This year I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed by aphids in my yard. On my dahlias, my poppies, the shasta daisies and of course the roses. Earlier they tried to take up residence on my pole beans and recently they also tried to move in on my chard. And of course in late spring/early summer I waged an all out war with them on my various rose bushes. I’ve been concocting a new batch of various anti-aphid sprays weekly. Mostly the “Herbal Buzz” and “Smellerific Citrus” versions from the book, with the odd dose of Dr. Bronner’s diluted peppermint castille soap when I’m feeling lazy. And still. The aphids. They are everywhere.

This weekend I decided to kind of give in, as long as I can keep them off my veggies and generally under control, I figured the stress just wasn’t worth it. But, somewhere deep down inside I was kind of feeling like a failed gardener. Until this morning! As is a part of my morning ritual, I turned on the radio to CBC 1 and began making coffee, and wouldn’t you know it, they were talking about the Vancouver aphid invasion of 2006. Or so I’m calling it. What they were really talking about was the explosion of aphids this year with our unusually long dry, hot summer to date. Suddenly everything clicked into place. As they talked about the sticky leaves on the sidewalks (covered in aphid secreted “honey”) and the troubles other gardeners were having I suddenly didn’t feel so alone.

How are your battles with the sticky ones going this year?