Ladies Present

Runners... 

There hasn't been much to do in the garden not even watering because we've been getting light rain and sun. The one thing I did do was pull off a few runners from the most beautiful strawberry plants ever. I pulled off about 6 runners. The rest of the plants didn't have any yet. I'm sure they will be growing some soon. A runner is a strawberry stem that grows horizontally to the soil and "runs" across. The part of the stem closest to the crown is usually reddish in color but does not have to be. 

Ladybugs...

I finally saw a few lace wings and ladybugs. The one ladybug I noticed first was happily ass deep in a tomato plant eating up all the aphids it could get. I am so glad that we finally have some ladybugs in the garden. The tomato plants were becoming aphid infested. The dark spots on the branches in the picture. Are clumps but the ladies and laces have been doing there job well because the whole plant used to be a dark spot. Yay!! We might need to buy some ladybugs but I'm not sure yet. The Predalure doesn't seem to have work as expected. We do have some lacewings and ladybugs but I don't know that there are more then usual. It actually seem Ike there may be less ladybugs. So a Predalure may be a waste of money, I'll keep you posted.

First tomato in Potagar. A mortgage lifter.

Patty-pan squash blossom, edible. 

Crookneck squash blossom, open then closed. Attached to a 2 inch squash. Ready to harvest at 6 inches.

Largest strawberry on Topsy Turvy.

Danver126, carrot greens, largest and tallest yet. 

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. 

Strawberries Galore!

Or beans...

I went out this morning to water everything. It was a beautiful sunny May day and I had read some tips from Burpee about how to water the tomatoes. I thought I'd tackle that today. Since we don't have a great hose at the moment I fill up a plastic juice jug that holds 3/4 of a gallon of water and then pour that into the water can that holds 2 gallons. It's nice because it's marked from 1/2g to 2g. I filled the juice jug 4 times and poured then started on the first tomato plant. I was able to eyeball when the watering can was about half way full then I'd move on to the next. Since the can only holds 2 gallons and we have 6 plants that need 1 gallon each once a week I had to refill it three times but I think it will be worth the trouble. The Burpee tip, along with other references, said that watering the tomatoes deeply but infrequently was the trick to getting a "bumper" crop. Since Smart Gardener suggested this method of watering as well I went with it. I finally finished watering the tomatoes and moved on to watering everything else. It seems the rain did our garden wonders and I know it seems like "wow one gallon plus all the rain" but that isn't the case. The rain we got lasted 2 days but only have us about .5 inches of water. So I water the beans which are going crazy. We have about 18 plants now and more were popping up. I thinned a couple of the new seedlings because I knew that I'd have to thin them later and didn't see the point of letting them grow any longer. After the beans I checked on the spinach and noticed that the plants are growing there second set of leaves already. They went much quicker than my spinach. I thinned a few plants out the other day and a few more today. I am no longer scared to thin. I officially KNOW that the reason my thumb was a slow was, was because it was actually a slow one. I was waiting way too long to thin and the plants weren't getting there nutrients. I watered the lettuce and the mesclun mix, which also has its grown up leaves coming in, and moved on to the onions, basil and lemon balm. The lemon balm has about 50 bright green and new leaves, the basil is looking fresher every day, and the onions are another inch taller. So things are good in Potagar Schoultz. Once I watered everything there I refilled the can and moved over to Patch. 

Patch Progress...

I watered everything in the raised bed and noticed that my lettuce is not only bushier but taller and more of the carrots have real leaves on them now. Then I moved on to my prized strawberry buckets. The 5G bucket has finally filled all the way in you can't see any of the soil unless you move the leaves over and the 8G bucket has 2 strawberries coming in... SUPRISE SUPRISE!! The container doing the best is the Topsy Turvy it all of the sudden has big beautiful leaves and flowers on it. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I don't know if moving the container up higher so it got more sun had anything to do with it but it's thriving. I had my major reservations about choosing the Topsy Turvy because of the issues I had in the beginning but I'm glad to be proven wrong on this one. It's pretty amazing to know that those beautiful little white flowers will soon be juicy red berries. I can't wait! 

Finally, I watered all the strawberry containers and all the stuff in the greenhouse and went inside. I wanted to get some weeding, spraying, and research done today but I had a haircut at 2pm and it didn't go well so I put all that off for tomorrow. I spent the day inside trying to fix the disaster I call my hair at the moment but tomorrow I'll set out copper to deter the slugs and snails. I'll pick an insecticide and organic weed killer. And I'll hopefully get the sea magic and "predalure", I mentioned, and spray and put that out.  

Yarn trellis for the beans.

Strawberry flower on the Topsy. Amazing and Gorgeous!

Another Topsy flower just opening up!

The 5G (Right) and 8G (Left) buckets. 

Grown up carrot leaves!

Patch, raised bed. Bushy taller lettuce, carrots, onions on the climb and radishes that have just  hit there growth spurt. 

Predalure Hurry

Twine Trellis Crazed...

So last night after I wrote my last blog entry I looked up "twine trellises" on google. I found a bunch used for beans and decided to try a few out. I wanted to see which would be the best. Since I was basically out of twine I used heavy duty yarn and made 3 different types. I finally chose the tallest wrap around version. I put it in the garden and took a look with a flashlight. It looked great at night. This morning, the first sunny day in 3, I went outside to check the soil moisture, temp, and have another look. The red yarn I used didn't look so hot. The trellis itself looks great. It is space evenly the beans will grow up the yarn perfectly and they'll need it because they've double in a day. We had 7 plants now we have 14+. Its amazing. I'll have to thin them out but I won't be able to do that until they are long/tall enough to reach the trellis. I didn't plant them for this type of trellis so it is going to come down to which ones reach well and will grow well up the trellis. The rest I'll thin. I thought abbout going out to get some twine and making yet another trellis but the beans have gone so crazy and will grow so quickly that the yarn will be covered in no time. Now the only thing that I'm worried about is the shade the beans will create once they've grown. They will end up shading a few of the square feet allotted to the pepper plants, which need full sun, and that won't work. I'll have to think about what I can switch around if anything. I may just end up planting more beans in those plots and making a tepee string trellis. The sun will hit the sides fully and the center will be unused. 

Otherwise not too much work in the garden which is too bad. The rain stopped me from working over the weekend and today was my moms birthday so I ran errands until we met for dinner and by the time I got back it was dark. I have a lot of weeding, organic pest removing, fertilizer, soil preparing, and etc. to do in the next few days. I don't want to get behind on this stuff because all of the garden references I look to for info have said that the best way to keep pests away, insects worms and the lot, is to have healthy plants. The more healthy the plants the less attractive they are to insects. Irony of irony's the insects deteriorate the health. Organic insecticides were the one thing I didn't research to death before planting Patch or Potagar so I don't have any real clue what I am going to use. At the moment to aid with the health of the plants I've purchase Sea Magic. A seaweed concoction that you mix with water (makes 60 gallons) and spray on your plants. It apparently, like all sea weed products, helps plants grow my 30% or more. It keeps them insanely healthy and speeds growth. The other thing I got is a "predalure" it is a tea bag type thing that you hang in the garden and whatever is in the bag attracts ladybugs and lace wings. Both bugs eat pests like aphids, larvae, white flies, and etc. I'm hoping it works quickly so that I don't have to worry too much about making and testing baking soda and oil, oil and soap, and other mixes. 

I will test them for your sake on the test plants but that will help me more for next year. I do want to test those types of mixes I just don't want to be in a hurry to test them on my actual garden until I've had a chance to really test them on test plants. I'll be letting you guys know which ones work once I figure out the actual gardens. I've already seen earwigs, potato bugs, and a few weird flies so I need to get going. HELP!!!! 

This controlled release attractant is a magnet for beneficial, predatory insects such as lady beetles and lacewings that aggressively feed on aphids, mites, scale crawlers, caterpillar and beetle eggs and larvae and many other pests.

Sea Magic micro-nutrients, amino acids, growth-promoting and disease-fighting powers help deliver magical yields: 24% more tomatoes, 47% more peppers, 34% more cucumbers and 25% more grapes to name a few.