Crawling Killer

Pest Killer Powder...

Yesterday when I was trying to get the weeds out of what is supposed to be our melon bed, about a million baby earwigs popped out of the compost I was digging into. I was so startled I almost fell back onto the onion, herb, tomato bed. I, obviously, stopped working on the weeds right after that and went inside. I was completely freaked out. I'd already been thinking about earwigs since that one grown up one popped out of the trellis but I never thought we'd have such an infestation. After reading about how much damage a few could do I frantically emailed Mr. S. about trying to pick up some Diatomaceous Earth. It's not usually used outside but it is 100% organic, food grade, and effective crawling bug killer, so I went with it. I emailed saying that "we can kiss our gardens goodbye" if we didn't take care of this problem before the earwigs spread. Luckily, he is as invested in his garden as I am in mine and his, so he got the email and went straight out at 7am to get the powder. Turns out the hardware store didn't open until 8am but he went back out to get it then and lined all the beds and poured a generous amount on the dormant beds. THANK GOD! When I got up it was all done. He didn't spread any in Patch, I think because he knows I like to deal with Patch alone, but I did. I sat and watched, after outlining the bed, containers and Topsy hook, I watched a potato bug crawl into the powder start climbing up the brick wall of my bed, fall, crawl a little more, try again, and die. IT WORKED! I actually kind of felt bad for the little guy because the powder was meant for earwigs but I think potato bugs are bad for veggies too so I got over it. Considering that Diatom-Earth isn't really for outside use we'll have to re-do everything after the rain but I'm hoping that by then it'll have taken care of the major infestation and just left a few crawling pests and the flying ones behind. Mr. S. picked up something else that we can use to protect our plants against our 6-8 legged pests but I forgot what it was called. I do know it's 100% organic, supposedly effective, and it can be sprayed directly on veggies, fruits, berries, and herbs. I'll spot test it tomorrow and let you know the name and what happens. 

Other than that I didn't do much in the garden today. I just checked on everything and made sure the soil was moist. Like I've said before I am trying to suppress my urge to over water so I didn't because it was beautiful but mildly chilly and all of the plants seemed perky and well watered. I think the Sea Magic has helped them out too. The radishes looked bushier and didn't have anymore holes in them. Now, as long as the earwig invasion has been controlled we'll be fine until the "Predalure" kicks in. As of this afternoon I hadn't seen one lacewing or ladybug. If those things don't end up working I'll be pissed. They seemed like such a nice and organic way to deal with pests. I hate having to use powders and sprays even if they are organic. Now, don't get me wrong, I would have used straight poison on the far bed to kill all of those earwigs but those were extenuating circumstances. 

This is the brand and exact bag we bought. It's 4lb for about $8. Worth it in a pinch.

What diatom earth looks like. 

She's Got Garden Fever

Potager Schoultz...

Mike's parents decided to set up a garden of raised beds in the backyard directly in front of the sun room about 15 feet from Patch Market. Mikes Dad bought a raised bed kit and 5 tomato plants and his mom bought some herbs and peppers. I am so excited that they decided to set up there own garden because the backyard will be full of veggies and fruits. My dream of stepping out on a warm late spring and early summer morning and smelling everything grow will come true. I was so excited that they were setting up there garden I decided to input all of the plant varieties they purchased and the sized beds into SmartGardener.com. I even chose a name and a few extra plants I'd heard them talking about. The new name is Potager (french for kitchen garden) Schoultz (their last name). I think it might be cuter than Patch Market, not that they are going to make a sign and all of that for their garden but I did have to input a name to create the garden layout on SmartGardener. 

It took me a couple of hours to find the types of tomatoes they'd chosen, pick vegetables that went well and they'd spoken of, and chose the number of plants. I don't know that they'll use the exact plan and don't expect it because I only went on varieties I'd remembered. They have a lot more space, I just tried to fill it in with the things they'd actually bought. The site recommends where to place each plant after selecting them. That was the true reason I set it up... Mikes dad asked me something that had to do with spacing and harvesting. So now they know where to plant what they did buy and maybe they'll even buy a few things I added so that the plants they bought have the best companions. 

Patch Market... 

Yesterday before all of the Potager Schoultz stuff happened I went to the AFAC work party and when I got home I had lunch, relaxed, and headed back out to tend to my garden. I finally planted something in Patch. I planted the carrots and radishes. I am so excited to see them start germinating. I hope that the carrots make it. I was a little discouraged when they spoke about the carrots they'd planted for AFAC at the Central Library. They sowed the seeds a couple weeks prior to the work party and as far as we could see they weren't doing very well. That's part of the reason I chose to plant yesterday instead of waiting until the LFD. If the carrots don't germinate I'll have the time to replant. 

My strawberries are so healthy dark green and tall it is amazing to see the growth from brown duds to lively beautiful plants. My lettuce on the other hand has started to wilt a little bit. The iceberg has shown new growth in the heart but the old leaves and some of the new have lost there crisp upright posture. I think it's a little hot in the greenhouse for them. Now, that we are in April, and the days have begun to warm, I am going to transplant them. Lettuce is a cool weather crop and because it's cool outside the greenhouse is now warm to hot. I realized that is how the greenhouse seems to work... it is about one season ahead of where the outside world is. So, tomorrow I add lettuce to the carrots and radishes in the raised bed. Soon I'll have a full house. 

Patch Testing...

My raised bed veggies aren't doing much yet, obviously, but I do have a few test updates. The spinach cup pre-germs. that fell over and were transplanted from the glass-papertowel-bottle are growing very well. The seedlings are about an inch tall and seemed to survive the little mishap without any set backs. Again, plants are much more resilient then they've been made out to be. The watermelon seeds are still just soil and newspaper. The radishes seed tape and primed radishes that fell over have all germinated and are doing extremely well. I even took them all the way out and put them back into the soil and they are growing at the average rate if not quicker for being primed and taped. And again, it seems like the flour water paste has the same affect on the rate of germination as the soaking in tepid water does. 

The carrot seeds in the glass bottle have pre-germinated at about 25% and the rest have molded. I'll have to look into testing other ways to pre-germinate carrot seeds. I don't think the wet paper towel works for carrots. The scarified watermelon seed is at the same stage of the control seed in the glass bottle, nothing's changed. I guess we'll see on those too. The sweet potato that rooted and grew root hairs is doing amazingly. It drink about a fourth of a glass of water each day and the roots just continue to grow. I am hoping that means I'll start getting some shoots in the next week and I'll be able to plant my slips rather than buy plants. 

I started priming the lemon balm for those tests. I am going to attempt growing it from seed by priming and pre-germination. I have my reservation because of the tiny seed size but we'll see how it goes. I'll be planting the primed seeds tomorrow along with the lettuce and a dry watermelon seed (control seed).