As in any climate or zone, Key West gardeners face a host of pests and microorganisms that attack their favorite plants. Of course, there are plenty of chemically based products out there that you can grab at Home Depot or Strunk that will get rid of the pests but they also cover your garden in harsh chemicals which seeps into our water table and into our the fragile ecosystem of our Florida Keys environment. More and more often, local gardeners are trying to grow organically or at least with minimal environmental impact.
If you’re the sort of gardener that would rather put up with the pests than risk harm with chemicals; here are some is a list of hints and tips that will help you avoid putting unnecessary chemicals over your garden.
If you’re a coffee lover then you’re in luck and there might be a few reasons for you to drink a little more. Next time you’re throwing away the coffee grounds from your coffee or espresso maker, think again. Coffee grounds are actually great for your garden because they put nitrogen into the soil and they’re hated by many pests like slugs, snails and cats. You don’t need to worry of you don’t like coffee either because Starbucks has a policy where they give away their coffee grounds to locals to use for composting or anything else they want to use them for. (Just call the Starbucks in La Concha Hotel on Duval (305) 296-2991 and ask them to save grounds for you – and they will hold them for you for the day.)
Breakfast Bonanza: Coffee isn’t the only item on the breakfast menu that’s your garden’s friend. A mulch of egg shells and coffee grounds mixed with glass clippings and sawdust is perfect to use around tomatoes or potatoes or other vulnerable crops will not only help keep the soil moist under the hot Key West sun, but the fungus that forms in the mulch will trap bad nematodes.
Slugs are one of the worst pests for gardens and the most annoying part is that you never see them, yet they still seem to shred your plants and vegetables to bits. There are however, a number of ways that you can be sure they won’t harm your garden any more. Coffee has already been mentioned, but sometimes that’s just not enough, so copper is a good thing to try. Slugs – and snails – hate copper so if you can get hold of some copper tape to wrap around plant pots or copper sheet to stick in the ground around the plants that you adamant on protecting.
Alternatively orange peel – or the peel of any other citrus fruit – is loved by slugs so if you leave half rinds all around your garden you’ll have a pile of slugs to dispose of in the morning. If this still doesn’t do the trick then a small saucer of beer will attract whole families of slugs and they’ll slide into the pool and die – again, you’ll have some disposal to do in the morning though.
Pest Control Is Not For The Birds! The Audubon Society recommends you get to know your insects and pests, one by one, and treat them individually. So many “shotgun” chemicals used to kills a variety of pests also kill beneficial insects as well. For example, you wouldn’t want to spray a chemical that might kill mosquito-eating dragonflies! If you don’t choose to go entirely organic, this guide from Audubon will help you figure out which chemicals are best for what ails your garden: Audubon Pesticide Guide.