With spring around the corner, your focus may be shifting outdoors toward your garden. Before you start digging in the soil, consider the ways you can help improve your garden naturally with minerals like diatomaceous earth (DE).

What is Diatomaceous Earth?

With the look and feel of talcum powder, DE is made of fossilized aquatic organisms, or diatoms. These tiny skeletons may feel soft to you, but they’re incredibly sharp to small insects, making DE a popular form of all-natural pest control. Being an organic product is just one of the reasons gardeners incorporate DE into their soil mix, whether for landscaping or potted plants.

How Diatomaceous Earth Helps Improve Your Garden

In addition to helping control the pest population around your plants, DE has several other all-natural benefits.

• Deodorize. This highly absorbent powder can be sprinkled into garden galoshes or in other smelly areas of your potting shed.
• Amend Soil. Help improve soil structure and lighten heavy clays.
• Mix with Compost. It goes further to build a healthy foundation for plants.
• Reduce Compaction. Aerate your soil to help improve air circulation and drainage.

Like any product, be sure to follow any label instructions on how much to use for any application. Even though DE is an organic solution, there are still precautions to take.

How to Use DE

You can combine DE with other organic gardening techniques, such as composting and companion planting. But targeted applications of DE can also help with pest control, improving soil, and deodorizing your potting shed. There are two ways to use DE powder.

Dry. Sprinkle a light layer directly to plants by hand or with an applicator to treat pests, but keep it away from flowering plants that attract pollinators. Reapply as needed.

Wet. Mix with water to spray hard-to-reach spots, like the underside of plant leaves. It begins to work as soon as it dries.

To get the most out of DE in a safe and effective way, follow these tips:

1. Use food-grade diatomaceous earth. Pool-grade DE or crystalline silica is unsafe for gardens and potentially dangerous if inhaled.
2. Apply in the evening when there’s no wind. This helps keep the product where you want it and the pollinators safe, since they’re less active.
3. Wear proper safety gear—including a mask, gloves, and goggles— to prevent irritating skin and lungs. Keep children and pets away while applying.
4. Reapply after rain. DE can easily wash away and is more effective when dry.
5. Use sparingly. Thick layers of DE on plants can block sunlight and make it harder for plants to photosynthesize.

As you gather your gardening materials for spring planting and landscape refreshing, keep DE in mind to reinvigorate your soil and keep the pests away.