How to beat the pests?

[MissGreen]

Me and my fiance are renting a house with a big garden. Most of the garden is a big, fertile looking lawn, and I want to turn some of it into flower and vegetable beds.

One thing I'm worried about, is that there will be a big buildup of root eating pests in the old lawn, as I have heard it can be a problem. Is there a way to prevent them eating the heaps of tulips and other spring bulbs we have bought for the flower beds, and the potatoes and other root vegetables I'm hoping to be planting in the new kitchen garden in the spring.

I'm hoping for some good advice for my garden
You can see pictures of the house and garden on my blog, enjoy!

http://missgreeen.blogspot.com/

[SarzWix]

Welcome to the Grapevine MissGreen
If you're preparing the ground now, by the time you come to plant it in Spring the birds will have picked over it and disposed of a lot of the pests. Last year I planted a lot of stuff in reclaimed grassland and had very little problem with pest damage. Of course, with a lot of veg you can choose varieties resistant to specific pests which will also help?

[Vegmonkey]

You could raise part of the garden up using raised beds, and fill them with compost. The only pest i really have a problem with is cats, and there is no way of preventing them!

[Flummery]

You tend to get wireworms in old grassland but as Sarzwix said, the sooner you get it turned over the better. My veg garden used to be lawn but I didn't have too much problem with pests (expcept pigeons - ongoing!) Lovely big lawn - and gorgeous orchids!

[Two_Sheds]

You can bring Chafer grubs to the surface of a lawn by laying some black plastic over it overnight... pull off the plastic in the early morning for the birds to feast

[rustylady]

Most of the underground pests in grassland (or lawns) only feed on grass roots. Dig it over now and leave until spring before you plant. You will find the birds descend as soon as you go indoors for a cuppa and they will eat lots of the larvae.

[MissGreen]

Thank you for the help, and the welcome. Our new house don't have internet yet, so it's hard to get online and reply:-)

If i wait until spring to dig the beds(wich it seems I have to) how much bigger will the pest problems be? It's clay soil

[terrier]

This last season, I extended my garden plot to take a few short rows of potatoes. I skimmed the turf off and turned the ground over, the following week I put in the potato seeds. I've had a good crop with no wire worm damage(or any other damage)at all. So sometimes it works and sometimes you have problems! The sooner you get some organic matter into the clay soil the better, even if its only to spread some manure over it for the winter and dig it in in spring.

[mandyballantyne]

Hi Miss Green,

Just wanted to say hi, lovely big garden you have there and great place to live. I have a customer in Odense and love coming to visit them.

Good luck, Mandy

[MissGreen]

Hi Mandy!

I used to live in Odense, that's a wonderfull town. Now that I moved to the countryside I don't miss it a lot though. The one thing I missed when I lived there was a garden