Anyone who gardens and grows their own vegetables knows the frustration insects can bring. There is nothing more painful than going to harvest lettuce, tomatoes, or even herbs and finding chunks of leaves missing or little holes in the fruits you've worked hard to grow all season.
Thankfully, Instagram gardener The Young Nonno (@theyoungnonno) posted a simple, clever hack to keep those hungry pests off your crops.
"You might be shocked with just how well this works," they wrote in the caption.
The scoop
According to the post, planting lettuce next to garlic plants will result in "fewer slugs, fewer earwigs, and fewer aphids," which means bigger, heartier lettuce when it comes time to harvest.
According to Young Nonno, these bugs hate the strong scent of garlic, and as a result, they avoid the garden beds containing lettuce, allowing it to grow unbothered by pests. It could even work on larger animals like rabbits, according to Young Nonno's comments.
How it's working
While losing a couple of heads of lettuce in your home garden doesn't have the same economic impact as pest problems in commercial farms, keeping your crops safe and slug-free can result in spending less on groceries. Growing your own food can also help lessen the impact of commercial farming.
On top of that, traditional pesticides don't discriminate between harmful slugs, aphids, and earwigs and helpful pollinators like bees, butterflies, and beetles. Given that those pollinators are essential to your local ecosystem and help to keep not just your garden, but the yards, trees, and gardens of everyone around you thriving, finding natural, non-lethal alternatives to those pesticides is always a good idea.
What people are saying
The general consensus among the comments appears to be confirmation that this works extremely well.
"Yes! Did the same here too!" one commenter said.
Another noted that they used the same trick with their broccolini.
When asked if the garlic trick worked on rabbits, Young Nonno replied, "Not sure, but they've never gone for the lettuce in my garlic."
For more information and advice in this area, check out the TCD Guide's handy section on growing your own food.
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