Thoughts and opinions on the life and culture we have and need.
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 →
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 →
Lesson Two: If you build it, will they come? This lesson will focus on structures that promote (or claim to promote) beneficial insects in your yard. Some structures in the garden have been proven to aid organic gardens in a variety of ways. Most notable and obvious is keeping honeybees to promote pollination of fruit... Continue Reading →
How to promote beneficial insects in your garden. Lesson 1: Flowers
It's going to be another difficult year for plant pests. It’s always a bit of a guess, and largely has to do with localized weather, but generally, those pests that develop chemical resistance are stronger every year. So, whenever you're reading this - it's going to be a bad pest year. But, before you head... Continue Reading →
When your final plants have been pulled and it’s time to sweep-up the leaves and dirt, you look forward to the month or two when you won’t be carefully tending to plants in your greenhouse. You tuck a ‘pet plant’ in a corner or two to keep it in a comfortable dormancy and you shut... Continue Reading →
The winterized garden: November, 2019. The rains have come. It was actually a wet September, which for us, is unusual. For the trees and my garden, it was welcomed - besides splitting my tomatoes and abruptly putting an end to the season for some more sensitive crops. October had been relatively nice, and we have... Continue Reading →
No one knows how many whitefly species there are, but most of the ones we are concerned about seem to arrive to North America via Florida, and the bad ones stay. If you’re not a total bug-geek like me and you have chosen to read this article it is likely because you are familiar with... Continue Reading →
Since the popularization of the modern greenhouse in Victorian England, non-chemical, greenhouse pest-control, as we know it, has been practiced. It was before modern chemical pesticides were available, and it was at this same time that Phytoseiulus persimilis (common name: Persimilis) became cosmopolitan and the standard for two spotted spider mite control. Without the sophistication... Continue Reading →
A Sample Veggie Garden Rotation It’s time to take a closer look at what is growing, now that the heavy work is out of the way. I’ll walk you through what I am growing in each bed - in the order through which they will rotate. But first, I’ll discuss the reasons I am rotating... Continue Reading →
