I like this, I mean, sometimes there’s an invasive species that’s going to completely wipe out a plant you’re trying to grow, and sometimes the plant itself is non-native and has no defense against endemic insects (such as…most things people traditionally like to grow, actually) but the people who just blast the shit out of their gardens with every pesticide and herbicide really need to relax. All plants evolved to handle some degree of being chewed on. One cool thing I hear some people have been doing is just planting some extra things that are even tastier and more attractive to “pests,” as basically a diversion, or I guess a sacrifice. It can apparently work pretty well!
My mom did this with her garden! We planted a lot of tomatoes to appease the wildlife so they would leave the peaches alone, and lots of other easily-accessable Ground Plants For Munching, Many Of Which Are Tasty To Wildlife But Not To Humans to keep deer and other sundry creatures from eating all the leaves off of the fruit-bearing trees. Usually this was in enough excess that we could still feed me, my parents, my grandmother, and three of my siblings plus their offspring and wives AND the local wildlife flourished without issue. I don’t think my mother has used a pesticide in her life either. Seriously this works great. Also figure out what kind of moth and butterfly you have in your area and plant things accordingly for them. Caterpillars won’t bother your foodstuffs if there’s plenty of things they like (milkweed for Monarch Butterflies if you’re on the migration path) to munch and lay their eggs on/in.
Tomatoes are hilarious they’re SO nutrient rich and fat and delicious to almost every general herbivore but that’s only because they’re so greedy and so competitive with other plants. They dig their own grave.
