Criminal Investigation

While enjoying a stroll through my garden, I stopped in my tracks when I saw...

THE EVIDENCE

(that a crime had been committed)

I franticly started searching for....

THE VICTIM

(beautiful tomato leaves cut short in the prime of their life)

So the hunt began. I knew the dark pellets that looked like tiny grenades were left behind by none other than "The Evil Tomato Hookworm." I searched and searched and stopped only to capture....

A CRIMINAL ON THE MOST WANTED LIST

(THE ARMYWORM)

Back to the hunt. Finally...

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

(Tomato Hookworm aka Hornworm)

The criminal was quickly apprehended, found guilty, and sentenced to...

DEATH BY TENNIS SHOE

(aka "The Victory Dance")

Hope this wasn't too boring. I hate most worms in my garden. Join other gardeners at the TUESDAY GARDEN PARTY and  OH, HOW MY GARDEN GROWS!

Blessings,

Debbie

Do Frogs Eat Aphids

I found another frog sitting on an okra leaf as if he had found a giant lily pad. I searched the net and can you believe that some people grow aphids to feed to frogs!! I sure hope that all the frogs that I am seeing in the garden will keep the aphids out!!!

The cantaloupe has reached the top of the trellis. I find myself looking at it and thinking... REACH FOR THE SKY!!

Check out the Tuesday Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage and Oh, How My Garden Grows!

Blessings,

Debbie

     

What's Going On?

I know I am overwhelming some of you. Three posts in one day!! But there seems to be so much going on in the garden. If you have been reading my blog, you know that we received lots of rain Tuesday and Wednesday. Well as I strolled through the garden this morning, I found some amusing as well as disturbing discoveries in my garden. I am hoping that someone can help me solve a mystery or two!!

First I know we have received lots of rain especially after a long dry spell but this little guy has confused my okra with a lilly pad. (smile) He's so cute!!

Next stop, these guys grew overnight under my cantaloupe.

Found another worm today. I was really bummed. Two more tomatoes are now gone...................... (big sigh!)

Now.... What is going on with my pepper plants and this tomato plants? Yesterday these plants looked great! Today the leaves are all droopy. I know it isn't the heat because right now it is very pleasant outside. Nothing like the upper 90s we had last week. Does anyone have wisdom for me? Words of encouragement? Trying not to panic.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Friday!

Blessings,

Debbie

It Rained and Rained Some More!

Well, Tuesday we received a good rain. Wednesday morning I woke to a nice soft relaxing rain that stopped about noon. Then... around 5:00 it started to rain again VERY HARD AND HEAVY!! Soon there were tiny rivers flowing everywhere. I wish that I had thought to get a picture of the little river that flowed through my backyard. I had been potting plants on the back deck and had used the wheelbarrow to haul bags of potting soil over to the deck. Well, typical for me, my day was busy and I forgot about the wheelbarrow. Here is a picture of the wheelbarrow and all the water that was collected in a period of about 28 hours.

When I went out to the garden yesterday morning, I thought it would be just a quick visit to harvest a few veggies since I didn't need to water the plants. WRONG!!! I am not sure if it was because of all the rain but I found caterpillars everywhere. I lost count of how many that I killed on the tomato plants. I was not happy.

 I discovered something strange. On the tomatoes that were turning red, the caterpillars only ate the outer layer of the tomato. It look like someone had "peeled" the tomato.

With the green tomatoes, the caterpillar went deep and made a hole in the tomato. Maybe someone who knows more about the habits of caterpillars can explain this to me!! Look at this guy. He is was working hard!!

I also decided to pull up the pole green beans. Something was eating them and they just didn't look healthy. They had flowers and tiny beans but they just weren't growing. So out of the garden they went!! As I was cleaning, I found a few of these little green worms.

Hopefully today, I will be planting these little guys - Jack Be Littles. My kids love to use these to decorate the front porch for fall. Pumpkins are a first in my garden!!

I hope all of your gardens are going strong!!

Blessings,

Debbie

HARVEST MONDAY June 28, 2010

It continues to be very hot here and we have had a couple of short showers from scattered thunderstorms that explode here in the afternoons.  This is typical weather for us and I always hope those random showers will fall on my garden. The showers are nice but not enough to satisfy the water needs in my garden.

My okra is just starting to produce. I only pick about 2 pods every other day but I know once all the plants start producing I will have an abundance and will be able to share with friends. Right now all the pods are cleaned, cut, and put in the freezer with anticipation of our first pot of GUMBO!!

This week I harvested:

Okra 7 pods (7 oz)
Bell Peppers 2 (3.5 oz)
Early Girl Tomatoes 1 (2 oz)
Cherry Tomatoes 6 (1.25 oz)

TOTAL 13.75 oz.

The bell peppers were harvested a little early but I was cooking philly cheese steak sandwiches and couldn't wait any longer and pulled the bell peppers to use for our supper. They tasted so good but now I will be patient to give the remainder of my peppers time to mature.

Yesterday we were sitting at the dinner table visiting with a friend when my husband, Larry, noticed a bird that he thought was injured. I watch for a few seconds and commented that I thought the bird was pretending to be hurt to draw attention and wondered if there was a snake out back. We continued to watch the bird and after a short time, the bird began to fuss and fly at a certain area of the wisteria vine on the back fence. Being the BRAVE soul that I am when it comes to snakes, I went for my camera with the big zoom lens. Well, guess what I found... a COPPERHEAD!!

This was one time that I did not want to be right... The picture quality is not that great because (1) I was shaking knowing the copperhead was in my backyard and it made me a LITTLE nervous and (2) I was not about to get closer. Because of where the snake was located we couldn't kill it and after my husband threw something at it, it left. This area is about 30 feet from my garden. Needless to say, I was constantly looking around while working in my garden this morning.

After all the excitement from the snake, we were blessed with this neat view in the sky. My picture doesn't do it justice but maybe it will give you a little glimpse of the beauty.

Blessings,

Debbie



This blog is linked to HARVEST MONDAY.

Ants

ANTS IN MY PANTS GARDEN!


I headed out to the garden this yesterday morning to take advantage of a slight breeze and cooler temps after we had a good soaking thunderstorm yesterday afternoon day before yesterday. I planted a few seeds with my favorite tool for planting seeds... MY PENCIL! I have marks on the end in half-inch increments.

And since I am showing you my favorite garden tools, here are my other favorites. In fact, these are the only other tools that I need and, yes, the stool is there for me on the days when my back is giving me trouble. Having a square foot garden is so much easier than the tools I used when I was growing up and spent many hours in the garden with my grandfather. I can remember walking behind the tiller and hours upon hours spent with the hoe preparing rows for planting and then fighting the weeds!! I firmly believe that my grandfather would have loved a square foot garden!! Keeping the weeds under control is so much easier because I have so few of them.

Here are a few pictures that I took this morning. The peppers look great and, thankfully, no more brown spots.

This tomato bush is bringing much delight to my 10 year old son. Most of these tasty treats do not even make them inside. I wish I knew exactly what variety this is because I definately want more next year.

This is one of the Early Girl tomatoes.

And the cantaloupe continue to grow... It is fun training the vines to grow up the trellis. The bees are also enjoying the flowers on the vines. How long does it take the cantaloupes to mature for harvest from this point?

After I had planted the seeds, I proceeded to the square where I had pulled the bush green beans. With my handy garden tool (hand cultivator), I wanted to turn over the soil in that bed where I had sprinkled some fertilizer a few days earlier. Well, to my horror a large bed of fire ants had moved into a couple of side sqaures. Before I knew it, they were ALL over me!! Boy, do they hurt!!! This set me off on a journey, what can I do to get rid of these pests without hurting my plants????

I found this website that 10 Tips For Organic Ant Control.

1. Baking soda is poisonous to ants, spinkle it around your plants to ensure ants will stay away.


2. Flour & Baby Powder will keep ants from reaching your plants, ants will not cross the powder – so circle your plants with it.


3. You can use coffee grounds, chili powder, cinnamon, peppermint or black pepper. All deter ants and if you pour coffee grounds directly on an anthill, they will eat the coffee grounds and implode.


4. Grits, instant rice & cream of wheat can be sprinkled around plants. The ant will eat a piece of whichever you sprinkle, drink water and the grain expands and kills the ant.


5. Fill a spray bottle with 1 part vinegar and 1 part water and spray on plants. The acid in vinegar will kills ants.


6. Mix together one-third cup of molasses, six tablespoons of sugar, and six tablespoons of active dry yeast into a smooth paste. Use the mixture to coat strips of cardboard. Keep out of reach of pets and small children. You can leave mixture on a saucer outside anthill and they’ll eat it and die!


7. Fold contact paper in half, with the sticky side out and make a circle around base of plant. The ants get stuck on the paper – problem solved.


8. Cut off the bottom of a paper cup and cut a slit up the side of the cup and coat outside with vaseline and place around base of plant. You can also use packing tape.


9. Mix one cup of borax, two-thirds a cup sugar and one cup water. Dip cotton balls in the solution and place in areas near your anthill Ants will leave the plants alone and ingest the sweet mixture. The borax kills the ants.


10. Diatomaceous Earth is a commonly sold organic pesticide that will destroy the insects outer skeletons, causing the pests to die from dehydration.


Read our update to this post – where we tried some of the methods: Organic Ant Control Update

So... what do you use to control the ants in your garden?
 
Debbie