Although a desert vegetable garden probably won’t be besieged by hungry insects, ravaging rodents and lettuce-desperate deer, it will get its share of pests.
A pest is any animal or plant that interferes with the growing of any plant.
Weeds
Weeds are everywhere. Even in the desert. Some desert grass seeds have been known to live for a century before being exposed to light and geminating. Weeds compete with vegetables for sunlight, water and nutrients.
The very best method of controlling weeds is your “shadow in the garden,” which means getting out there and pulling or hoeing them into oblivion. If you do choose to hoe, don’t do it too deeply. Hoeing too deeply can harm and cut vegetable roots in addition to removing weeds.
However, mulching really helps to reduce weeds (as well as helping to keep moisture in the soil, and maintaining a constant soil temperature). By shading the ground, mulches keep most annual weed seeds from germinating.
Try to resist the urge to use herbicides to control weeds in your garden.
Insects
The key to controlling insects in your desert garden is being able to identify them. If you can’t identify an insect, and you think it’s causing damage to your vegetables, capture one in a jar and bring it in to your Cooperative Extension office or Master Gardeners’ office. They will help you identify it.
Many insects pests can be gotten rid of by a strong spray of water from a hose, or by mixing dish washing liquid with water and spraying the leaves with the solution. Others can be hand picked off the plants and killed. (If you’re squeamish about that, find a nine-year-old child in your neighborhood, He or she will probably be more than happy to pick and squash all the bugs you can provide).
Try not to use pesticides on your vegetable garden. Pesticides are indiscriminate killers. They will destroy insect pests, that’s true. But they will also kill many beneficial insects as well. Pesticides also contaminate vegetables (which you and your family will want to eat), have long half-lives, and can continue killing down the food chain for a long time.
Use Insect- and Disease-Resistant Plant Varieties
There are many vegetable varieties available now that are resistant to certain diseases, and even to certain insects.
Beneficial arthropods
- Lady beetles (lady bugs, lady birds) consume great numbers of aphids. They can be purchased from numerous sources.
- Praying mantids consume enormous amounts of pests. Mantis eggs can also be purchased.
- Spiders are also beneficial in gardens. There are great varieties of spiders in North America and only two varieties are dangerous: the black widow and the brown recluse. All spiders are voracious insect eaters.
- insects, such as soldier beetles, lace wing larvae and parasitic wasps, among others, are also considered beneficial.
Four-legged and Two-legged Pests
Many desert vegetable gardens tend to attract pests of the four-legged and two legged variety.
- Rabbits and hares (jackrabbits) really like tender young vegetables, and can scramble under a gate, squeeze through large weep holes in garden walls and somehow wiggle their way under and around or through many types of wire fences. Large stones placed at weep holes can block the small intruders. Just make sure that the stone isn’t too tight against them so water can exit from the holes. A board placed across a gap under a gate will also help keep them from scrambling under.
- Deer also like to eat vegetables, and there are plenty of deer in North American deserts. While six-foot fences may not completely prevent deer from entering your garden, they can discourage them. There are also predator scents (cougar, wolf and coyote) that can be purchased and used to keep deer and rabbits out of your garden.
- Smaller rodents also like to eat veggie greens. Many gardeners like to keep a hog-nosed snake or some other small constrictor around to discourage smaller rodents. If you’re squeamish about real snakes, there are some very real-looking rubber facsimiles that work almost as well.
- Birds are another story. Old compact disks, hung from string and left to dangle in the wind seem to work some. Other possibilities are the rubber snakes (mentioned above), plastic owls, and even strips of old rubber hose painted and coiled to look like large snakes.
Many gardeners simply plant additional crops for mammalian and avian pests, generally outside their regular garden area. The additional crops help feed the wildlife, and have been successful in keeping them out of the real garden (about half the time).
Related articles
- Desert Vegetable Gardens
- Planning A Desert Vegetable Garden
- Desert Climates and Vegetable Gardens
- Fertilizing A Desert Vegetable Garden
- Desert Vegetable Gardens: Soil Preparation
- Planting A Desert Vegetable Garden
- Proper Watering of Desert Vegetable Gardens
