There are many incredible hacks floating online when it comes to gardening. Nicole Burke, the founder of the gardening website Gardenary, shared some of her “weird” gardening hacks that “actually make sense”, and one of them includes using a wedding veil. The gardening expert explained how the bridal accessory helps to protect her plants from annoying pests, which left her with successful results.
Most gardeners can relate to the pain of growing beautiful and healthy plants only to have them destroyed by pests that invade the garden and nibble away at their hard work. While you can get any sprays and things to deter insects from getting into your plants, the chemicals don’t do your garden any favours. Nicole also reflects on this struggle on her blog.
She recalls: “The first time I realised that caterpillars like leafy greens was when I discovered a cabbage looper infestation in my garden. It was pretty gross, but it taught me the value of protecting your lettuce so that pests never have access to them in the first place. Sure you can spray some chemicals, but it’s much easier to just keep your plants pest-free from the day of planting them.”
The expert continues by sharing with readers what she did next to prevent the issue from happening again, and that was walking into a store and buying “a bolt of tulle, the thin, gauzy fabric they use to make veils”.
Using the fabric, Nicole covered all parts of her garden after planting her lettuce seeds and the results couldn’t have been any better.
“Let me tell you, the resulting leaves were the purest, cleanest lettuce leaves ever. I had zero pest issues. And that’s because the moths that lay all those annoying little pests like cabbage worms and cabbage loopers never had access to my garden; they had to find somewhere else to raise their spawn,” Nicole adds.
There are covers that are designed purely for agricultural purposes, however as the gardening expert explains in her blog tulle fabric works as an “inexpensive alternative,” that will protect your salad garden from pests while still giving it the light, air, and rain it needs.
Nicole says: “Wedding veils in the garden for the win!”