Bad bugs and good bugs

Check out my new article in the Falls Church News-Press, "Not All Bugs Are Pests" http://www.fcnp.com/around-fc/9723-garden-time-not-all-bugs-are-pest.html.  This is the first month that the FCNP has put my article on line (they have previously only had it in the print and E-issue).

Strawberries in July

I had a few (3) fresh strawberries this morning.  I can't describe how delicious a freshly picked strawberry is. I was under the impression (false) that strawberries only grew in June.  Not only are they ready to pick in July their taste is really quite a pleasant intense strawberry taste. I just wish I could remember which type of strawberry it was that is ready to pick now.  Perhaps Tristar?  Now all I have to do is to get the birds and bugs to stop eating them first!

Cucumber beetle Aaaaargh!

I saw one today!  I am so bummed, I thought that planting the cukes, squash and melons a bit later would preclude a problem.  Now I wonder should I spray?  Should I use Remay to cover the plants? But what if I trap one of them in there with the plants and tomorrow morning one little beetle has eaten everything or laid their eggs?  Last year I did not get one cucumber.

Okay, I have calmed down a bit.  My plan is to go out tonight with a flashlight, scare any  CBs off that I see and then cover with cloth.  Hopefully tomorrow morning all will be well and I can take the cloth off to water later.  Whew!  Panic over.

Vegetable garden update

Nothing yet is ready for picking, but if the critters stay away from the tomatoes (see garden remedies) I will have fresh ripe "Early Girl" tomatoes in about a week.  Some are already orange and hopefully there will be enough sun to ripen them.  I do have basil, 2 types "Genovese" and "Siam Queen", baby garden cress, arugula and lettuce to add to salads or garnish a plate with.  The tiny salad greens are in a shady spot which I hope will keep them growing through the heat.  Also available are several other types of herbs to cook with.  Now if I could just gather up the energy to cook something!  It seems I either have energy to garden or energy to cook,  anyway, I hope the beans, cucumbers, squash and melons do alright.  I don't want to jinx anything, but it seems that planting the cucurbits in June (around the 15th) may have bypassed the life cycle of cucumber beetle and the squash bug (but not other pests but hey, the CB and SB are nasty buggers). 

Garden Gnomes

Garden gnomes originated in Germany and were brought to England in the mid-nineteenth century. Gnomes are supposed to guard against evil spirits and help in the garden at night.  Obviously I need a few more because the one garden gnome I have seems to sit around reading all of the time instead of working in the garden.  Naturally garden gnomes are a huge controversial subject among gardeners, whimsical art or tacky kitch?  You decide. 

Messy Chaotic Gardens or Picture perfect?

On the Garden Rant blog they discuss their manifesto which states that they like chaotic messy gardens instead of picture perfect garden magazine photos.  A former contributor to their blog, the Renegade Gardener begs to differ.  He thinks aspiring to the perfection of most garden photos is a good thing.  I do too.  I get great ideas from magazine photos.  To be honest, the articles don't interest me unless there are great photos or it is a well written piece on a subject that interests me. 

Now, true confession. My deep dark secret is that I probably write as much (or more ) than I actually garden.  I have health issues (lupus), resulting in fatigue and I cant be exposed to the sun for too long and I don't take heat very well.  So you may ask how do I garden, Answer:  very carefully. (ha!)  I get help from a neighbor to mow the grass (I mean weeds) every 2 weeks and do mulching and pruning. I also get help from friends and family.  Having a chronic illness for most of my life I decided a long time ago that since I feel like crap most of the time anyway, I might as well feel like crap while I am doing something I enjoy.  Now in my 50's that is gardening. Parts of the garden are looking pretty good right now (if you don't look to close) and other parts are a mess. As a writer I can identify the bugs that are eating my hibiscus, I can tell you how to prevent the black spot which is defoliating my roses as we speak, and I can give you turf alternative such as the clover and weeds in my lawn.  But when I sit out in a shady spot and doze off near the Zepherine Drouhin rose, while sipping iced herb tea made with my own herbs, I don't care about these imperfections. This is heaven and why I garden.

Another FCNP article

Check out my new article in the Falls Church News-Press, "Shoveling the Brown to Get the Green", on page 32.  It's about healthy soil and using organic fertilizers.  We should cultivate our soil since plants are able to absorb nutrients through their roots courtesy of organisms, such as bacteria and fungi, in the soil.  If you only use inorganic chemicals for fertilizer that do not have organisms in it or don't feed the organisms, the soil will die.  Compost is one of the best things to add to soil as a conditioner, making it a better consistency for the plant roots and as fertilizer because it has nutrients to feed the organisms.