Thursday, June 30, 2011
"The Help" Kathryn Stockett
My new favorite book! I'm not good at giving book reports. . . . so, just read it. Really, I'll let you borrow it if you want.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Die Aphids, Die!
I am absolutely amazed this morning. I am amazed and incredibly happy. My tomato plants are happy too I'm sure.
I have never had a problem with aphids on my plants - lucky me. That is, until this year. I keep a close eye on my plants and I usually pick off any pests before they become a problem. This year; however, it seems my tomato plants had some unwelcome visitors.
I'm talking about aphids. These little suckers were everywhere and it seems they showed up in large numbers overnight. Now, an aphid is a small little bug that kinda looks like a pear. A tiny green pear with legs. They suck the juice from plants and really can do a lot of damage in large numbers. Ants love them and will collect the sticky sweet "sap" they secrete. Ants will even protect the plant vampires. My first clue to the infestation were ants crawling up the stalks of my tomatoes. A careful examination of the underside of the leaves revealed the culprit.
Luckily, I knew all about these critters despite the fact that I have never had to deal with them. I quickly went to work. I watered my plants well and then got to the task of spraying down every leaf (top and underside), stem and stalk and even the ground around the plant with soapy water. Lemon scented dish soap to be exact. The exact proportion would be about 3 squirts to one spray bottle.
I see ladybugs and those creepy looking wasps in my tomato patch daily. They love aphids, unfortunately, the aphids were more than they could handle. I chose not to use chemical insecticides because it's important that my garden stay organic and I don't want to kill off these beneficial insects. My children also play and eat from the garden - straight from the garden - so, dangerous pesticides were out of the question.
Last night I went to bed thinking about aphids and bugs in general. UGH! I woke up unusually early and headed out to the garden to see what was up. I thought I'd go out there and spray off some soap residue from the leaves and maybe pressure wash the plants to dislodge some of the bugs. To my amazement most of the aphids were gone. I found a few and they were easily picked off but the large colonies were gone.
Either my night time prayers were answered or the lemon scent drove them away or they all just died.
I'm not sure but something happened last night. Something wonderful.
I have never had a problem with aphids on my plants - lucky me. That is, until this year. I keep a close eye on my plants and I usually pick off any pests before they become a problem. This year; however, it seems my tomato plants had some unwelcome visitors.
I'm talking about aphids. These little suckers were everywhere and it seems they showed up in large numbers overnight. Now, an aphid is a small little bug that kinda looks like a pear. A tiny green pear with legs. They suck the juice from plants and really can do a lot of damage in large numbers. Ants love them and will collect the sticky sweet "sap" they secrete. Ants will even protect the plant vampires. My first clue to the infestation were ants crawling up the stalks of my tomatoes. A careful examination of the underside of the leaves revealed the culprit.
Luckily, I knew all about these critters despite the fact that I have never had to deal with them. I quickly went to work. I watered my plants well and then got to the task of spraying down every leaf (top and underside), stem and stalk and even the ground around the plant with soapy water. Lemon scented dish soap to be exact. The exact proportion would be about 3 squirts to one spray bottle.
I see ladybugs and those creepy looking wasps in my tomato patch daily. They love aphids, unfortunately, the aphids were more than they could handle. I chose not to use chemical insecticides because it's important that my garden stay organic and I don't want to kill off these beneficial insects. My children also play and eat from the garden - straight from the garden - so, dangerous pesticides were out of the question.
Last night I went to bed thinking about aphids and bugs in general. UGH! I woke up unusually early and headed out to the garden to see what was up. I thought I'd go out there and spray off some soap residue from the leaves and maybe pressure wash the plants to dislodge some of the bugs. To my amazement most of the aphids were gone. I found a few and they were easily picked off but the large colonies were gone.
Either my night time prayers were answered or the lemon scent drove them away or they all just died.
I'm not sure but something happened last night. Something wonderful.
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