Jalapeno Peppers and fingers crossed

With the hot and dry weather being as it is this is the worst garden we have had in a very long time. I seem to spend half of my garden time fighting with the drought and the other half trying to keep the animals and bugs away. All of my green beans and peas in the upper garden have been eaten and a few green beans in the lower garden. I realize now with putting up the fences to keep out the goats and cows (in case they were to wonder into our yard) I gave a hands up to all the little critters that can squeeze though the fences....Once the little animals are in the gardens our dogs can't get them so they have a smorgasbord available with no one to interrupt them! :(  I have tried my soap spray to no avail, I even purchased some stuff from our feed store (non chemical) to sprinkle around the outside of the garden to repel little animals, this really stunk but it did not bother them as more of my green beans vanished! My grandpa always said plant at least 30 percent more than you think you will need because the animals and bugs take what they want, but this is getting ridiculous!

This is what I had waiting for me this morning a total of four tomatoes gone with a few bites out of each and the ants taking the left overs. This is the third day in a row I have had this waiting for me at 7:00am.

We still have a lot of tomatoes on the vines (not ripe yet) but if we keep loosing that many every night......
I am trying something I found in a magazine (fingers crossed) I purchased a big bottle of jalapeno peppers and drained them and put the juice into a spray bottle and sprayed on the few green beans I have left in the lower garden and around the outside of both gardens I hope this works! If anyone has any better ideas please let me know!

Garden Pests

This morning when I woke up I dug out my seed catalogs again for the up tenth time :) I am soo ready for spring, we are ordering 10 fruit trees and 2 grape vines this week so since one thing leads to another, I thought today I would talk about our garden insects. The lists of pests is extensive, and they vary in size and shape as well as how they attack the plants. A few of the more common ones (to us)  that I have had experience with are  Japanese Beetles, Cutworms, Cucumber Beetles, White flies, Yellow Jackets, Tomato Horn worms, Cabbage Loopers, Corn Earworms. I do not use insecticides (never have narrowed down the one/ones that make my tongue swell) so I am always on the look out for organic ways to keep my gardens safe. There are the good bugs that help and are beneficial, as such I do not want to harm them just to kill the bad bugs. A few of the good bugs that I know of are the Spined soldier beetle, praying mantis, ground beetles, lady bugs and green lacewings, Again I know there are more that's just the ones I am familiar with.
Over the last 3 years I have tried different organic sprays some I purchased and some I have made, they did not seem to work very well, or as well as I had hoped. I did try last year a spray that had only two ingredients and it was cheap to make. Mix in a spray container (I made sure to label it) about 1/2 cup of alcohol (rubbing), to 1 quart of water with a few drops of liquid hand soap. I sprayed around the ground every 3 to 4 days for a couple of weeks. After each application I also sprayed plain water over the leaves of the plants in case I got any on the leaves. It is my understanding that this is good for mealy bugs, but its good for others as well. This I did in one garden and the other garden I just planted the plants that are supposed to attract the good bugs (caraway, cilantro etc) and the garden with the plants around did fair better last year, so I may just go with that unless someone has a better idea?
I have also planted in the past Mint plants around a few areas where I have problems with ants.This summer I intend to try another method I have been told is beneficial, planting Basil close to tomatoes, it is supposed to make them a better flavored tomato as well as protect against a variety of pests, has anyone else heard of this?
I have also heard Mint planted around the house (outside) will deter mice, it worked last year with ants so I think I will try this, living in the woods we do find a few mice (mostly in the barn). May be able to get rid of mice and ants at the same time!
If anyone out there has tried earth friendly products that have worked, please let me know I would love to try them!

We had a few really cold nights last week, but so far so good!