Composting is a way to cut down on the amount of this waste that ends up in landfills. It’s great for the environment but it also increases the risk of attracting insects and rodents to your home. To avoid a serious bug problem, follow these tips for composting: Make your compost bin less accessible to hungry pests by surrounding it with bricks, stones, sticks or other obstacles. Animal products, including dairy products, bones and fats, attract rodents and bugs. Avoid pests by taking this waste to a composting facility. Reduce the smell of your compost bin by covering the food inside with dried leaves and soil.

Some insects actually help the composting process. Pill bugs and slugs are two pests that aerate organic waste as they move through it. Plus, they naturally fertilize the materials. However, they’re not afraid to move onto your other garden plants or lawn if left uncontrolled. You should also watch out for spiders, wasps, earwigs, or hornets hanging around—signs that unwanted pests are arriving.

Ants are one of the most persistent pests in the country and spring is the time when they emerge from their winter hiding places. They’ll look for crumbs and open containers in kitchens and outside. Earwigs live outdoors so the warming weather means there’s a higher chance of seeing them around your lawn or patio.

The green leaves covering trees in the summer are the preferred food of aphids, which suck the sap from them. Cockroaches also search for food outdoors during the summer months, so sealing possible entry points is important for keeping them there.

Rodents, such as rats and mice, start to look for indoor shelter as the fall months become cooler. Similarly, cockroaches usually search for a place indoors before the winter. Ants remain active into the fall but will soon enter hibernation.

Rodents are the worst pests in homes during the winter. In addition to the bugs and spiders that might have found shelter indoors, mice and rats can damage wiring in walls and chew through things stored in attics and garages.