Preventing Poisonous Plants And Other Garden Pests in Your Yard
There are few joys that compare to seeing your garden come alive in the summer months. Flowers blooms, butterflies flutter by, and your garden becomes a personal paradise. But there are certainly some garden visitors that you’ll be itching to get rid of. Unfortunately, there are a couple of poisonous plants that might make themselves at home in your garden, but we’ve got some tips on how to prevent them from settling in!
Leaves of three, let them be… There is a well-known saying “leaves of three, let them be”, and it’s well-known for a good reason. Poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac are three plants that contain the oily resin called urushiol. This resin is found in the leaves, stems, and roots of the abovementioned plants and they cause very unpleasant rashes when they come into contact with your skin. This resin is super sticky so it can easily attach to your skin, clothes, gardening tools, and even pet’s fur! Getting some of this stuff on your skin usually leads to a nasty rash but sometimes it even causes the skin to blister- ouch!
Evicting unwanted guests in your garden… There are a couple of different ways of getting rid of these nasty visitors. Firstly, make sure to dress the part: cover up as much as possible, making sure that no skin is exposed, and use disposable gloves as the resin will stick to them. The most effective, and safest method is to dig them out. If you decide that digging is your battle plan, cut the plants down to ground level first. Then, using a shovel, make sure to dig out all of the roots or the plant will grow back. Don’t fancy digging? You can pour boiling water on the roots every day until they die off but it may take some time. Remember, the dead plants still have the oils on them so be careful when clearing them. This method may also kill off nearby plants so may not be the best option if your unwanted guest has made itself at home in the middle of a well-manicured plant bed. Alternatively, you can spray them! Many of the spraying methods will also kill off nearby plants. There are many weed killer sprays available, including horticultural vinegar spray. Horticultural vinegar spray doesn’t contain salt, which can be damaging to soil, and needs to be at least 20% strength to tackle stubborn weeds like poison ivy. Some avid gardeners also recommend using soap spray. If you choose to spray, make sure you do it on a dry day with no wind to limit the spread of the spray – you don’t want to kill off any of the neighboring blooms too!
After treating your garden… Once you’ve killed off the nasty guests, you’ll need to dispose of them properly. Don’t forget, even though the poison ivy/ poison oak/ poison sumac is dead, the oil is still on the plant and can still cause a nasty rash. Don’t add them into your compost pile or burn them (inhaling smoke from these plants can hurt your lungs), put them in heavy plastic bags, and dispose of any gloves that were used in the treatment/removal. As we said, the resin is super sticky so it will cling onto your tools and clothing. Tools can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol and oiled once dry, to prevent rusting. Any clothes that came into contact with the plants will need to be washed separately from your normal clothes, on a very hot wash. Don’t forget your boots – you can wash them with hot soapy water. Busy bees… The buzz of bees is a summertime staple, and it is satisfying to watch them as they make their way from flower to flower…but you don’t necessarily want them living in your back yard. Luckily, there are plenty of plants that you can grow in your yard that will naturally repel these busy little creatures. Bees don’t particularly like spearmint, thyme, citronella, eucalyptus, basil, or wormwood so planting some in your garden can help (and you can use the fresh herbs in your cooking). Similarly, essential oil blends like peppermint oil, lemongrass, clove, and geranium also repel worker wasps.  Copperhead snakes like to hide under old stumps and leaves
Keep your yard tidy…
Keeping your garden well maintained and tidy will help to prevent other pests like ticks, and snakes. Make sure to clear piles of leaves, wood, trash, and other debris so they have nowhere to set up house. Mowing the lawn, and clearing tall grass and brush around the garden and home will help. This reduces habitat for ticks and hiding places for snakes. It is also recommended to build a 3ft-wide barrier between lawns to restrict tick migration – this can be done by integrating wood chips or wooded areas into your garden. Winter-time pests… Pests like ticks and snakes usually hibernate during the colder months so there’s not as much of a treat – it’s still recommended to keep your garden tidy so they don’t decide to hibernate in your back yard though. Poisonous plants like poison ivy and poison sumac die down a little bit during the winter but you can still get a rash from them so keep an eye out. Similarly, poison oak lies dormant in the winter months but they still contain urushiol so they should still be avoided.
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