Become an Expat through Gardening

Gardening in your host country can bring all kinds of benefits from learning about new foods to meeting new people. It’s an excellent hobby for the expat with a bit of space to grow anything—even a balcony or window box will do.

One thing the expat gardener will also discover is new—and sometimes familiar, garden pests. They may take you by surprise: you wake up one morning to see that a mysterious insect has attacked the beautiful vegetables you were allowing to slowly ripen. Or they may be pests you have been warned about at your local garden centre or by a neighbour who knows the area well. Or they might be pests you know exactly what to do with—and you may even be able to show the locals a trick or two!

As you set about making plans for your garden it is worth asking around about local garden pests, the ones to watch out for, and plan in advance. This may mean plating schemes that allow one plant to protect another, or planting in pots and containers to keep some plants up off the ground. You may find natural remedies work best for some plants and pests but in other cases a garden centre may have the best alternative for prevention or cure.

If you have brought any plants or seeds with you from your home country (do so with caution—many countries can be very strict about introducing new plants) remember that they are not natives and therefore may be more susceptible to local pests and diseases.

Anna, an American expat in the UK, has a slug to thank for her life in the UK. She was living in London working a year secondment with the UK branch of the company she worked for in Canada, and living in a small flat with a tiny garden. The garden was a beautifully designed courtyard city garden but ‘slimy, shell-less snails kept eating the hostas. I’d never seen one of those where I grew up’. She finally asked the neighbour and he helped her out with the slug problem. She and the neighbour are now married and have been living near London in a slightly larger house with a larger garden for the past eight years.

Garden pests may be annoying or frustrating but they provide the expat with yet another way of meeting new people. If you didn’t know how to approach the neighbours before, now you can use the very legitimate excuse that you need help getting rid of these pests.