A return to nature's balance

 

Meet Sobbie, Fire Cluck, and Goldilocks, three of our nine chickens.  They are happily feasting on the earwig nests we uncovered while weeding to prepare an area this morning.  I didn't know when I started laying down wood chips en mass that they would provide the perfect environment for my worst enemy in the garden, earwigs.  Ok, that's the bad news, now are you ready for the good news?  Nature has a plan.  What I accidentally messed up, by adding tons of wood chips to my yard all at once, nature will balance out.  I know this for a fact because I have experienced it already, before permaculture was even a thought in my mind.

When we moved to a house of our own five years ago I knew I did not want to spray for bugs.  Not only would killing the bad bugs kill the good ones, but I didn't want my family to ingest those chemicals or run around barefoot on them, even more frightening were the stories I had heard of pets and children dying from the improper application of pesticides.  It wasn't risk I wanted to take.  It took some convincing, but I talked my husband into no more spraying, for weeds or bugs.  The first year we had massive destruction by aphids, earwigs, and flea beetles.  I told myself it would take a few years to even out, it would get better.  I lost a couple potato plants, but I could deal with that.  My plum tree and rose bush were NOT happy with the aphids.  I tried "natural" alternatives like glue boards (killed a bird with that one) neem oil to make the leaves taste nasty (it made the aphids taste nasty and the lady bugs flew away in search of tastier meals) or diatomaceous Earth (it also killed the good guys)  It really seemed like the best option was to wait, so I did.  

Predators are always slower to appear then pests, but they will come if there is food for them.  I watched with joy as I found more and more lady bugs, even lady bug eggs, I saw countless prey mantises, centipedes, spiders (I think they were the first to appear)  It was lovely to watch my yard come alive and become a refuge for all sorts of bugs.  I still lose a plant here and there, but for the most part the predators come in to take care of the pest problems.  

I have two tips, first of all CHICKENS!  I cannot say enough about chickens.  They will eat pretty much every pest around, they gobble them up like candy. Chickens can break a pest cycle in a matter of days.  They also eat weeds and seeds.  Be careful because they will also eat the plants you want, I am using a chicken tractor to move them around, but also keep them away from my baby plants.  Seriously though, chickens are super heroes in the garden.  They take weeds and pests and turn them into eggs and fertilizer.

My other tip is that if you choose to remove pests leave some to attract the predators.  Early in the spring I used a hose to spray aphids off of my two trees and rose bush. That got rid of a bunch to help the plant, but left some too.  As soon as I saw the first lady bug I left them to do their work.  I have seen very few aphids since the lady bugs moved into the neighborhood.  If you have a caterpillar problem, pick some off, but leave some for the birds.  They WILL come.  Nature is all about balance, you just have to be patient.  Sorry about that bit.