ivillage

After 3 to 4 weeks, fork it over, mixing the parts to obtain uniformity. Fatty animal wastes tend to create bad odors, draw flies and ants; so, try to avoid their use if this will be a problem.

Compost for the garden should be ready from 2 months to 1 year, depending on the time of year, type of materials added, and skill of the composter. When the compost is broken down into a homogenous mixture, and no undecomposed leaves or other material may be seen, it is ready for use.

Insect and Disease Control
During periods when infestations of various garden pests are high, control by natural means becomes very difficult. However, the following practices will help to reduce losses without use of chemical pesticides:

• Plant resistant varieties.
• Plant seed from disease-free plants.
• Select pest-free transplants.
• For cutworms, place a cardboard of tinfoil collar around plant stems at ground level.
• Spade garden early so vegetation has time to rot before planting.
• Use a mulch; vegetables touching the soil may rot.
• Clean up crop refuse early.
• Plant as early in the spring as practical.
• Keep out weeds which harbor insects and diseases.
• Summer fallowing (clean cultivation) helps control nematodes.
• Summer flooding, where soil type permits, helps control nematodes.
• Hand-pick insects.
• Water in morning so plants are not wet at night.
• Dispose of severely diseased plants before they contaminate others.
• Some insects, like cabbage worms, may be killed by spraying with natural preparations such as Bacillus thuringiensis.
• Rotate garden areas.
• Bake transplanting soil in oven at 160°F for 1 hour.
• Crotolaria spectabalis and marigolds, when planted as cover crops, tend to reduce some kinds of nematodes. The use of marigolds to repel nematodes from interplanted vegetables is not effective control.
• A good garden mulch tends to reduce damage caused by nematodes.
• Many organic gardeners approve of and use sprays and other preparations containing naturally occurring materials. Diatomaceous Earth comes from petrified sea life. Pyrethrin, rotenone, and ryania are examples of natural poisons from plant parts. These give some control to some insects under certain conditions.
• Natural predators should be encouraged wherever possible; however, predators raised in captivity, then released into the garden area are usually ineffective.
• Insecticidal soaps, made from fatty acids tend to work well for some insects under average conditions.
• Insect traps, baited with phermone lures, work well in some instances. Many of these have sticky adhesives to catch insects.
• Solar fumigation is effective in reducing some soil-borne problems such as nematodes. Refer to "Nematology Plant Protection Pointers", such as NPPP-17, for details.

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