Parents should also be protective with pets for kids as well because they may come close to your children. One such hazard is the pesticides in your garden.Since pesticides are developed to kill some living things such as insects and unwanted weeds, they may also be harmful to your pets. When you think about it, it’s important to know the dangers of pesticides and the effect they could have on your pets.

Pets can sometimes mistake these poisons as food. And, since they are considerably smaller than we are, when they absorb the pesticides through their skin or ingest it they are exposed to a higher concentration. The results can be reproductive problems, birth defects in any babies your pet has, skin irritation, cancer, and even death.

If you feel you must use pesticides in your yard or around your house, be sure your pet stays inside while they are being applied. Remove anything your pet uses outdoors – feeding bowls, water dishes, outside toys – from the area. Using pesticides in pellet form could be confusing to your pet and they may think its food.

Instead of using chemical pesticides in your yard, you may want to do research into the possibility of natural pesticides. With the emphasis on everything “green” you can probably find a good bit of information in the library. If they don’t have information, you may want to check with a county extension agency, agriculture department at a local college, or farmer’s co-op. There is also a wealth of information available on the internet.

What do you do if you think your pet may have been poisoned by pesticides? Of course, you’ll want to get your pet to the veterinarian as soon as possible. In addition:

- Keep your pet as warm and quiet as possible.

- Try to determine what type of pesticide your pet may have ingested or been exposed to. This will enable the veterinarian to make a better diagnosis.

- If possible take the pesticide with you and as gross as it sounds, you may also want to save the throw up for analysis.

- You may also want to determine what type of exposure they had to the poison. Whether the product was diluted or full-strength can make a difference. It would also help the veterinarian to know how long it has been since the pesticide had been applied.

Warmer weather is about to arrive and it is to be expected to be thatadvertisements for chemical products to kill weeds or fertilize your plants will rule television sets. However with child safety and environmentalism in mind, it is best to opt for natural garden care.

One of the most natural ways to care for your garden is to use compost. This is natural, organic matter that has decomposed and been broken down into nutrients the soil can use to feed and nourish the plants.  By incorporating the organic matter into your soil, the soil in your garden will become a living substance which will be able to ward off disease, weeds, and insects without the use of harmful chemicals. Natural fertilizers and pest control is used in place of chemicals, and they won’t bother the natural ecosystem.

Besides composting, you want your garden soil to be aerated. How do you do that? Well, you can physically go out to the garden with tines of a pitch fork and aerate the soil, or you can allow earthworms to do it for you. By having healthy, composted soil, you’ll create a habitat where earthworms can thrive.

Use companion planting. By planting vegetables by flowers or other plants, it is feasible to drive pests away. For instance, if you plant tomatoes near marigolds, the plant secretions from the marigolds will cause harmful nematodes to find another garden to infest. You can also plant garlic near plants to drive insects away.

Rotate your crops every year. In other words, don’t layout your garden with the plants in the same location every year. This depletes the soil of vital nutrients. For example, move the legumes into the location where corn stalks are usually placed because one places nitrogen into the soil and the other uses a lot of nitrogen. Rotating plants can also help prevent the development of some types of soil disease.

After the harvesting has been done, use the tiller to turn the dead plants back into the ground. This will put organic matter back into the soil and nourish it. It will also allow you to plant cover crops like clover, alfalfa, and rye which will keep the soil from becoming compacted during the winter months and can protect the soil. When it’s time to prepare your garden in the spring, you can again till the plants back into the soil to add much needed nutrients.

Regularly hoeing or manually weeding your garden will help keep plants healthy. They’ll be more resistant to insects and the weeds won’t be leaching the nutrients from the plants. You can also pour boiling water over the weeds to kill them. Using mulch around the plants can also keep weeds at bay and will help the soil retain more moisture.

Try using some of these ideas for natural gardening care this year in your garden. You, too, may decide that natural gardening is best. You’ll find you have better crops, you’re not poisoning the environment, and not risking poisoning the family you love.