What's this? A veil? Is my garden getting married? Nope, it is my version of a floating row cover. My poor garden is being invaded by pests. Let me tell you about this garden and my steep learning curve of being a gardener. But first, a better view of my little plants.
Ah, that is better. I moved to my new house the first week of June, which is a rather odd time to plant a garden. I had brought some of my container garden plants from Georgia, my jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, and some herbs. My husband built me this lovely raised bed, modeled after the square foot garden. It was very hot at the time, so figured a few tomato and pepper plants would be a good choice until the weather cooled. I bought two tomato and two pepper plants and went home and stuck them in the ground. Since they were rather big already (about 8" tall) I figured they would be ready to plant. Wrong. They all suffered transplant shock and wilted terribly. I was able to save the two tomato plants but not the peppers. I kept one tomato plant in the raised bed garden and put the other in a container with my patio container garden. Both tomato plants were flowering like crazy but never set fruit. I couldn't figure out why, so I did a google search. I read there might be too much nitrogren in my soil and other high tech gardening jargon that I didn't understand. Then I read that tomato plants self pollinate, and if there hadn't been enough wind they might need a little shake. Seriously, the webpage (several of them actually) said to go out and shake my plants. At the risk of looking like a crazy person to my neighbors, I went out and gave my plants a scolding and a gentle shake. I laughed to myself at how silly I looked then went inside and continued on with my day.
Maybe not so silly. It worked! I have a dozen tomatoes on my raised bed garden plant and one little tomato on my patio plant.
The first week of August the weather cooled and it was time to plant my fall garden. Now, if you noticed a bunch of holes in my little plants I'll tell you about those. Pests have invaded my garden, hence the veil. I had such lovely little seedlings, seeds that I sowed directly into the soil, and one day I found them chewed up and full of holes and broken stems. I also found a bunch of black worms with yellow stripes. After doing a bit of online searching (which I found quite nauseating after looking at page after page of worms) I finally found the culprit. A yellow striped armyworm. I find the name amusing seeing that I'm right next to Ft. Bragg and can't seem to get away from everything Army. But sadly, my research told me that armyworms are hard to get rid of and there are no pesticides for them. Not that I would want to use a pesticide, one of the reasons I grow my own vegetables is to try to keep my food as natural as possible. I read these worms like to munch on the leaves at night, and my dear husband didn't even bat an eyelash when I asked him to grab a flashlight and help me smash worms out in the yard. After six years of knowing me, he is hardly ever surprised by any of my strange requests. We went out and smashed away, then did a bit more smashing the next morning. I went to Joann's Fabrics and bought 4 yards of tulle and threw it over as a floating row cover to keep any other bugs out. The chicken wire cover is to keep birds and rabbits out as well. Now my plants have perked up quite a bit, especially the cabbage. The worms have practically destroyed the swiss chard, I don't think any will survive. I have already enjoyed a few radishes and sampled a tiny green tomato. I couldn't help it, they looked so tasty.
On the knitting front, I am three rows and a bind off away from finishing a new design. This one really flew off the needles, but mostly because I have quite a few secret projects lined up and don't have time to waste. Hopefully later on, either this afternoon or tomorrow I will have a few photos of it blocking to post.
The first week of August the weather cooled and it was time to plant my fall garden. Now, if you noticed a bunch of holes in my little plants I'll tell you about those. Pests have invaded my garden, hence the veil. I had such lovely little seedlings, seeds that I sowed directly into the soil, and one day I found them chewed up and full of holes and broken stems. I also found a bunch of black worms with yellow stripes. After doing a bit of online searching (which I found quite nauseating after looking at page after page of worms) I finally found the culprit. A yellow striped armyworm. I find the name amusing seeing that I'm right next to Ft. Bragg and can't seem to get away from everything Army. But sadly, my research told me that armyworms are hard to get rid of and there are no pesticides for them. Not that I would want to use a pesticide, one of the reasons I grow my own vegetables is to try to keep my food as natural as possible. I read these worms like to munch on the leaves at night, and my dear husband didn't even bat an eyelash when I asked him to grab a flashlight and help me smash worms out in the yard. After six years of knowing me, he is hardly ever surprised by any of my strange requests. We went out and smashed away, then did a bit more smashing the next morning. I went to Joann's Fabrics and bought 4 yards of tulle and threw it over as a floating row cover to keep any other bugs out. The chicken wire cover is to keep birds and rabbits out as well. Now my plants have perked up quite a bit, especially the cabbage. The worms have practically destroyed the swiss chard, I don't think any will survive. I have already enjoyed a few radishes and sampled a tiny green tomato. I couldn't help it, they looked so tasty.
On the knitting front, I am three rows and a bind off away from finishing a new design. This one really flew off the needles, but mostly because I have quite a few secret projects lined up and don't have time to waste. Hopefully later on, either this afternoon or tomorrow I will have a few photos of it blocking to post.
I haven't forgotten about my crazy quilt either. After reading a couple books on crazy quilting I have been collecting more fabrics, size 8 perle cotton thread and silk embroidery ribbon and started planning a new project. I keep meaning to start
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