Garden Pests and Other Things

This morning I ventured outside early to check on my vegetable and herbs, looking for evidence of critter disturbances or any other problems. It has been a few weeks since I found the aphids a tomato plant. I sprayed it with a soap solution and the hungry beasts were gone. I hadn't seen any other concerns since.

This morning, though, I found some interesting looking beetles eating some weeds in the nearby four o'clock bed. They were red-orange beetles with black spots on their sides. And their bodies were bent a little, like a rolly-polly. After capturing a few, I headed to the internet and discovered that these hungry beasts are Colorado Potato beetles. Well, I am not in Colorado and I am not growing potatoes so at first I was not sure how they got to my garden. I researched more and found that they are now found in the 48 connected states and eat more than potato plants. The soapy spray killed the more mature ones, but not the ones that still seem to have their 'armor' on.

My, Joyce, sister said to squish them...every last one of them...to leave no survivors...and to look for their yellow-orange eggs and squish them, too! Joyce is an experienced gardner and she knows her stuff, so my daughters and I went outside and took care of every Colorado Potato beetle we could find.

The second outdoor adventure today was tackled by my husband and one of our daughters. One of our downspouts empties into a plastic pipe so as to carry rain water away from the house. A few days ago, I notice many flies, big ones and little ones, congregating in the area. And our dog has found that connection between the downspout and pipe to be very interesting. The connection doesn't make a tight fit so the flies were traveling in and out of the plastic pipe. I remembered that several days ago I heard something inside the downspout, something that sounded like it was climbing or trying to climb inside of it. Put the clues together and you can figure out this next part easily. Yes! You're right! These was a dead animal in there, probably a squirrel. My husband and daughter dragged the plastic pipe to the back of the property and took care of it. What a day!

As The Garden Grows

The self-watering containers are full of thriving, beautiful vegetable plants! So far, the few casualties have been caused by attack of the yard critters - either baby squirrels or birds. I am thinking it is the former since I have also caught them rummaging through my herbs, looking for nuts that do not exist. I will need to replant some beans and a zucchini, too.



I caged my tomato plants just in time for this weekend's rain. I don't think they would have survived if they were not caged. This morning, though, I discovered aphids on one of my tomato plants. My sister advised not waiting for the rain to stop to spray them. So, with the assistance of my daughter, the plant was saturated with insecticidal soap and covered with a trash bag to keep the soap from washing away in the rain. This was sister's idea - she is an experienced gardener so she has been a wealth of information for me in this entire gardening process.