Natural Insect Control Idea

Three of my birdhouses repaired and waiting to be installed for natural pest control.

"...love your articles in the Kaleidoscope (Weekly Newspaper). If I shouldn't be using pesticides in my garden, what suggestion do you have for natural insect control?" -- Theresa

Natural Insect Control Idea

Hi Theresa, you have several options but one of my favorites is birdhouses. Well, not the actual birdhouses but what the birdhouses attract to a garden. This is the time of year when I walk through my garden and start bringing birdhouses into my garage for repairs, if they haven't already wintered over on one of my shelves. That's when I get a better idea of whether they have been occupied and who has been using them.

If I leave my garage door open, it's fun to catch birds walking along the shelves checking out the birdhouses. If I have a part glued, I put the birdhouse out in the sun to help the glue dry faster. Not a good idea to run the risk of having birds getting caught in the sticky stuff.

I also like to get any painting dry before I return the birdhouses so they will also sit in the sun after a paint job. Now I add a wad of newspaper in the entrance if the paint takes more than a couple of days to dry because if the real estate is nice, birds will move in even if the bird house is not dry, or in a tree.

Birds are natural insect predators so they are wonderful contributors to keeping garden insect numbers down. The cute birdhouses, like the little church one, are just an extra benefit!

Charlotte