Finding natural ways to help your garden thrive is every gardener's dream. This all-natural plant pot pest hack from gardener Sarah Raven is up there with one of the greatest simple solutions.
Using sustainable garden ideas and the tools nature gives you is a great way to keep both costs and waste down when in the outdoors. This is one of the reasons the rewilding trend is so popular this year, it's all about letting nature do its thing all whilst improving your garden's ecosystem.
So if this all sounds good to you, you are going to love gardening expert Sarah Raven's easy plant pot pest control hack to keep earwigs off your dahlias and aphids taking over roses.
Easy plant pot pest control hack
Pests in the garden can come in many forms and so can control or prevent them. From using deterrents to stop pigeons coming into your space to keeping up tidiness to get rid of rats in your garden, there are a lot of effective things we can do to keep unwanted guests out.
However, Sarah Raven's latest hack caught our attention because of how inventive it is. On the Instagram reel, Sarah and her fellow gardeners at Perch Hill discuss the issue of finding earwigs on dahlias and aphids taking over roses.
What could immediately send a gardener into panic mode is actually an opportunity to help your garden's ecosystem. The reel shows how an upturned terracotta pot filled with straw can be your answer to both pest problems.
"Fill a small flower pot with straw and place it on top of a wooden stick or stake amongst your dahlias. Then leave this overnight for the earwigs to crawl inside and collect in the straw," says the team.
The morning after they explain that you'll need to very carefully remove your pot of earwigs off the stick and remove the straw bundle from the pot. You might want to wear your gardening gloves for this part, especially if you're not a fan of creepy crawlies!
A garden with pest-pots in use to protect the roses growing below
Straw bundle in hand, simply place it on your roses that you've found are affected by the aphids. The team finish their reel by saying, "Watch with joy as the earwigs eat away at the unwanted aphids!"
Similar to the way you'd want to attract birds that eat slugs, the earwigs act as a natural pest control and will keep your roses free from harm.
Shop garden pest control products
RRP: £16.99 | Terracotta pots are a great thing to have excess off if you're a regular gardener. Not only are they great for this pest control hack, but they're also perfect for seedlings, houseplants and storage.
RRP: £8.99 | Although this is marketed as pet and chicken bedding, this uncut straw is perfect for the pest hack. And whilst you only need a small amount to entice the earwigs, you can use straw as mulch and to help absorb extra moisture around your garden.
RRP: £14.99 | These Gold Leaf RHS collections Chelsea Ladies Comfortable Leather Gardening Gloves are perfect for any job you need to tackle in your garden, especially keeping those bugs away from your hands.
We'd recommend you repeat the process however long you see fit and for other pests, there's always the choice to use coffee grounds in your garden.
It's not hard to see why Sarah Raven is one of our go-to's for expert gardening advice. We're still hooked on her Mosaic gardening trend which ties together everything we love about the rewilding trend with having control of our garden.
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