Gardening is such a pleasant experience for me and my boys, and we enjoy being outdoors observing the process as it takes place. I do not want to be surrounded by chemicals, nor do I want my boys handling chemicals and this has led me to researching healthier alternatives. Here are some options to choose from when using essential oils in your garden.
Sprays
Use 4-8 drops essential oil from from the printable chart below to 1 gallon of water. Add this mixture to your spray bottles and you are ready to use. This can be sprayed directly onto your fruits, vegetables and flowers.
String
You can also soak string in the above mixture and than string in between rows of vegetable to deter flying insects (an example would be the cabbage white butterfly).
Hanging Strips
Use 1 drop essential oil neat (straight) on a strip of material and hang on a stick throughout your garden, or from tree branches to help cover a larger area. You can check periodically and add another drop as needed.
Cotton Ball/Cotton Wool
This method is used to deter insects or animals that like to burrow. Use 3 drops essential oil on a cotton ball or piece of cotton wool and place directly on top of nest or toss into burrow. Use this as needed.
Cartons/Containers
This method will deter slugs, snails, mice, any ground insects and even cats and dogs due to the strong aroma of the essential oil (it will stop them from urinating on your plants, yay!) . Bury a carton/container into the ground right up to the top of the container. Add 4 drops essential oil (for cats and dogs use spearmint, peppermint, thyme or eucalyptus). You can replace as needed.
I’ve been looking for a way to get rid of a mole in my gardening boxes that won’t effect my vegetables. Which essential oil(s) would you suggest? And what type of carton or container would you use with only a few drops of essential oil? Sorry, I’m fairly new to essential oils and am a little unsure of how to use it.
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Hi Vanessa, what a great question, thanks so much for asking
Moles do not like peppermint or eucalyptus. You can do 2 things…1). place a couple drops of either essential oil onto some cotton balls and toss them into the hole of where the mole is coming up into your garden, and 2). fill a watering can with a gallon of water, to which you will add 20 drops essential oil. Use this to water around your garden. You will do this every day until you no longer see signs of the mole.
Great!! Thank you so much. I’d like to get rid of it before I plant anything this year. Last year It destroyed about 1/2 my garden. Glad to find something same to use. I’ll let you know how it goes.
That is awful! We live in the city and although I miss the country, most days I’m reminded that we aren’t too far from it, lol. We have raccoons, skunks, groundhogs, cats galore that roam our yard. We would laugh as we sat to eat breakfast at how much our backyard looked like wild kingdom and than it wasn’t funny anymore. The destruction of our garden sent me into seeking alternatives that would be safe for all of us.
I would love to hear your success and which oil you chose to use. I’ll look forward to hearing from you through garden season