An update on all 20 beds. What's growing and what isn't.
Week 19 Garden Update
Stop babying your seedlings: Hardening-off and Leaning-out
In various garden groups I've been a part of, there is an annual debate (and sometimes a heated-one) about when to set out tomatoes. To a lesser extent there is the same discussion about all sorts of other annuals. There is an immeasurable amount of experience, which should trump most of the rest, but there... Continue Reading →
Why I Put Aphids In My Garden
Warning: This is not for beginners. If you like the “squirt squirt” of a spray bottle, don’t even read this. I’m in a unique position working with aphid and other plant pest control in commercial crops. With my experience comes an understanding/tolerance for pests: I can tell if a pest population is something to worry... Continue Reading →
Know Your Bugs: Aphidoletes aphidimyza – The Aphid Eliminator.
Aphidoletes aphidimyza (common name: Aphidoletes [a-fid-o-lee-tees]) is among the most used aphid controls in agriculture, horticulture, landscapes, greenhouses and especially ornamentals. Like all the best biological control agents, Aphidoletes works with a combination of eating lots, but also by multiplying quickly, overcoming the pest. Aphidoletes larva searching for aphids Where it comes from: Aphidoletes were... Continue Reading →
Summer in April: Week 17, 2021
I think we're on day 8 of clear skies and a dominant high-pressure ridge that has kept the South Coast warm....even hot depending on where you are. My personal weather station recorded the last 6 days as over 22C with the peak on my son's birthday, Saturday, at 24.6C. What's equally surprising is that we... Continue Reading →
Week 15 – Garden Update
It's week 15. Check out what's in the garden, and in the greenhouse.
How to Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden: Lesson 4 – Compost, patience and thresholds
If you’ve read along with my previous three posts on attracting Beneficial Insects and Mites, I thank you. And I think you’re prepared for something a little more academic, regarding Economic and Cosmetic Thresholds as well as tolerance and patience. Really, it takes little to attract good bugs. A healthy garden is all. But first,... Continue Reading →
What’s Growing: Week 11, 2021
What’s Growing: Week 11, 2021 I just had a fantastic weekend! It actually felt - almost - like a non-covid weekend. We had an outdoor birthday to attend for our daughter, and an outdoor gathering with my family for some mutual birthdays. And for parts of Saturday and almost the entire day Sunday I spent... Continue Reading →
How to Attract Beneficial Insects to Your Garden: Lesson 3 – Lawns and the No Till Garden.
Lawns Lawn is a waste of space. I know, I know…I love it too. It’s green in the winter and cool in the summer it looks tidy and it keeps nature on the fringes. I grew up with a lawn for playing and sledding on. It is my dogs’ recreation space, and I intend on... Continue Reading →
How to “solve” “homelessness:” Diction and a social problem.
It was a rainy night. Bob heard a commotion outside his third floor apartment and opened the blinds to look down at the street. Two people were huddled in alcoves of closed businesses. Bob thought to himself: Who are these people? Why are they not inside? One of these people was a man. Bob didn’t... Continue Reading →
