That may be a terrible marketing strategy for a cornfield converted to a baseball diamond, but it certainly holds true for garden pests. Our beds are brand new & in a new location this year, but it didn’t take the bad bugs long to find it. My lettuce & sugar snap peas got covered in aphids in no time flat. Unfortunately it takes the good bugs longer to find the plants than it does the baddies, so I had to resort to some organic pest spray ala a mixture of castile soap & water. I put 1 Tbsp of Dr. Bronner’s unscented (cuz who wants their lettuce tasting like peppermint) in a 24 oz water bottle. The mixture is not a miracle bug killer/repeller, but after just a couple of uses, our aphid infestation has been noticeably reduced. I was remiss in taking so long to spray the plants, but I didn’t have the soap, and I was hoping the few lady bugs I’d seen (fornicating) in the garden would be able to reduce their population. Finally I just got tired of seeing the plants covered in critters so I went to Target (maskless) & bought some soap. Problem solved. Mostly.
Our cold weather garden plants are quickly reaching the end of their lifecyle. My Yod Fah broccoli went straight to seed. No shock there since I didn’t plant it til February. I didn’t get any broccoli, but I sure will have lots of seeds for this fall! Our spinach started producing flowers about 2 weeks ago. The Bloomsdale Long Standing was the first to bud out, which is disappointing because I like the flavor of that spinach best. I harvested & froze about a gallon of spinach as it began to flower. I think I’ll be able to get 1 more picking off the mustard greens before they are finished for the season. The greens have been by far the most rewarding plants in the cold weather garden. Each time my mother-in-law eats them she squeals with delight – as though she hadn’t eaten a green in decades. 🙂
I had to thin & tie up the tomato plants again today. Some of the suckers had gotten quite large & had blooms on them. It broke my heart to cut them off, but I had to keep reminding myself we have over 40 plants. We will NOT be tomato deficient this year.
My son’s sugar canes are coming up. Of the 4 plants we buried 3 have sprouted. He goes out giddily each day to check them to see if they need water. It’s really great to see him taking an interest in gardening.
As a way of building more self sufficiency & self reliance into our homestead we have started a few projects around the property. A few weeks ago I planted some fodder & nut trees I bought from RarePlantStore.com. The nuts will provide protein & fat for us & our chickens, and the fodder trees will provide aerial cover & an alternative food source for the chickens. I also planted some Egyptian wheat & millet for the chickens in their yard. And when it came time to replace the oleanders that died during the Snowpocalypse we opted to purchase some plants that can serve as both a hedge & provide fruit – pineapple guavas. If you want to check out those projects head over to our YouTube channel.
Pics Or It Didn’t Happen
