Pretty bummed that in the course of two weeks in July while I was away, the bulk of my vegetable patch succumbed to white flies. Probably came in from squash plants from Lowe’s. Green beans and cucumbers are probably goners, but I can salvage pole beans, poblanos, and maybe the tomatoes.

Otherwise, if I scrap and start prepping for next season, do I need to “fly proof” my soil? #plants #gardening #gardenpests

That feeling when you're *really hoping it's just a combination of rain and the plaster/whatever residue from the next door neighbors renovating the outside of their house, but you have a suspicion it's actually powdery mildew... #gardening #gardenpests #gardendrama #sweetpeas

Troubled by wasps this summer? I have a fail-safe approach to shooing them away

#wasps #gardenpests #dontgetstung #gardening #gardeners wasps are the gardeners friends!

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/24/troubled-by-wasps-this-summer-i-have-a-fail-safe-approach-to-shooing-them-away?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this but my Japanese beetle collector works pretty great on any beetles that have that "fall off the leaf" defense. I can throw squash bugs in but have to whack the container to get them to go down. Stuck them all in the freezer and I'm going to see if the chickens like eating them in a bit. #gardening #ipm #chickens #gardenpests

Got my homemade sticky traps for the garden put out. Stakes, thin wood (we used recycled wood paneling) spray painted yellow (to attract the bugs away from your veggie flowers/plants), clothes pins and rubber bands. Coat boards with Tanglefoot and voilà, fewer insects devouring your garden! #gardening #growyourown #diy #gardenpests

Kind people of #mastodon have provided excellent advice to me for getting rid of #Gooseberry Sawfly. I am now on a quest to try all the #organic methods possible before the next wave of infection can potentially happen in July. #gardenpests #organicgardening
https://havegarden.com/sawfly-on-gooseberries/

P.E.I. horticulturist Heidi Wood offers tips to protect your property against the invasive Japanese beetle. #invasivespecies #gardenpests
https://t.co/X09EgnIbGX https://t.co/2CBmbGgs9g

Given everything I've observed of this nipped stem problem (last year wasn't the first time), I'm very optimistic that this solution will solve the problem.
I'm thinking of something similar for the 'maters - individual baskets for each plant. I'm hoping that if I can protect the most vulnerable crops this way, I can dispense with expense and headaches of fencing the whole garden. With quality materials and construction, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the baskets to last a minimum of 10 years, and hopefully, closer to 20.

PS - All my trellises are permanent, so the baskets are/will be, too. I rotate the climbing crops (peas, beans, tomatoes, squash) through the trellised beds but the trellises stay put.

#gardening #gardenPests #trellis #permaculture #CentralNewYork #Zone5b

Given everything I've observed of this nipped stem problem (last year wasn't the first time), I'm very optimistic that this solution will solve the problem.
I'm thinking of something similar for the 'maters - individual baskets for each plant. I'm hoping that if I can protect the most vulnerable crops this way, I can dispense with expense and headaches of fencing the whole garden. With quality materials and construction, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the baskets to last a minimum of 10 years, and hopefully, closer to 20.

PS - All my trellises are permanent, so the baskets are/will be, too. I rotate the climbing crops (peas, beans, tomatoes, squash) through the trellised beds but the trellises stay put.
#gardening #gardenPests #trellis #permaculture #CentralNewYork #Zone5b

While I normally am a big proponent of no-dig, sometimes you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. This morning, I dug out the area in front of the trellis 6" deep. Saved the leaf mulch in a bucket, put the soil in the wheelbarrow. Amended the soil with half a bucket of finished compost, 2/3 c. of bagged chicken manure and the same amount of worm castings. Mixed it all up. Dropped the basket in the trench and refilled with the soil mix.

Done! To celebrate I planted the first direct-seeded crops of the season: a row of Sugar Snap peas along the back of the trench and a mixed row of French breakfast radishes, Early Wonder Tall Top beets (for greens), and Merlot lettuce along the front. Watered well and re-mulched with a light layer of leaves.

I have one more basket already made, and hope to create a couple more. #gardening #gardenPests #trellis #permaculture

Last August, the voles completed their mission of nipping off every single bean plant in the garden. I also lost 6 of my 9 tomato plants the same way.

So, I spent the winter designing a protective trellis basket in my head. I installed the first one this morning.

The basket is 2 feet tall, 44" long and 8" wide to fit closely in front of the trellis. Sides are made from the same vinyl covered 1/4" hardware cloth I used to line the bottoms of the new wood beds I made last fall. The bottom of the basket is 1/2" galvanized hardware cloth. It's all held together with the black UV cable ties.

#gardening #gardenPests #trellis #permaculture

All six of my new hopefully-vole-thwarting raised beds are assembled! Before spring, even! The plan is to sit them directly on hardware cloth sheets before filling and surrounding with soil, to prevent the voles from digging under. Any other ideas would be welcome. (They're not in their final location, just out of my way for now.) #gardening #permaculture #gardenpests

My two brocc plants that were completely eaten by the the voles were planted with an annual N-fixing legume called partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata). Beautiful plant, but the voles gobbled those, too - not a trace left by the end of summer. I had hoped they'd become a self-seeding annual but they didn't stand a chance. #permaculture #gardenpests #nitrogenfixers

So this past growing season was awful b/c of a pop explosion of voles. They completely annihilated my pole beans and 2 of my 4 broccoli plants. Interesting thing, though, they ignored the 2 broccoli (pictured) that were right next to the asparagus patches. And all vole activity in the area seems to have vanished since I put down 6" of woodchip mulch between the beds in the last month. #permaculture #gardenpests #gardening 1/2

Keep your plants healthy and protect them from common #gardenpests like #aphids and caterpillars

https://food.news/2022-04-07-protect-your-crops-from-pests-diseases.html

#homegardening #gardeningtips

Keep #gardenpests away and improve #cropyield by practicing #croprotation #homegardening
https://www.naturalnews.com/2022-03-18-home-gardening-3-benefits-of-crop-rotation.html