As years have gone by, everyone wants to eat cleaner and healthier, we are planting our own gardens and keeping them as organic as we can. Using organic soil is the easy part put taking care of the problems, like pests and fungus, can make you go crazy enough to want to stop growing vegetables and plant some flowers instead! Essential oils may be your answer.
I have used essential oils for years, for everything from room fresheners, to in diffusers for health reasons and healing. But in the garden, it has taken me some time and years of trying different oils and companies to find what finally has worked for me .
What’s an Essential Oil?
Essential oils are the pure, extracted essence of plants, unadulterated by chemicals or other ingredients. Essential oils aren’t really oils and do not contain fats. Most have the consistency of water. A pure essential oil is a volatile, aromatic liquid. you can use them “neat” or undiluted in diffusers, for most other uses they should be diluted especially in the garden.
Here is a list of the oils I use every day and I purchase them in larger quantities, which is cost-effective, and the recommended links on each I have personally used and tested for years in my gardens and found them to be very reliable for both home and garden use.
Rosemary Essential Oil
This oil has a wonderful, woodsy scent and works to help repel many pests in the garden. It has been shown to even repel the larvae itself. Place a few drops right around the garden or pot to keep the bugs from chewing up the leaves of your plants, If you use a rayon cotton ball the fragrance does not dry out as fast as the oils stay where you out them. Rosemary oil also attracts butterflies and having butterflies in the garden is so fun and beautiful. If you choose a rosemary plant can also help, using clipping all through the garden.
Peppermint Essential Oil
This oil has a sweet scent and repels several garden pests like aphids, flies, beetles, and even spider mites who can’t stand it! You can even place peppermint oil around baseboards or in cupboards in your home to keep spiders away. Growing peppermint can be helpful but it grows quickly and needs to be controlled, not take over the garden.
Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil
Cinnamon oil is one of the best essential oils for getting rid of weeds. Make a spray bottle with water and several drops of cinnamon essential oil and get to spraying those weeds in a safe and effective way! Even some ants do not like cinnamon, but I like to use ground Cinnamon for controlling ants.
Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender scent is another one butterflies love, so if you spray it on the plants to attract them, it will draw them in even more! Lavender oil also attracts bees, which we need for pollination. Place a drop or two on a Rayon cotton ball and place in pots or in the garden to, attract them, I prefer to a couple of lavender plants in my garden, I love this smell in my garden!
Melaleuca Essential Oil- AKA Tea Tree
This oil is great for dealing with anything that has to do with getting rid of fungus on your plants. You can make a spray with it to mist your plants and soil. Use melaleuca oil on the stems more than on the leaves though, as it does cause the plants to be more sun-sensitive. So keep in mind that a thick application could cause a burn on the leaves. I do not use this in the summer in Arizona, Many years of experience have proven that this will burn leaves mixing 4 drops to 8 oz of water, and use after watering in the evening is the best use for any fungus you may have.
Orange Essential Oil
Orange oil has a really clean and sweet aroma that draws both bees and butterflies. You can make a blend of rosemary, lavender, and orange essential oils 10 drops each in an 8 oz spray bottle mixed with water or combine a few drops of each on cotton balls to help attract them both, use this early in the spring to attract the bees to have more fruit production.
My Favorite Garden Insect Deterrent
Add 10 drops of the following essential oils to a 16-ounce spray bottle: Rosemary oil, Peppermint oil, Clove oil, and Thyme oil. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake to mix. Apply this anywhere you would like to get rid of insects, after watering, preferably in the evening.
List of pests and the oils you can use if you are struggling with a particular problem:
Ants – Peppermint, or Spearmint
Aphids – Rosemary, thyme, peppermint, and clove
Beetles – Peppermint or thyme
Caterpillars – Spearmint or peppermint
Chiggers – Lavender, lemongrass, sage, thyme
Fleas – Peppermint, lemongrass, spearmint, lavender
Flies – Peppermint, lavender, rosemary, sage
Gnats – Patchouli or spearmint
Lice – Cedarwood, peppermint, spearmint
Mosquitoes – Lavender, lemongrass, arborvitae
Moths –Cedarwood, lavender, peppermint, spearmint
Slugs – Cedarwood
Spider – Rosemary
Ticks – Lavender, lemongrass, sage, or geranium oil
Weevils – Cedarwood, patchouli, sandalwood
As you notice there is a lot of herbs that can be grown and scattered in the garden as the fragrance helps, and you can make your own essential oils in small batches as needed, it can take some time so I prefer to buy mine.
Keeping your garden clean of debris, especially dried leaves, and clippings, these should be removed to a compost pile and not left in the garden, as pests love to hide under old leaves, and debris.
The best part of using essential oils, whether in the home, cooking, or in the garden you know that you are using a safe alternative, not only for your family but for the environment.
