I noticed yesterday that some of my fava bean cover crop sprouts survived the critter attack. Their little green stems are emerging. With the warm weather this weekend, I hope they get a good start, and I’m hoping I don’t need to replant afterall.
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Little Sprouts that Could
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
Grrr…Squirrels, Crows and Cats
Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008I’m cooking up a pot of fresh tomato soup to go with some multi-grain bread I just finished baking. Sounds delicious, right? I’m starving and can’t wait. Anyway, the soup recipe calls for fresh oregano, so I headed out to grab a few sprigs from the garden. Along the way I noticed destruction in my newly cleared, just-yesterday-fava-bean planted, needs-a-lota-love raised bed in front. Some critter has harvested many, if not all, of my fava sprouts. It looks like squirrels, but I’ve seen crows do the same thing. And, all of those critters are on the prowl for yummy dig-um-ups in the garden. So…tomorrow I replant. I saved some of the sprouts and will over-plant this time. Maybe, just maybe, the fall harvesters will miss a few. Yes, I could cover the beds, but really, that will probably only work with the crows. Squirrels (and dare I admit it? Rats) will just go under the covers or through them.
And why did I mention cats? Well, the little buggers are probably the next pest to decide this bed is their litter box. Sigh…well, a glass of wine before my soup and bread may be just the ticket for now. I really can’t replant until tomorrow…
Annual Veggie Gardening Whoops-Awards
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008A mistake many gardeners make is planting too close or putting tall plants in front of short plants. Its easy to get confused when you purchase plants that are all about the same size. If you don’t realize that plant A will eventually exceed plant B’s size, you might just put the big one in front of the small one. I see this happen quite often. Heck! I’ve even done it — this year by accident in my vegetable garden.
So, two mistakes I made this year:
Can you See the Tiny Tomato Below the Mass of Pineapple Sage?
Pineapple Sage Shadowing Tomatoes: In past years my Pineapple Sage hasn’t made it through the winter. I love it, so each year I put a new one in as an annual. It brings in the hummingbirds, and I adore the scent. This year it came up again, right in the middle of my tomato bed, blocking sun to a couple of tomato plants. Oops — wrong plant, wrong place. What to do? I’m going to thin the sage significantly for the growing season, and if I see it sprout up again next year, I’ll move it to a better garden location as my tomatoes tend to do their best in this bed.
Bush Beans Turned Pole Beans in Front of Bed - Oops!
Pole beans in the front of a bed: Usually I grow bush beans. I love pole beans and find their flavor usually exceeds the bush beans, but because of the shape of my beds, bush beans make a great small edging below lettuce/chard/beets that make a row just below tomatoes. Unfortunately some of the bush beans I put in this year decided that they’d like to climb. My dilemma is do I pull the beans or train them on poles? By training them up from their current location, they will likely shade my tomatoes from the western end-of-day sun, but so does the Acer triflorum on the other side of the patio, though its shading adds dappled light, not complete blockage. After consideirng the problem, I decided to train them and see what happens. Hopefully the tomatoes will get enough sun earlier in the day that this western blockage won’t cause them too much trouble! Plus, I have other tomatoes growing in the green house and on the East patio, so all will not be lost, regardless!
Bonide Tree Fruit Spray Question
Monday, July 14th, 2008W. Maalouf of Marshall, VA asks:
“We have a two year old fruit cherry tree orchard. I had business out of the country, so asked my 19 year son to be sure to spray the trees when I was gone because there were worms and the start of the Japanese Beatles. Anyway..I just got home and found out he sprayed Bonide Fruit Tree Spray straight without ANY dilution!!! The leaves of course are all brown now! Some still have a few green leaves and there are no sign of any bugs…but I am wondering if they are history or if we should try to do something to help the matter. Please advise ASAP! One day maybe he will actually read the directions! Thanks for your help….. ”
Well, the first thing I’d say is SCARY!
Bonide is a full-spectrum spray that attacks multiple “problems”, some of which you didn’t have. And, it doesn’t attack some of the things that you do mention having. So, if you were worried about “beatles and worms”, it may have been better to choose a method that would eradicate only those types of pests rather than something that also attacks fungus, scale, mites and other diseases. Even without doing the proper dilution, this product contained poisons that really weren’t necessary.
As I understand it, Bonide contains Captan, Sevin, Malathion and Methoxychlor. Here’s the label so you can read more yourself. Notice that it isn’t even used to control worms (by which I assume you mean caterpillers). Sevin kills bees, so you may have killed off your pollenation population. As well, it would have killed off any parasitic wasps that may have been living in your garden. These are natural predators to caterpillers, and it takes them much longer to repopulate than it does for caterpillers to repopulate, so your ecosystem may be out of balance now. You have also applied a product that kills mites. It is quite likely that your miticide also kills all spiders. Spiders are natural predators to Japanese Bettles. Again, the natural balance is put out of whack by this type of product. And, dare I remind you of the malathion scares and what this product does to humans?
Japanese Beetles are something I don’t deal with in Seattle. But, by doing a bit of reading, I learned that pheremone traps do exist for these buggers. This might be a better option next time. As well, for caterpillers, products like Bt might work for you. Bt is a bacterium that attacks only the caterpillers.
Since your son didn’t dilute the product and apply it according to manufacturer’s directions, anything in the product may have caused the dieback that you’ve seen. What killed the leaves on the trees may be just the “spreader-sticker” that adheres the product to the leaves. This could have suffocated the leaves. But, truly, I’m not sure what portion of the product attacked the plants themselves. Fortunately, this product doesn’t contain an herbicide. I suggest you contact the Bonide corporation to find out what happened.
Personally, I prefer to avoid this kind of product altogether and try to rebuild your natural ecosystem. You’ve applied organophosphates and organocholorides to your edible garden. I suggest you and your son take some time to really understand not only how to properly apply these in the future but what it really means to put them into your garden. My hope is that by having the opportunity to learn more, you will choose to take more eco-friendly steps to manage your orchard in the future.
Good luck & thanks for writing in!
Growing Your Own Food — A Growing Trend and How!
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008The NY Times reports: A growing number of Americans, driven by higher grocery costs and a stumbling economy, have taken up vegetable gardening or increased the size of their gardens.
I can tell you, I’m doing more intensive food gardening this year — for myself and with my clients! Really, even if you’re just getting started, there’s nothing more satisfying than bringing in dinner from the garden AND seeing the grocery bill number go down at the same time.
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