This year I saw a big uptick of Monarchs, along with many other types of butterflies in my garden. The most promising thing is the many Monarch caterpillars that I see happily munching on my plants. I don’t begrudge them. The garden has lots of Milkweed in it ( grown just for Danaus plexippus), but surprisingly […]
insects
Winter Arrived Early Bringing Winter Chores
Blustery Day, Past Year’s Losses Today is briefly warmer and blustery with high winds and rain, but it is more like a January thaw than the beige autumn Indian summer that we might normally expect. I don’t know that there is a clear sense of “normal” in our gardens anymore. Still, the patterns of the […]
Diatoms
I happened upon a most amazing picture. Who knew that diatoms were such a lovely lot? Organic gardeners know that diatomaceous earth is useful for insect control, but I was surprised at its uses. There are food grade and pool grade, the latter being poisonous, but the food grade is good for worming, and to […]
Bagging Beetles
Well, now that the Japanese beetles have chewed my garden to bits and multiplied beyond description… we have finally bought, assembled, and hung those bags that have the pheromones. Wow, do they work. The bags fill up fast with thousands of beetles…. and they still keep coming. But we had to do something, and while […]
Immigration Policies, Horticulturally Speaking
I recently read that there is an oak blight newly introduced to the East Coast in addition to the ash tree crisis of the Emerald borer. This is an oak wilt that is caused by a fungus under the bark. It grows until suddenly the entire tree is killed. At least that is the gist […]
Emerald Ash Borer
I wanted to comment on the emerald ash borer news, but procrastinated. Apologies. Anyway, I read an article in the paper that reported Ohio was going to implement some drastic measures to eliminate the ash borer that has been located in Northeastern Columbus area and in the Northwestern part of the state. Cut down lots […]
