A healthy garden will be more resistant to pest damage and will attract beneficial creatures . . .

A healthy garden filled with a wide variety of flowering plants will be more resistant to significant pest damage. A healthy, diverse garden will also attract beneficial creatures, such as dragonflies, ladybugs, lacewings, syrphid flies, and "miniwasps," which feed on pests.

• Reduce or eliminate the use of broad-spectrum pesticides in your garden. Birds, pollinators, and other beneficial insects are often far more sensitive to pesticides than the pests you might be trying to kill. Once pesticides eliminate the beneficial insects, pests are free to multiply without a natural check. As pest populations rise, you may be tempted to spray more frequently, but pesticides leave genetically resistant strains of pests to breed, creating an increasingly resistant pest population. The harder it becomes to kill the pest, the more you'll need to spray and the fewer natural enemies you'll have to help you out.
• Provide food and water for the adult forms of beneficial insects. Although many beneficial insects perform their pest control services only during an immature stage; the adult stage feeds on nectar and pollen. You can attract and keep a wide variety of beneficial insects in your garden by including flowering plants that are rich in pollen and nectar. (See the section on this page listing a number of these "insectary" plants.) Some adult beneficial insects also need water from dew, irrigation, or other sources to sustain them during dry periods.

Start your plants out right by choosing healthy specimens and planting them properly. Keep your plants healthy by correctly watering, pruning, and fertilizing (if needed).

• Before you buy a plant, ask to examine the roots. Do not buy plants with roots that are kinked or circling the container. Also check the "root crown," the region where the roots meet the stem or trunk. Don't buy the plant if that area is soft, rotten, or deformed.
• Don't pile soil around the plant any higher than the root crown. Don't plant in a depression that will allow water to wash soil down around the stem or trunk and cover the root crown. A continually moist root crown can cause rot.
• Since a young plant doesn't have an extensive root system, it can dry out quickly. Water thoroughly and keep the soil moist, but don't drown the plant.
• Cover bare soil with mulch. Mulch conserves soil moisture so plants don't dry out as quickly. A four inch layer of mulch will prevent most annual weeds from growing, and any weeds that do sprout can be pulled out more easily.
• Use a mulch of leaves, bark, or composted manure and/or garden waste to provide organic matter to the soil and a slow, steady flow of nutrients to plants.
• Use slow-release chemical fertilizers if soil testing indicates a need.
• Different plants require different kinds of pruning (if they need it at all). Learn how and when to prune your plants, and do so judiciously. Severe pruning can damage the plant and encourage pests and diseases.

• Natural Enemies Handbook by Mary Louise Flint and Steve H. Dreistadt, published 1998 by University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Berkeley, CA.
• Trees and Shrubs for Temperate Climates, 3rd ed. by Gordon Courtright, published 1998 by Timber Press, Portland, OR; (503) 227-2878.
• The Best of Fine Gardening: Healthy Soil by the editors of Fine Gardening magazine, published 1995 by Taunton Press, Newtown, CT; (800) 888-8286.
• Water Conserving Plants and Landscapes for the Bay Area, 2nd ed. by Barrie Coate, published 1990 by East Bay Municipal Utility District, Oakland, CA.

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