Trap crops aren’t often used in the home garden, even though they can be very effective at keeping pests away from the more desirable fruits and vegetables.

While there is quite a few trap crops, I’m only going to be talking about two, Sunflowers and Nasturtiums, which can both be grown for food themselves.

Home Garden Trap Crops

1. Sunflowers are best known for their beautiful flowers and the great tasting seeds.

Growing as little as 2 feet tall to 10 feet plus with a variety of colors, there′s a lot of diversity among these beautiful flowers.

The thing that makes them a good plant for the garden is the fondness that aphids and stink bugs have for them. This fondness for sunflowers provides these pests with a nice diversion, any aphids that are on a sunflower aren’t on your tomatoes.

2. Nasturtium, the flowers of genus Tropaeolum, not to be confused with the watercress with the genus name Nasturtium. Don’t worry about these scientific names, walk into a nursery or garden center and ask for Nasturtium, they’ll show you the right ones.

These plants are most often used as an ornamental flower, yet they are entirely edible with the flowers most commonly being used in salads, adding quite a bit of color and a slight peppery taste.

Nasturtiums can be used in the garden to draw aphids, whiteflies and cabbage worms away from your more desirable fruits and vegetables. They also repel quite a few pests and may even attract beneficial insects.

These two trap crops are both edible and beautiful, making them a nice addition to any home garden.

Tags: Crops, garden, home, Trap

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