Mother Nature does a wonderful job of keeping the pest populations in control by maintaining a balance between them and their predators. Environmental conditions, such as, the amount of rain, hours of sunlight, and temperature levels all affect what pests will survive to reproduce. When land is cleared to plant a garden, it changes the dynamics between pest populations and natural controls.

Swirling up out of the ideal conditions created by warm ocean water, high air pressure and converging winds comes one of the most devastating weather phenomenons on earth. With wind speeds in excess of 250 km/hour, hurricanes wreak havoc on large areas. Tropical cyclones (known as hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean, typhoons in the Pacific Ocean and cyclones in the Indian Ocean) develop over the oceans near the equator. The word hurricane echoes the colonial Spanish and Caribbean Indian words for evil spirits and big winds. It's an appropriate name for what at the time must have seemed like a frightening and inexplicable event for residents and sailors alike. Today, despite modern weather prediction equipment, hurricanes still take a devastating toll on lives and property. Although they rarely reach Canada at full force, Canadian homeowners are nonetheless affected.