June 3, 2012

bugs on the vegetable seedlings

Most of the bugs I have seen in my garden this year have only been eating the very young seedlings and have gone away as the transplants have established themselves. I was very disappointed by the heavy leaf miner damage to the beet seedlings. I don’t know any remedy for this, so I just ignored it. Now it seems that the new leaves are not getting the same damage. Hopefully the plants will continue to outgrow the miners. My potatoes have a bit of flea beetle damage – not bad.…

May 7, 2012

critters ate my broccoli seedlings

Last Thursday, I planted 12 little broccoli seedlings. Saturday morning I checked on them and some critter had eaten the tops off of 3 or 4 of them. I think it was probably chipmunks (too early for baby rabbits and cutworms don’t eat off just the leaves). My solutions was to replant my extra seedlings and cover the plot with hoops and row cover. I hope this works. I haven’t had this problem before.

August 24, 2011

more apple spots

What a humid summer! My apples have fungi too. Black mildew on the fruits. The good news is that it washes right off. I picked all my apples today (a bit early) and they washed up perfectly. Tomato fruits and squash leaves have mildew too.

August 24, 2011

tomato spots

I have every type of spot on my tomatoes this year – except late blight, thank goodness. Big spots, small ones, orange and brown and black. The damage is pretty much limited to the fruits and is not on the leaves or stems of the plants. Its been perfect weather for fungi this summer – hot and humid. But I think much of my problem is that I planted my tomato plants too dense and between tall popcorn and sunflowers that reduce airflow. Other gardeners in our community garden have…

August 2, 2011

parasitic wasps

July 30, 2011

rabbit…

July 25, 2011

garden aerial

This week the cute little bunny ate my beans almost to nothing – so I now have a new fence made of chicken wire two and a half feet high all around my garden. I didn’t realize those little rabbits can get through fence smaller than 2 inches and can jump a foot or more!!! Amazing. Its a good year for bunnies and a good year for my garden. The hot weather is great for the basil and eggplants. The cukes are producing well and my giant pumpkin vines are…

June 19, 2011

bagged apples

I looked around for some information on bagging my apples and pears. Here’s an informative thread: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0400030418546.html. It seems that plastic Ziploc bags are the way to go. Zip the baggie over the stem of apples about 3/4 inches in diameter and cut off the lowest corner of the bag so any water that gets in will drain. I have 24 apples bagged now. Will do my 5 pears soon.

June 12, 2011

baby rabbit update

The baby rabbits ate the tops off my kale, so I planted my leftover kale seedlings in between the munched plants and then put hoops and row cover over the patch. Bunnies also ate most of my pea plants – I’m not so sad as this crops was not doing well and I wasn’t expecting much in the way of a pea harvest. I planted cucumbers on one pea trellis already and will plant beans soon on the others. The baby bunnies like my peas, kale, parsley, dill, violets, and…

June 6, 2011

baby birds and rabbits

My backyard has squeaking and peeping sounds all the time now! There are chicks in the sparrow and wren houses. And a hungry fledgeling robin is often in the yard. I’m working now on my back patio and a fledgeling robin just landed in the chair next to me. Very sweet. The wrens are bringing food to their house, so maybe they have chicks that have just hatched. And I got out a ladder this afternoon and took a peek into the cardinal nest. She has one speckled egg in…

weeks and counting until my last spring frost

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