N is for Neem oil

NEEM OIL

From the name you would expect Neem oil to be extract of nematode, but you would be wrong. Neem oil is a product of the berries and stems of the Neem or Azadirachta Indica tree which comes to us from India.

NEEM AS OPPOSED TO DINGLE BERRIES

We like Neem oil because it kills things. Lots of things. Specifically it kills bugs that we do not want in the garden. Bugs like, to quote Wikipedia:

"Formulations made of neem oil also find wide usage as a biopesticide for organic farming, as it repels a wide variety of pests including the mealy bug, beet armyworm, aphids, the cabbage worm, thrips, whiteflies, mites, fungus gnats, beetles, moth larvae, mushroom flies, leafminers, caterpillars, locust, nematodes and the Japanese beetle. Neem oil is not known to be harmful to mammals, birds, earthworms or some beneficial insects such as butterflies, honeybees and ladybugs if it is not concentrated directly into their area of habitat or on their food source. It can be used as a household pesticide for ant, bedbug, cockroach, housefly, sand fly, snail, termite and mosquitoes both as repellent and larvicide (Puri 1999). Neem oil also controls black spot, powdery mildew, anthracnose and rust (fungus)."

Woot! That is a lot of stuff we don't want in our garden! And you can get it from many places, including Wild Earth Garden.

And we think that you should.