Q&A: What are you spraying? I thought you practiced organic gardening.

It’s not just avoiding sprays—it’s learning to speak bug.

When people hear “organic gardening,” they usually think of what we don’t do: no RoundUp, no Miracle-Gro, no blue crystals in a watering can. But if you ask a seasoned organic gardener what they’re actually doing out there, their answer will sound more like a biology lesson than a rulebook.

Organic gardening isn’t just about saying “no” to chemicals. It’s about saying “yes” to observation. Yes to understanding. Yes to the messy, fascinating, and often beautiful complexity of a garden’s ecosystem.

If you’re growing food organically in Tennessee, you’re not just planting kale—you’re learning the life story of the cabbage moth. You’re watching for the tiny yellow eggs laid on the undersides of leaves and learning to squash them before they hatch. You’re checking the soil and nearby weeds for signs of armyworms, and figuring out if the flea beetles are feasting on your eggplant just enough to give it some dimples or so much that the plant won’t recover and produce for you.

And if that sounds like a lot of work, well… it kind of is. But it’s also the part that makes us garden nerds.

The more we learn about the life cycles of garden pests, the more strategic and less panicked our responses become. Instead of reaching for a broad-spectrum spray that wipes out every living insect (good and bad), we slow down. We look closer. We start asking questions like:

• When does this insect show up each year?

• What does it eat?

• Who eats it?

• Is this an outbreak—or a temporary imbalance?

Organic gardeners aren’t pest-free. But we learn how to minimize damage by intervening specifically and early. We plant trap crops, build physical barriers, encourage predator insects, and hand-pick caterpillars like it’s a meditative practice.

And perhaps most importantly, we stop expecting the garden to be perfect. A few holes in the chard? That’s part of the story. Aphids on the kale? Let’s see if the ladybugs move in.

Organic gardening teaches us to respond, not react. To ask questions, not just apply products. It’s an invitation to become a naturalist, a steward, a geeked-out bug detective in your own backyard.

When your garden hums with bees, beetles, birds, and butterflies? That’s when you’ll know: this is what organic gardening really looks like.

🌿 So What Do You Do When You See a Bug?

Here’s your organic gardening pest response checklist—the one you can use today, right now, if you spot something crawling or chewing in your garden:

1. Slow Down & Observe
Instead of panicking or grabbing a spray, take a deep breath and get curious. What kind of insect is it? Many bugs are beneficial (like ladybugs, lacewings, or parasitic wasps), or at least neutral. Look for identifying features—color, size, behavior, and where it’s hanging out. Snap a photo and do a little sleuthing (we love the Seek or iNaturalist apps for this).

2. Assess the Damage
Even if it’s a known pest, ask: is it actually causing a problem? One cabbage looper on a whole bed of collards might not be worth stressing over. A few holes in your chard might be cosmetic, not catastrophic. Organic gardening is about balance, not bug-free perfection.

3. Choose the Most Targeted Response Possible
At the end of the day, we aren’t just living in a wild place though, as gardeners, we have certain goals and sometimes that means we take a little control of our patch and direct nature the way we want it to go. (that broccoli is for me, nit the caterpillars!) If intervention is needed, start with the simplest option: hand-picking or squishing. (Yes, it’s oddly satisfying once you get used to it.) If a product is truly needed, opt for something derived from natural sources (like Bt for caterpillars or neem oil for soft-bodied insects)—and apply it only to the affected plant, at the right time of day, in the least disruptive way. Always avoid broad-spectrum sprays that can harm pollinators and beneficial insects.

4. Let It Go & Write It Down
Not every battle needs to be won. Organic gardening is a long game, and sometimes the best move is to observe, adapt, and try again next season. Keep a garden journal or notes app to record what you saw, what you tried, and how it worked. These “failures” are just data—clues that will help you make better decisions next time. Every bite taken, every leaf munched, is part of the story your garden is telling you.