Tag Archives: organic gardening

Creepy Crawlies outside and inside:

May 27, 2023

Planted out most of our propagated veggies, and I am starting another batch for succession plantings. This year, now that I am retired I have more time to watch the plants closely and nip things before they go too far. So far the critters above have been spotted, Grape leaf skeletonizer (the caterpillar on the left and the thrips-like microscopic squishy deep inside a tiny peach-baby. We have sprayed our apple trees, and the stone fruits (we have a peach and a nectarine) however I think our scheduling is a couple of weeks behind: noted for next year, live and learn!

Last fall, we had to mow our meadow down, too many shrubs were going woody and blocking out the light for all the wild flowers that were in the understory. So far this year we have been keeping the mugworts at bay and the Lupines, yarrow, and goldenrod have been growing. We did keep some Mulberry and Crab apples, and I would like to keep them shrubby, not letting them get too tall. A peach tree propagated on it own (perhaps with the help of squirrels or a tossed pit ?) we were happy to see that come about!

Gardens are always a work in progress. Learning never ends.

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July 11, 2019: Garden update

The Garden is filling in nicely! Corn is really looking like corn! Early Girl tomatoes are looking good so far. Now what we really need to do is to net off / fence off the raised beds so we have a chance at harvesting.

One thing I am having difficulty with, and not sure if anyone else has this issue, is that as my squash start to form, they turn yellow and fall off 😦 Is that too much water? not enough water? maybe something is stepping on them at night. There are other young squash forming, but I hope they remain on the vine to maturity.

The “three sisters” concept seemed like it make sense, however I am concerned that the squash is going to shade-out all the green beans and the other smaller crops underneath (like the radishes)

The Marvel peas are finishing up, looks like I need to start another round! Pasta Piselle was tonights dinner, I am happy that I am finally growing enough that I can actually make a meal with the harvest.

So Propagation of my hydrangea has been less than great. Time to start again and see how it goes. Years ago I seemed to have better luck with grafting and starting plants, I guess I am out of practice

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