It’s almost time to start preparing your garden for spring. Here are a few sustainable tips to ensure a healthy garden that’s beautiful and pest-free throughout the season:

• Plant natives – California native plants take less work, usually require less water, and they attract native insect and bird populations.
• Read the plant label and look for varieties described as pest- and disease-resistant.
• Start composting your green waste, which can be turned into a nutrient-rich fertilizer.
• Create healthy soil by adding compost that will provide organic matter and the right nutrients to help grow strong, healthy plants that can resist disease and insect attacks without pesticides.
• Use a mulch of leaves, bark, or composted manure and/or garden waste to provide organic matter to the soil and a steady flow of nutrients to the plants.
• If you need to fertilize, use organic, slow-release fertilizers.
• Get to know beneficial insects and their many stages of development. Juvenile ladybugs and other good bugs are often killed by mistake.
• Pesticides should only be used as a last resort. Choose the least toxic product designed to kill a specific target pest. Avoid sprays and spot-treat whenever possible.

By creating a healthy, organic garden, you are preventing pesticides and herbicides from entering local waterways and negatively affecting wildlife and the environment.