Keep Intruders Out of Your Garden

image-vegetable-garden-bedStinkgrass, Hairy Galinsoga, Goosegrass, Bull Thistle, Prickly Lettuce, Fizzer, Zeus, Rootkit, and Sasfis.

Do these names mean anything to you?   This is a list of nine intruders! You might not know all of them, but they sure can cause trouble for you. The first five listed are all very common weeds that invade gardens and lawns in New Jersey. The last four are names of famous computer viruses. These viruses are as bad as or worse than some of these weeds. A computer virus can take over a computer network faster than kudzu growing along a southern country road in the heat of July.

What can you do to protect yourself from these garden intruders?

In New Jersey lawns and gardens, there are a number of things you can do to keep the weeds at bay without the use of strong pesticides and chemicals. Things to consider include:

Reduce open areas — Weeds are simply plants that take advantage of open areas. Crowd them out in your lawn by cutting the grass very high or in your garden by minimizing open space and adding healthy mulch or covering with sheeting fabric where necessary.

Maintain healthy soil — Fertilize, aerate, drain, till and hoe your garden soil.

Weed garden beds — No method is 100% foolproof, so there will be some weeds that pop up from time to time. Get at them quickly, and do not let them go to seed! Some people believe dousing some with vinegar does the trick. Whatever method you choose, weeding keeps intruders from spreading.

Okay, you’ve protected your garden from these intruders. Now, how can you protect yourself from those intruders that can take over your computer or network?

There are a number of things you can do to protect your computers from hackers and viruses. Just like keeping weeds out of your landscape, it is important to employ a number of these recommendations in order to heighten your chances of success and lower your risk of allowing intruders in:

Have the right hardware — A firewall is an important piece of equipment that can help block hackers from entering and using your network. It blocks communications to and from sources you do not permit.

Have the right software — Anti-virus software protects your network from viruses that can destroy your data and/or slow down or even crash your network. Anti-spyware software prevents items from being installed on your network without your knowledge or consent.

Secure your Wi-Fi network — Encrypting your Wi-Fi network is the key step—using WPA encryption at least.

Share files only as needed — File sharing software and web portals can be avenues that create risks. Be careful when sharing files and/or use sharing services like Drop Box.

Use strong passwords — Choose passwords that use a variety of characters and symbols and are difficult to guess. Longer is always better (minimum of ten characters).   Mums the word when it comes to your passwords—don’t share!

May is here; time to get out and enjoy the nice weather and keep your garden and lawn happy and healthy. You can always count on the master IT gardeners at IT Radix!

First published in our May 2015 IT Radix Resource newsletter