Love ’em or hate ’em, insects are a fact of life. Believe it or not, some people adore bugs so much that they study them at a university and get advanced degrees for writing about some little-known feature of their secret lives. On the opposite end, some people find insects so repellent (if you’ll pardon the pun) that the sight of a microscopic ant sends them scurrying for a spray can of the strongest insecticide they can find.

Neither of these extremes is healthy if you’re a gardener. Some insects in your garden are friendly, while others are destructive. Your job is to separate the good guys from the bad guys, and make sure you don’t wipe out your friends when you declare war on your enemies. Worse, a heavy-handed approach to insect control can endanger you and your family and pets from overuse or misuse of toxic chemicals.

You love your veggies, but so do the bugs. Outdoors in the garden, insects like cabbage butterflies, tomato hornworms, and aphids can munch your entire vegetable crop before you can get your first bite. You’ll want to use a combination of barrier methods, non-toxic repellents, and biological controls to keep the insect pests at bay.

• Barriers: cabbage butterflies and other large flying pests aren’t real bright, so a basic row cover will discourage the worst of them. Buy row covers that let sun and rain through but block the pests from laying eggs on your plants.
• Non-toxic sprays: you can make your own or buy a commercially blended product. One thing these all have in common is a liquid soap base as a carrier to make the repellent stick to the leaves. Add red pepper and oil of rosemary or lavender, and you have a basic repellent that will keep away most pests. For aphids, buy neem oil in a spray container. This non-toxic repellent comes from a tree grown in India and is a good all-around spray for bugs. Spray methods aren’t good for edible leaf crops because of their taste, so you’ll need a different method.
• Biological controls: adopt some good guys to keep the bad guys away. Native ladybugs are voracious predators, especially for aphids – don’t mix them up with the invasive Chinese lady beetles that seem to be everywhere these days are are useless for insect control.

Indoors is a different story. Even if you’re not afraid of bugs, you don’t really want to share your house with them. The creepy-crawlies may have their own agenda, though, so here are some safe alternatives for controlling them inside the house.

• Ants: boric acid is a minimally toxic and effective ant repellent. It’s also cheap. Leave small piles of it in shallow dishes such as yogurt container lids around your kitchen and watch the ants go away. If you have small children and pets in the house, keep it up high or in cupboards with childproof locks, or use a non-toxic spray solution of white vinegar or lemon juice in water.
• Spiders: some people like spiders because they’re predators of other species, but their cobwebs are a nuisance, and they have a way of sneaking into everything, including beds. Repel them with a solution of 5-10 peppermint oil, ¼ teaspoon dish soap, and 12 ounces of distilled water.
• Stink bugs: these invasive bugs showed up out of nowhere a few years ago and descend in hordes in late summer. They love to get in the house. Send them packing by dusting the places where they get in, like window sills and entry door frames, with garlic powder. You can also mix a solution of 4 teaspoons of garlic powder in 2 cups of water and spray it anywhere you see them trying to get in.
• The really bad guys: bedbugs and cockroaches are gross but they’re a fact of life, especially in urban areas, where they can be carried in on just about anything that comes through an entry door. If you find one of these guys (or more than one) don’t mess around – buy a commercial product and go to war. Many companies have recognized the need for sprays that are strong enough to wipe out bedbugs without harming the humans and pets in your household. Look into products like Green Bean Buddy and other non-toxic repellents which are designed specifically for getting rid of bedbugs.

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