You get the bug then the bug gets you
They got me. I knew they would but I didn't want to pay attention to the warnings. I wanted to believe green meant go. I wanted the large, luscious leaves to be a sign of solidarity: me and them. I wanted the 
Category: Pests & Disease
They got me. I knew they would but I didn't want to pay attention to the warnings. I wanted to believe green meant go. I wanted the large, luscious leaves to be a sign of solidarity: me and them. I wanted the Feed Them to Assorted Mammalian Creatures
My first response is a loud string of expletives followed by a very long and drawn, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
'Black Cherry' tomato with chunk extraction. Oh the humanity.
A mysterious mammalian creature has been visiting the rooftop deck and taking nibbles out Aphid Invasion
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
Gross
I've been waiting anxiously for my ladden blackcurrant bush to get enough heat for the currants to ripen for picking, and with the recent heat blast I was in luck. So this weekend I set out to pick pounds and pounds of the suckers to start various jelly,
Feed Them to the Squirrels
Gardening is all about experimentation and adaptability. You can try and lock down a "method" but nature has its own ideas. Every gardening season is different for one reason or another. Often times it's large and subtle differences in the weather. Some years it's a
Roses are Fussy!
Who knew!?! But seriously. Our house came with a number of lovely roses of different varieties. Some traditional pink, very fragrant lovely ones in the front, two of what I believe are dog roses also in front beds and a very prolific climbing rose on the back fence.
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A Paper Garden
While they are probably meant for kids, these paper model projects featuring assorted plants, insects, and organisms are fun projects for any age. Models include your standard garden fare; lady bugs, and butterflies but take learning “Monster Rabbit” targets vegetable patch
Having recently caught up with my "friend" the backyard bunny, I found this article to be particularly timely...
Everything’s Gone Massive
The more I garden the more clearly I understand that gardening is a continuous learning process. The last few years have been excellent reminders of that. Last year's weather was unseasonably grey, cool, and wet and I had to adjust and strategise to work within those
A Slow July
Well, better late than never, here is my review of July--it consisted of more aphid infestation and finally planting the community garden plot (yay!)
Just after ridding my herb boxes of the green aphids that sucked the life out of the dill, a new breed decided to take up
No, Not My Precious!
A few weeks ago my beautiful blue jade corn was devastated by squirrels or baby raccoons. We're not sure which because both have been spotted on the deck since then. I've been so miserable about the loss I couldn't bring myself to write about it until
Seed Starting
By Beate Schwirtlich
The whole purpose of starting seeds indoors is to cheat winter a little. Ironically, even as we cheat nature, we must imitate her.
-- Part 1: Germination
-- Part 2: Damping Off
