Garden Safety

Clothing should be sturdy and provide adequate protection from the weather. Always wear closed-toed shoes while working in the garden.

Tools should always be used properly, and only to do job for which they were intended. Hold long-handled tools below the waist with the sharp end pointed down. Always walk when carrying tools.

Sun protection is extremely important! Wear sunscreen, a hat, and protective clothing to minimize sun exposure. Avoid 10:30 to 2:00 P.M. if possible.

Stay hydrated! Bring ample drinking water with you to the garden, and make time for water breaks, especially when working in intense heat.

Ticks are not usually present in the garden, but make a habit of checking yourself for ticks every time you spend time outdoors, just to be safe. Lyme disease is becoming a major health concern in Massachusetts.

Mosquitoes are annoying and itchy, but can also spread disease. Look for all-natural bug repellent so that you do not cause yourself harm by exposure to dangerous chemicals.

Bees are not aggressive and will normally leave humans alone unless seriously provoked. Provoking includes yelling, waving arms, and stomping, so it’s best to stay relaxed around bees. Never harm bees because they are very important pollinators in the garden.

Spiders are excellent predators in the garden ecosystem. Leave them to do their job in peace and enjoy knowing that they are protecting you from pesky bugs.

Poison ivy is easy to recognize if you remember the simple rhyme: “Leaves of three; leave it be!” If contact with poison ivy occurs, wash hands as soon as possible with strong soap or dish detergent to remove the oils. Do not touch eyes or mouth! Wash clothing as soon as possible.

Some wild plants are poisonous to humans. Never eat anything unless you know exactly what it is.

First Aid kits should be kept in the bins at each garden site to treat minor wounds. Wash them thoroughly and cover them to prevent infection. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

This is a list where you can find all about the different types of bugs in the garden. Some of them are dangerous while others are beneficial to the garden. Many of them though, are neither harmful or beneficial to the garden. On the right you will find the picture of the bug and on the left, you will find the description of the bug.

These bugs are harmless and may even be beneficial to the garden

The earthworm is reddish-grey in color and can be a few inches long. As the earthworm burrows, it consumes soil and can eat up to one third its body weight in a day.

They are the garden’s best friend because they transport nutrients and minerals from below to the surface where the plants grow. Earthworms are a source of food for numerous animals, like birds, rats, and toads, and are frequently used as an aid in composting.

Ladybugs appear as half-spheres, tiny, spotted, round or oval-shaped domes. They have short legs and antennae. Their distinctive spots and attractive colors are meant to make them unappealing to predators. Ladybugs eat aphids, which are small bugs that cluster around plant stems and leaves and cause damage.

A butterfly has different stages in its life cycle, starting as an egg and hatching into a larva or caterpillar. During this time, they seek out areas with food plants. It then turns into a pupa during the resting stage and afterwards emerges as an adult butterfly. Adult butterflies feed on fluids such as nectar from flowers.

Ants

Like bees, ants live in colonies and there are three types: the queen, the female workers, and the males. An ant can lift 20 times its own body weight. They can help to aerate the soil through their natural tunnelling movements. However, their colonies can arise in the garden and damage the root system of a plant.

A praying mantis disguises itself well among plants with a body that resembles leaves and stems. They can turn their triangular heads up to 180 degrees in search of an insect to eat. They have excellent eyesight, and they can see up to 18 meters (60 feet) away. They are not dangerous creatures (at least not to the humans) and their average lifespan is around 12 months.

These bugs aren't exactly that friendly...

Grubs are white, soft bodied, and robust with a brown head. Heavy white grub infestations can destroy grass roots, causing the affected area to become spongy, which allows the surface soil to be rolled back like a piece of carpet.

They are 3-4 inches long at full-size. A black "horn" projects from the rear of the caterpillar. Tomato hornworms are voracious, munching entire leaves, small stems, and even parts of immature fruit. While they are most commonly associated with tomatoes, hornworms are also common pests of eggplants, peppers, and potatoes. Most likely, you'll notice the damage before you notice the hornworms, because their color helps them blend in so well with the plant foliage.

The squash bug is ½ inch long with a brown/grey body and flat back. They leave behind yellow dots that turn to brown on plant leaves. This is caused by the bug sucking out all the vital nutrients from the plant leaves, leaving the plant to slowly starve.

Aphids can be identified as tiny, soft-bodied, pear shaped insects, which come in a rainbow of colours, green, yellow, black, grey, red, purple and brown. They appear in clusters or groups on the stems and young leaves of plants. The damage they do to plants includes mutations and stunted growth in the new foliage that often appear as curling in the leaves, and poor blooms on flowering plants.

These bugs are unique and many of them are neither beneficial nor detrimental to the garden

Centipedes have a flattened body with as many as thirty legs. They can grow up to two inches long. They eat insects, spiders and other small animals. The venom they use will paralyze their prey so that it cannot move.

Snails are considered a pest because they nibble on leafy greens, but otherwise will not harm the garden. Land snails have two pairs of tentacles, with eyes on the tips of the longest pair. They slide along on a single ‘foot’ while releasing a bed of low-friction mucus and require a humid or wet environment to avoid drying out.

Slugs are snails without shells. They are found in and need a moist environment in order to survive. As with snails, slugs are also considered a pest because they nibble on leafy greens, perhaps more often than snails.

Earwigs are Nocturnalnocturnal; they often hide in small, moist crevices during the day, and are active at night, feeding on a wide variety of insects and plants. Damage to foliage, flowers, and various crops is commonly blamed on earwigs. Earwigs have five molts in the year before they become adults. They have pincer forceps which they use to hold prey. They are omnivorous and actively hunt for food, eating arthropods, plants, and ripe fruit.

Garden spiders are likely not dangerous and prefer sunny places amongst flowers to construct their webs.

Fruit flies are attracted to ripe and rotting produce. The reproductive potential of fruit flies is enormous; given the opportunity, they will lay about 500 eggs. The entire lifecycle from egg to adult can be completed in about a week.

Leaves are edible; older leaves have white undersides.

Do not compost  when plants have developed seeds.

Pull young seedlings from moist soil, or cultivate when the soil is dry.

Mow weedy areas near the garden to reduce the reseeding of crabgrass.

Anchored by a branched taproot.

New green leaves that emerge in spring often are tinged with red.

A tall seed stalk appears in the summer and dig out mature plants with a digging fork.

Appears in the garden in large spreading groups.

It is a coarse-leaved plant that has deep, branching taproots, which will keep regrowing after being hoed out or lightly dug up.

Mullein rosettes are easy to pull up since they have shallow roots.  They have soft leaves and are sometimes called “Lamb’s Ears.”

In their second year, they send up a tall central stalk crowned with yellow flowers in midsummer.

Hand-pulling is the most effective way to remove this weed. 

These plants will often break off at the soil surface allowing regrowth and tuber development to continue so be sure to remove the entire root.   Look for the small “nut” in the root.

Young leaves and stems are edible. Tiny flowers at stem tips quickly give way to seedpods.

They can remain in soil for years so pull young seedlings or cultivate older plants with a shovel on hot, sunny days.

It is biennial, which means it will live for two years. It will spend the first year growing bigger and then bloom the second year. It’s seedlings look just like carrots, as it’s in the same family and also has a tap root like a carrot.

They have pinkish-red roots. 

Some pests eat pigweed so gardeners will leave them as a distraction from eating the vegetables and pull them out before they produce seeds.

Young plants are easy to pull and are good for composting.

The plant has heart-shaped leaves, folded through the middle, that occur in groups of three atop a reddish brown stalk.

Leaves are edible and tasty. Although they look similar to clovers, they are not related.

Quackgrass spreads by underground rhizomes - thick white roots that grow along just under the soil surface.  It has thin, flat, bright ashy green leaf blades. The creeping rhizomes are so tough they can grow through a potato tuber, or push up through asphalt pavement.