The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook by Susan Mulvihill

The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook
by Susan Mulvihill

ISBN-13: 9780760370063
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Cool Springs Press
Released: April 27th 2021

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
In The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook, you’ll find the simple, straightforward resources and tools you need to identify common pests of edible gardens and manage them without the use of synthetic chemical pesticides.

Climate change and newly introduced insect pests are changing the world of gardening. Pests that once produced a single generation per year are now producing two or even three, and accidentally imported pest insects have no natural predators to keep them in check. These leaf-munching critters can cause significant damage in short order, reducing your yields and costing you time and money, especially if your garden is out of balance or your plants are stressed and vulnerable.

Whether you’re a new or seasoned gardener, author and garden pro Susan Mulvihill shows you how to handle pest issues by growing healthier plants, properly identifying the culprit, and nurturing the overall ecosystem of the garden. With easy-to-use charts, you’ll learn how to identify common vegetable garden pests based on both the damage they cause and their physical appearance.

DIY pest-control projects, coupled with up-to-date info on the best natural products, physical pest-control tricks, and tips for managing pests with the use of traps and barriers, all lead to a garden where beneficial insects and pollinators are preserved while pest populations are kept in check.


My Review:
The Vegetable Garden Pest Handbook explains various organic gardening approaches to pest management. The author started by describing how to create an environment that encourages beneficial insects and plant health. She then provided charts showing which insects might bother which garden plants and the damage that you'll see for each type of insect. Next were the insect profiles, describing each insect: their life cycle, what plants they attack, what type of damage they cause, their natural predators, and tips on how to control them. Each profile also had a close-up illustration of the insect as well as color photographs of the insect and the damage they do to a plant (to help with identification). She also provided shorter profiles on the beneficial insects: a picture, what it looks like, what it eats, and how to encourage it to stay near your garden.

Then she described various organic pest control methods: what they're good for and how to use them. She also included instructions on how to make relatively simple DIY traps or protective barriers (though some require more construction skill than others). Overall, I'd highly recommend this resource for those gardeners who want to stop pests without using synthetic chemical pesticides.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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