My habit of buying a few cans of ladybugs to release in my garden every year has payed off in ways I hadn't imagined. I haven't gotten a new can this year yet, mostly due to inertia, and while I will- I've gotten a wonderful present from past me. You see, it isn't just pest … Continue reading The awakening army, 2022
The experiment of whether strawberries prefer terracotta over glazed ceramic pots is over- and the clear winner is terracotta. All my strawberries in ceramic pots were ok but definitely struggling. The alpine strawberry that was cut in half has now grown to fill the terracotta low bowl, and was fruiting in January. Now a degree … Continue reading Strawberry fields forever part 3
3000 new recruits in the ever-ongoing war against aphids! I lucked out the day I got them- very foggy and overcast which meant a mid-day release. Normally of course you have to wait til dusk, so that the little ladies are tricked into thinking that the garden was always their home. But when it's wet … Continue reading 2021’s Ladybug onslaught
So the tomato thicket consisting of Julia and Spike needed a little TLC. It's been very very hot the last few days, and they've been growing their little tomato hearts out. Julia seems to be trying to escape the bed, while Spike... Spike is an untamable eldritch horror that will consume all. lucky for me … Continue reading Tomato thicket update
It's bugs. The advantage is bugs. Good bugs! Of course pollinators is the obvious one- flowers attract bees! Flowers also give food to adult ladybugs so they can be fruitful and multiply and make larvae that eat the nasty bugs! This is a celery which is not flowering, but it's a really good picture of … Continue reading The advantage of letting things go to seed
The Neanderthal Gardens 