Plant diseases and ailments are super frustrating, especially for beginner gardeners. Luckily, there are a few tips and tricks to ensure your garden stays happy and healthful. Below are our recommendations for keeping your plants’ health on point. We’ve also included some natural homemade recipes to keep those pesky pests and diseases away from your yard, too!

1. Know Your Plants

Focusing on what you currently have is important when it comes to preventing plant diseases. By knowing this, you can prevent pests and other issues from spreading, especially if you’re treating these issues ahead of time. Research tree varieties or talk to a local horticulturist, who can help you identify any plants in your garden.

2. Good Air Circulation

If your plants are planted too closely together or placed against a wall, there isn’t enough air circulating. The lack of airflow can cause fungal plant diseases like black spot and powdery mildew. An easy fix? Prune your plants to ensure there’s proper air circulation. If that doesn’t work, transplant your plants to another area in your garden.

3. Water, Prune & Warm Your Soil

It’s important to make sure your plants get enough water because dry crops are vulnerable to plant diseases. Depending on your area, you should water your plants weekly, or once or twice a week. This is probably the easiest way to prevent plant diseases, or even pests, from spreading. Cut off the infected areas of the plants and do not compost them!

Some diseases, like fungus, can easily infiltrate your garden because the soil may be too cool. If your soil isn’t warm enough, it can make it hard to prevent plant diseases. The easiest way to avoid this problem? Avoid planting anything until your soil warms up in the spring.

Gardening doesn’t have to be difficult, even if you don’t have a green thumb. There’s no need to spend thousands of dollars for a professional to improve your yard or to treat plant diseases and pests in your garden when you can do it without spending a dime. There are plenty of home remedies that can get rid of diseases, pests, and even keep deer away from your plants. Check out our favorites and more!