Aphids Made Me Do It
Last year, the okra in my garden was covered with aphids. I wanted to use natural pest control, and ladybugs were the answer. I ordered live ladybugs from an online vendor.
Mail Order Ladybugs
I released my mail order ladybugs into the garden and the aphids were controlled in three days and for the rest of the season. All was well.
Releasing Ladybugs
Where Will They Go?
I saw a few ladybugs on plants throughout the garden during the rest of the spring growing season, but I was concerned about what would happen to them at the end of the season. That is when all the plants are pulled out and the garden is covered with a sheet of clear plastic for about eight weeks of solarization to kill the weeds, insects, etc that are in the soil before it is planted again.
I considered building a ladybug habitat so they would have a place to go while the garden was covered. Procrastination got the better of me. I never got around to it. Since the herbs were all that was left during the summer, I really didn’t expect to see any ladybugs when I planted in October.
They’re Ba-a-ack…
Surprise! I didn’t have very many, but I did see a few ladybugs on different plants during the season.
Ladybug on Spinach
Today, I noticed that I have aphids… again. I was thinking that I should order another bunch of ladybugs, because I had seen too few to take on a plague of aphids again. Then, I saw that my problem of needing more ladybugs was being solved on an eggplant leaf.
Nature Solving a Natural Problem…
Tags: above ground garden · aphids · eggplant · garden pests · Okra · Organic Gardening · Raised Garden · soil solarization · Vegetables2 Comments
Hello! I realize this is kind of off-topic however I needed to ask.
Does running a well-established blog such as yours
require a massive amount work? I’m completely new to blogging however I do write
in my diary daily. I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my experience and thoughts online.
Please let me know if you have any kind of ideas or tips
for brand new aspiring bloggers. Appreciate it!
Person Mulling over Hawaii,
I am closer to an ‘aspiring blogger’ than you might think… or at least I often feel like a novice. I was handed this established blog a little over two years ago, with the admonition to keep it going.
Even after two years, I occasionally need help with one thing or another… for instance, the mechanics of the template I use.
For me, there is a lot of research involved. I am very conscious of putting up only verified information. It is as much work as you want to put into it to make it what you envision.
Several daily bloggers that I know, view everyday as having a deadline, and because of that, they publish everyday. I write only when I have found something that strongly interests me. Having a daily ‘deadline’ would take every bit of joy and interest out of this exercise for me. However, since you are in the habit of writing something everyday anyway, it may work out very well for you.
Regardless of the title of the blog, I write about what interests me at the time, and it is not always about gardening. If you have been through the archives of this blog, you’ve already discovered that. Trying to follow a restricted subject just doesn’t work for me. So far, my followers have not objected.
I guess the only advice I can give you is to post to your blog however often doesn’t stress you… daily, or not. Write what you know or what interests you. Make sure it is factual and that you feel good with the idea of someone else reading it.
Good luck with your blog adventure.