Rid your garden of pests with items from your pantry

Before you go out and buy something, consider these approaches to ridding your garden of pests using things you probably already have at home.

We love our herbs and spices, but most garden pests find them unpalatable or even lethal. Sprinkle any of the following  around your plants and watch leaf-hungry pests go in search of another spot to dine.

• Powdered cinnamon
• Powdered cloves
• Cayenne pepper
• Black pepper
• Chili powder
• Hot curry powder
• Garlic powder
• Dried lemon thyme
• Dried bay leaves, crumbled

To keep grasshoppers from munching on your ornamentals and vegetables, fill several wide-mouth jars half full with a water/molasses solution (eight parts water to one part molasses) and place them in problem areas. The pests will be attracted by the smell, dive in and drown.

Rid garden plants and houseplants of aphids, whiteflies and other insect pests with this garlic-based spray. If you don't have a sprayer, use a well-rinsed cleaning product spray bottle. No matter your equipment, be sure to cover both sides of the leaves. Use only dishwashing liquid in this recipe (not laundry or dishwasher detergent) and store the spray as you would any insecticide: in a capped and labelled bottle kept in a childproof cabinet.

• 10 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) vegetable oil
• 700 ml (3 c) hot water
• 5 ml (1 tsp) dishwashing liquid

1. Puree the garlic (peels and all) in a blender.
2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a quart jar. Add oil, water and dishwashing liquid, screw the jar cap on tightly and shake gently to mix. Pour the mixture into a spray bottle.
3. Apply every three days for a week to control hatching insect eggs. Repeat as needed after rains or when new infestations occur.

Earwigs are partial to clematis, chrysanthemums, dahlias and gladiolus — so how do you give the little buggers the brush-off? Not with a whiskbroom but with oil, an earwig non-botanical favourite. Pour a pool of corn oil onto a saucer, set it on the ground amid your flowers and the pests will crawl into the saucer and drown.

The gastropod gourmets we know as slugs and snails have a special taste for dahlias, delphiniums, hostas, lupines, marigolds, zinnias and almost any flower or veggie seedling. Luckily, there are ways to deprive them of their meals.

• Beer: Bury shallow containers (a jar lid is the usual choice) so that the rim is level with the soil, then fill it with beer. Slugs and snails love the yeast in beer and overindulge until they drown.
• Ashes: Sprinkle wood ashes along garden rows. Like salt, the ashes shrivel the skin of slugs and snails.
• Fruit rinds: After enjoying half a grapefruit for breakfast, put the rind upside down in the garden. Slugs and snails will gather under it, at which point you can smash the rind with the back of a shovel and add it (and the dead crawlers) to your compost pile. Other citrus rinds work, too.

Your garden will flourish and grow once you've taken care of those pesky garden pests for good!