When I was originally reading about the things I wanted to plant there was always information about the sort of pests I was likely to encounter. White cabbage moth, slugs and snail, leaf-eating beetles... I put them out of my mind, figuring any critters in my yard would be easy enough to spot and therefore deal with. I also read that some plants want more or less of certain nutrients in the soil but short of buying kits to test the acidity levels I really couldn't do a lot about that. So, merrily, I planted everything my little heart desired and away I went.
Some things have been fine - I haven't noticed anything amiss with the tomatoes, basil or strawberries. The spinach and bok choy grew better and faster than I could keep up with (even in the summer - I can only imagine how well the bok choy would do in cooler weather if it grew this well in the heat) and the raspberries I brutally cut back have already sprouted a second batch of flowers. The problem I'm facing at the moment is that not all of my plants are thriving as well.
The cucumbers - while massed with flowers and stubby little gherkins - have holey leaves and chewed-looking stems. Some googled culprits for the stem damage are 'squash vine borers' but the holes in the leaves don't look ragged in the same way - mine are large, round holes with smooth edges, similar to what I've seen on the beans and tomatoes too.
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| You can see on the left one of the chewed up leaves. |
I have seen snails in the yard after rain and am planning to get a bucket of ash from my family (they have a wood combustion heater) as I've heard this can be used to keep slugs and snails out of garden beds, although I haven't caught any of the above actually on the plants. The problem is that I've only seen three living things hanging out on my plants.
This particularly non-camera-shy little grasshopper has only been spotted once and at the time seemed a fairly innocuous visitor. A quick search online tells me, however, that they actually can do a lot of damage to gardens. Perhaps some of my problems are from guys like this one?
This pretty little thing was a welcome guest, given the third of my visitors you are about to meet. I only wish I had more of them around!
I have to admit that once I harvested my corn I sort of ignored the stalks for a while. I'd heard you should compost them right away but hadn't given it a second thought - until I noticed that the tassels were covered in something black. And when I looked closer the entire plant was covered with an army of ants and a host of nasty black aphids. Like... a horrific number of them! I chopped the stalks up ASAP and got them away from my still-growing plants and haven't seen any since but I wouldn't be surprised if they're around and I just haven't noticed them... I'm keeping an eye out, though!
The internet suggests that birds can be a great help in bug-handling but at the same time those same birds are going to be interested in my plants themselves. I have strung up some shiny old cds around the beds to keep the local blackbird population out after I caught them scratching up my freshly-planted seeds and haven't seemed to have a problem since (they still visit the yard sometimes but usually sit at a distance to the beds). I would love to have bird feeders and encourage them to come around, but I also don't want them reaping the rewards of my garden! Would bird netting be difficult to work around?
Currently my pest-deterrent plan has really just involved my daily visits to the garden to ooh and ahh over the growth (I swear it changes every day!) and a quick peek around the plants (and under the leaves) to see if I can spot any troublemakers at work. I haven't found anything yet but clearly somebody is at work in here so the vigil will continue!
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