March, though it is important to use these products correctly or they will have no effect at all or on the contrary may destroy your garden plants.
Birds can also be destructive to your garden and the best way to steer them away from your garden plants is by placing a bird feeder in the yard.
The birds will then go there to feed, instead of the garden, and although you cannot get rid of the birds, you can keep them away from your plants.
Gophers are rodents that eat the roots of your plants and the only way to get rid of them is by trapping them or smoking out the tunnels they form under your garden.
