Some Things To Know About Japanese Beetles
- On August 22, 2011
- By Meleah
- In Bugs, Organic Gardening, Perennials
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For five years now I’ve fussed over bare-root sprigs and cuttings of Virginia creeper, nursing them into the lush vines that now cover three arbors and a couple of fences at my house. This week, I started ripping all those vines out because, sadly, Japanese beetles just love Virginia creeper. For a while, my husband and I thought we could live with the damage the beetles do —all those green leaves reduced to lacy brown ghosts of their former selves. But when scads of beetles and showers of the dust-like poo they leave behind started raining down from the arbor into our hair every time we shut the back gate, well, goodbye vines.
For those who aren’t familiar with Japanese beetles, they are actually quite fetching little bugs. Dime-sized with shiny purple-green bodies, they almost look like something a wacked-out artificial intelligence researcher would create in a sci-fi film. First spotted in 1968 in Minnesota, as well as on the East Coast, Japanese beetles have since plagued eastern states, primarily, while slowly making their way westward. Larvae, or grubs as they’re usually called, feed on the roots of turf grass and adult beetles feed on a wide variety of ornamental plants.
Read More»Controlling pests in the garden
- On June 12, 2011
- By Meleah
- In Bugs, Organic Gardening
- 0
As I type this I can almost hear the four-lined plant bugs out in my garden chomping away on many of my perennials — even my wee basil plants that are just trying to get a start for the summer. My basil! I have no qualms about squishing these yellow bugs with the fat, black stripes on their backs or flicking them into a pail of water to drown. But I don’t spray them with chemicals anymore. Sevin, insecticidal soup, homemade soap sprays, I’ve tried all kinds of concoctions to try to get rid of four-lined plant bugs and other pests over the years. None of them worked very well.
I don’t use chemicals on bugs anymore. It’s not that I think all chemicals are bad; I don’t. Though I do think chemicals should be used judiciously. Don’t worry. I’m not going to be all preachy in this column about what you should do when trying to deal with pests in your own garden. I’d just like to share what I’ve learned about pesticides over the last few years so you can make your own, informed choices about pest control whether that be through chemical or natural means.
Read More»Great garden reads
- On November 10, 2010
- By Meleah
- In Books, Organic Gardening
- 0
When I decided to write my October column on garden-related books you might want to check out during our impending (and far too long) winter, I had no idea I would be writing it on a warm, 75-degree evening just a couple of weeks before Halloween. But I figure I’ll do it anyway because, well, this is Minnesota so all hell could break loose tomorrow and you might be in need of a good book while waiting for your neighbor with jumper cables to help you start your frozen car!
I’ll begin by warning you that there are several memoirs in the bunch, but then I’ll make it all better by assuring you that these aren’t the sorts of memoirs where disheartened divorcees run off to third-world countries to find love and enlightenment. No, no. (Ack.) These are memoirs packed with dirt and critters and plants. At the top of the list is, “The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating,” by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. I found out about this while reading one of my favorite gardening blogs, Garden Rant: gardenrant.com.
Read More»Fertilizer 101
- On July 17, 2010
- By Meleah
- In Fertilizer, Organic Gardening
- 0
Raise your hand if you don’t feed your plants like you know you probably should? Yeah, my hand is up, too. There’s no question that plants need nutrients to thrive but, somehow, fertilizing is always low on my list of gardening tasks.
Part of the reason for this is that the garden really doesn’t look like it’s struggling, so I put off feeding for another day. But left on their own year after year, plants will deplete the soil of primary macronutrients nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K), which is why you find these most often in packaged fertilizers you buy off the shelf.
To a lesser degree, and at a much slower rate, secondary and micronutrients like sulfur, calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and manganese may also be depleted over time.
Read More»A dog-friendly garden (sort of)
- On June 10, 2009
- By Meleah
- In Annuals, Organic Gardening, Perennials
- 0
In June, we got Lily, a nine-week-old puppy that the Humane Society described as a lab/spaniel mix but is very likely turning out to be a border collie. She, of course, is the inspiration for this column.
There are so many articles out there about creating dog-friendly gardens and, honestly, up until now I haven’t read many of them because I never needed to think about the subject. Now, though, I have a dog who has rapidly gone from 11 pounds to 20 and may well reach 60 come spring. So lately I’ve been trying to separate these articles into two categories: (1) Complete hooey that will never work (2) Things that sound reasonable enough for me and, perhaps, some of you everyday gardeners out there who have dogs, to try.
Read More»Fall Tips
Well, fall and winter are on the way, and that means there’s a lot to do outdoors. Normally, I don’t spend much time talking about lawn care. I’m just not that interested in grass and, to be honest, I’m embarrassed by the fact that I can hardly manage to start our mower by myself — all the cord yanking and lever pushing. Maybe it’s a coordination thing?
But I do realize that lots of people do care about their lawns, so here we go. Let’s talk about some things you can do to keep your grass healthy and looking good. Though it’s too late to do any more seeding, you can still lay sod for a new lawn or just use some chunks to repair damaged spots. Be sure to water enough to keep the surface of the soil moist. Once it takes root, you can start mowing and reduce watering. Keep mowing until you notice that your grass, old or new, has stopped growing.
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