It's time for the weekly update!

I am astounded at the amount of growth that's happened in just one week...

The Mexican Heather appears to be doing well, and if you look closely, you can see on the Morning Glorys that the peduncle has emerged!

Our little spinach plants look like they're thriving...some new leaves came up this week.

Oswald the tomato has three tomatoes growing.

Our cherry tomato plant is also fruiting like crazy!

We have two cucumber plants and this one is some kind of monster. Those leaves are the size of my hand...and all of this in a week! I'm a little worried there's not enough space in there for him...

Broccoli plants all the way to the left, then two rows of wildflowers, and the orange cosmos.

See that guy in the first row next to the screen? That's my summer squash! It finally germinated! The rest are sunflowers, and that one tiny little guy right in the front might be garlic. I dunno, I just shoved a clove that was going bad in the closet in some dirt and hoped for the best.

And the most exciting thing of all...this gorgeous 8'x4' cedar planter, handmade by Jim :)

I'm going to plant the broccoli, radishes, and summer squash in this planter once it's all filled in with rock, organic soil, peat, and mulch.

A word to the wise (or the totally ignorant) about broccoli...

So with the broccoli: you're really not supposed to plant this when I planted it. What happened was that I found a packet of broccoli seeds that I've had for about a hundred years (ok; more like three) and in the zeal of planting everything else, I said, "Ah hell, let's just plant them and see what happens."

Well, it seems that broccoli needs a cool root temperature in order to keep it from bolting. Bolting is what happens when the plant flowers, but no fruit results, and the plant goes to seed. Which is a whole lot of jargon for "your plant will go to shit and it's a waste of time".

After some careful (read: 10 minutes worth, haha) research on the University of Florida website, I discovered that our chances of getting any broccoli this summer are slim to none, but here's a tip.

Tip: If you don't pay attention like I don't pay attention, and you plant your broccoli at the wrong damn time of year, apparently if you put mulch in at the roots, it will keep them cooler and you might succeed!

And now, for the highlight of this post...

Chompy Little Buggers

The little bastard above is a cabbage looper, and the sole purpose of his existence is to eat your garden. Jim found one on Mr. Stripey the other day (sadface).

But it seems Florida, amid all of its other glorious, shit-tastic things that make me absolutely despise living here, is host to a myriad of little bugs who want to fuck up your horticultural world. Here's a chart of them, so you can see what I mean. Seriously, what is this, Australia?hare on facebook

Refer to the "active ingredient" on product labels to determine which pesticide(s) the product contains.

Pest

Neem^e

Spinosad^e

Bt^ae

Carbaryl

Malathion

Pyrethroids^b

Soap^ce

Oil^ce

Imidacloprid^d

Aphids

X

X

X

X

X

X

Armyworm

X

X

X

X

Bean leafroller

X

X

X

X

Cabbage looper

X

X

X

X

Col. potato beetle

X

X

X

X

Cucumber beetle

X

X

X

X

Diamondback moth

X

X

Corn earworm/fruitworm

X

X

X

X

Flea beetle

X

X

X

X

Hornworm, pinworm

X

X

X

X

Leafminers

X

Leafhoppers

X

X

X

X

Melon, pickleworm

X

X

X

X

Mexican bean beetle

X

X

X

Cowpea curculio

X

Spider mites

X

X

Squash vine borer

X

X

X

Stink bugs

X (nymphs)

X (nymphs)

X (adults)

Thrips

X

X

X

X

Whiteflies

X

X

X

X

X

^aBacillus thuringiensis (several brands).

^bIncludes bifenthrin, lamda-cyhalothrin, esfenvalerate, and pyrethrins + PBO.

^cTest on a few plants first because of potentional leaf burn and do not use in hot weather.

^dThis pesticide requires a waiting period before harvesting of 7 to 45 days (depending on the crop).

^eLeast toxic products.

Now as you might recall, one of the main points of starting this garden was so we wouldn't be eating produce that had been drenched in chemicals that would doubtless give us cancer, or at the very least, endow our children with a third eye. Or maybe just one really big eye instead of the standard two.

So when we found the caterpillar, and when I noticed earlier today, while pretending to be a wildlife photographer, that something appeared to be chomping at my veg, I wondered just what exactly we should do about it.

About a week ago, anticipating these chompy little buggers, I bought a natural pesticide at the local plant nursery. Basically it's a soap that's safe to put on your veg and won't give your children extra organs. I wonder about its efficacy though.

A friend of ours who has quite a large kitchen garden (made out of pressure-treated/painted railroad ties) wryly told us to forget about those "good-for-the-earth" pesticides and go straight for the carcinogenic kill.

But I thought to myself, much like I think about childbirth, "People had been doing this the natural way for a hundred or more years in this country...why the sudden need for all the harmful chemistry?" In fact, I found out that it wasn't until after World War II that we started all this nonsense with the chemicals.

So right now, I am seeking ways to keep the bugs away--particularly the caterpillars and the ants. God the ants down here are just vicious and innumerable. It is a sad thing for me to live in a place where I can't walk barefoot in the grass without worrying about fire ants or just the sharp-as-hell grass cutting my feet.

Mr. Stripey's Great Adventure

Friday, April 19, 2013

Little Chompy Buggers

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