Interlopers

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

(PS: how about those incredible graphics?)

to plant, or not to plant

It is fun to plant things.  There is a great feeling of anticipation in watching a tiny little seed or seedling makes its way towards being a fruit or vegetable.  There is also a feeling or pride and accomplishment in eating that fruit or vegetable, knowing it came out of your yard rather than a grocery store.

But... it is pretty easy to get carried away, growing things just because you can.  One benefit of this blog for me is that I can look back and remember the things that maybe weren't worth growing, that I shouldn't bother with again.  There are many reasons why I'd decide not to grow something, and here are a few examples...

The swiss chard incident(s).

Sigh... my precious Swiss Chard, which at first I didn't know what to do with and have now grown to love (especially since I planted the colorful kind) and want to add to all kinds of foods, seems to be under attack from... something.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

As you can see in Exhibit A, above, there is a sizable chunk missing from the leaf on the left.  This leads me to believe it is not just a bug, but an animal of some type. So, I have been frequently spraying the Swiss Chard with my favorite pest repellent.

And as you may remember from the beetle incident (same link as the one right above, but here's an opportunity to click again if you didn't the first time), I also planted a ton of radishes because I read that they were a natural cucumber beetle repellent.

The good news?  No more beetle sightings! (and no more little holes from beetle chewing either)

The bad?  An overwhelming radish crop that threatens to take over the chard if not trimmed back regularly.

Swiss Chard is at the bottom of the photo.  All the other green stuff is radish tops!

Some would say, oh, at least you are getting radishes out of the deal!  But sadly, in my house we don't like them and so these little guys are on their way to becoming compost.

If you need a radish, I might have some.

The cauliflower incident

Despite the lack of postings, there is still action in the garden.  Unfortunately, some of it comes in the form of pest-related problems.  I have had 4 cauliflower plants growing since... uh, March.  So far they don't look anything like cauliflower, but one in particular looked downright nasty.

(beware, sensitive readers!  explicit content after the jump...)

Beetles!

One the absolutely most helpful tools when it comes to gardening is... Google!  I love how easy it is to find things.  Case in point: after this recent tomato upset, I examined some other plants and found the same yellow-ish insects with black spots also taking up residence in my Swiss chard.  I had to cut and dispose of all of it, since most leaves have some holes and many had these bugs on their undersides (no fear, I have plenty more growing and just bought some more seeds!).  So, then, I took to Google to investigate...

See the first picture there, on the left?  That's the culprit!  And it turns out to be the "Cucumber Beetle" that you see listed several times below.

Here's the bad news - not much to do about cucumber beetles.  Two non-chemical solutions I read about are to plant radishes nearby (seeds already purchased yesterday - regular old red ones, and also white daikon radish, because two websites specifically mentioned white radishes) and also to lay aluminum foil (or some other reflective material) around the base of the affected plants.  I plan on trying both of these.  We may begin eating radishes as a result!  And, since it never hurts, I am going to use some of our cayenne pepper crop to make a spicy spray that may deter these pests. 

RECIPES FOR SPICY SPRAY TO DETER PESTS:

- hot peppers, chopped up, with seeds

- Murphy's oil soap

- water to thin slightly

As you can see, this is a rather imprecise recipe with no quantities.  The heat of the peppers supposedly deters bugs, and the Murphy's oil soap helps it to coat the leaves.  You spray it on the undersides of leafy plants (like Swiss chard).  What we have done in the past is mix this stuff up and let it sit for a day or so.  Depending on your spray bottle, the seeds might be a problem, so you may need to strain it.  I have no idea about the effectiveness of this, but it is cheap to make and worth a try! 

I will let you know if I am able to keep this problem at bay.  I don't take kindly to invaders.

Weeds.

While the lack of rain has adversely affected many crops throughout the US, in my backyard it does not yet seem to have phased the weeds. 

I do not know much about weeds, other than being able to identify them and knowing you need to get them out by the roots (otherwise, they will just keep growing).  One great reason for planting your vegetables in neat rows is that it makes the weeds more readily identifiable.  I try to go at the weeds at least once a week, more if they seem to be really plentiful.  Here are a few of the most common (I hate all of them equally).

They're ba-ack...

A neighbor told me he saw a deer in our yard the other evening, and again this morning.  This is a problem.

And it has been a problem for the past few years.  Our backyard has served as an amazing salad bar/dinner destination for the local deer, rabbit and groundhog population at great cost to us.  Well, at least great emotional cost.  Last year we had eighteen ears of beautiful golden yellow corn growing - ready to be picked in less than a week.  And then one morning I came out to find utter devastation.  Something - something BIG - had literally hacked them all in half, ate all the corn and then had the nerve to leave the scraps all over our yard.

Cleaning up the mess left by the monster that ravaged our corn crop?  It was nothing short of heartbreaking.