The Other Shoe Dropped!

I knew it had to happen.... the other shoe finally dropped on my veggie garden.  Now, who do you think is the evil little furry varmit that has been dining on my eggplant?!  Is it a squirrel? Chipmunk?  Rabbit?  Raccoon? I say show yourself you miserable little guy.... or gal!  And, let's have at it!

On the brighter side of things my Provider Bush Beans (from Johnny Seeds) are blossoming all over.  Don't you think they have the sweetest little purple petals?

And, I've got more baby cukes than I can count.  Time to get out the pickling stuff!

Walking through my garden this morning I stopped to admire our stone walkway.  I love the cottage feel of the walkway with the moss growing in between the spaces, but I have to tell you that weeding this area is almost a daily chore.  I don't want to use weed killer because it will kill the moss, which I love, so I hand pick each and every weed and doing the whole thing can take a good hour at a time.  As you can see, I missed some this time.  *sigh* 

Another bright spot! The hydrangea is blooming!

But.... and there's ALWAYS a but.....  my front perennial bed is loaded with fungus.

It started on the tall garden phlox and has now spread to the peonies (thank goodness they've finished blooming) as well as the cone flowers (I've never had a problem with fungus on them before), hollyhocks (no surprise there...), and foxglove.  It's been a very humid and warm season and although I've been spraying with sulfur it's not working.  As much as I love the phlox (and I'll show a closeup pic in another post), I'm really thinking of pulling them out this fall and replacing them with something else... something easier.  It seems that all of the cottage flowers I love the most (tall phlox, foxgloves, and hollyhocks) are notorious for having fungus problems and powdery mildew.  Usually we don't have this problem until mid to late August, but this year with the early hot and humid weather we are fighting it earlier than normal.  I'm not sure what that will mean for my late summer garden.... thank goodness for Rudbeckia because if everything else looks bad at least these winners will put on a show.

PS...  Do you ever get discouraged by some of the perfect gardens you see on blogs? I know I do.  There are some bloggers whose flower gardens don't have a single bug hole, fungus speck, or yellow leaf.  How do they do it?  Is it good luck?  Creative cropping in a pic?  Selective picture taking?  Use of non-organic chemicals?  Or, just plain hours and hours of hard work and gardening experience?  I'm in my garden constantly (any more and I wouldn't time for a job or a life!), and just can't seem to get in front of these problems.  I'm almost ready to give up.  Please let me know the secret because it's giving me an inferiority complex. 

Top 10 Most Wanted

Every garden has its share of pests and diseases. Some are minor inconveniences while others make us want to take a blow torch to them (quite literally as I’ve seen people use a blow torch to get rid of weeds). Since I try to garden organically and maintain the balance of nature, a few bugs and minor diseases are part of having a perfectly imperfect garden. But, there are some pests that will drive even the most docile gardener to reach for their arsenal of organic methods of elimination.

So I’m wondering, what pests or garden diseases make you go “Caddyshack?” What pests are on your 10 Most Wanted List? Here’s mine (caution gross pics up ahead…. so if you can’t take it close one eye or squint!):




#10 Leaf Miner


These guys love my spinach. At the rate they were going last year I thought they were gonna give Popeye a run for his money. I used Safer and Neem to manage these.

#9 Powdery Mildew



This common plant disease is not usually a fatal problem, but it was enough to practically take my peonies down to the ground last summer – thankfully AFTER they bloomed (and this year they came back up so I think they are OK). I pulled out the Safer Fungicide to combat this one.


#8 Japanese Beetles



My poor roses…. I’ve only got 3 rose bushes, but they always seem to have problems and Japanese Beetles was one of them. Thankfully they weren’t a huge problem and hand picking seemed to control them just fine. As a side note, when I was child these were a huge problem in my Dad’s garden. He hated them so much that he used to put kerosene in a mason jar, hand pick the beetles, and then put them in the kerosene to watch them go caput! And, all this from one of the most docile guys you could EVER want to meet.


#7 Rose Slug



I often have mistaken rose slug damage for that of the Japanese beeetle. A rose slug is the larvae from a saw fly. It takes the ninja approach and chomps on the underside of the leaves until they are skeletonized. They are very small, green, and difficult to see. Safer or Neem won’t kill them, but BT and Spinosa works well.


#6 Common Slug or Snail



All I can say is YUCK!! Little dishes of beer really worked for me, but disposing of them almost made me lose my breakfast each morning.


#5 Tomato Fruit Worm


The tomato fruit worm can be more of a problem then the dreaded Tomato Horn Worm. I had them last year and mistook the damage for birds. But, thankfully I caught it very early and used Spinosa (BT should work too), which took care of it.


#4 Cabbage Leaf Loopers



I only plant about 6 broccoli plants so at first I hand picked the loopers off. But, then when the nightly routine of picking and squishing leaf loopers became more than a hassle than it was worth, we sprayed with Spinosa which really worked well. Again you could use BT for this, but Spinosa lasts longer and you don’t have to spray as much.


#3 Squash Vine Borer



I only had a few weeks of squash and zucchini before the evil vine borers killed all my plants. I was the only person around with a garden who was accepting summer squash as gifts. I tried slitting the stems open and pulling the borers out --- I know ewww…. I even buried the stems in the ground in hopes that it would reroot, but nothing could save them. I’ve heard that injecting the stems with BT or Spinosa works or even the spraying the stems before the larvae imbeds itself in there. I’ve got a few things up my sleeve I’m going to try this year.


#2 Lily Beetle



Such a deceptive little bug…. So colorful and beautiful to look at, but incredibly destructive. The larvae is disgusting. It look likes little piles of poop on the stems. These beetles have come from the north and have invaded just about all parts of New England. So much so that sales of Asiatic Lilies have plummeted in the Boston area. The lily beetle is very selective in their feeding so they won’t touch anything but Asiatic Lilies. Nothing much works to eliminate them, but Spinosa controls them somewhat. I have some beautiful Asiatic lilies planted in my front perennial bed, but I’m actually going to pull them up in a few weeks and replace them with Day Liles. I know it seems like a shame, but trust me it’s a smart choice. To read up on these beetles, check this out: http://www.uri.edu/ce/factsheets/sheets/lilyleafbeetle.html


And…. The Number One Most Wanted is……














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#1 The Chipmunk



Why you say??? Such a cute little fella… Well we had only 3 measly strawberries out of 12 plants last year – ‘nuff said! I hope he’s happy!