Out in the garden yesterday evening, innocently checking on the ripening progress of my tomatoes, I got buzzed by a dragonfly. I barely had time to duck, much less see what was coming at me, but on its return path back to the huge bushes of asparagus, I saw that it was a dragonfly.
We seem to get dragonfies around this time each summer, and I wondered if they are good or bad bugs when it comes to the garden. Turns out, they’re good:
Dragonflies eat the larvae of other water-loving insects, including mosquito larvae. (I don’t know where they’re finding water in our neighborhood - we’re quite land locked, unless you count the neighbors’ pool) In fact, I learned that they can eat many times their weight in mosquitoes every day. Dragonflies also eat other kinds of flies and (eek) the occasional honeybee. Let’s just hope that there are enough mosquitoes to take care of that they can leave the poor honeybees alone.
Cats are lovely animals and make great house pets, but when they start to use your garden - especially vegetable and fruit garden - as a litter box, it’s time to take action.
There are natural and non toxic ways to repel cats from your garden. You can start by adding plants to your garden that will keep cats away. Herbs and plants such as lavender, rue, geranium, absinthe and lemon thyme all serve to repel cats.
You could also try the bait and switch approach by luring the cat into a different part of your garden. Instead of trying to keep him out of one spot, plant a patch of catnip in another area to attract the cat there instead. He’ll be much happier in that area, and so will you.
On my property we have to contend not only with an ever-increasing number of rabbits, but squirrels and chipmunks as well. As such, after losing one too many strawberries to the varmints, I’ve looked into several ways to deter these rodents from enjoying the fruits of my garden before I can get a chance to.
There are several methods for preventing small animals from getting into your garden:
Raised beds. Raised beds function by planting your plants about 1 foot off the ground. Simply use bricks, wood or other materials to border the area, then fill with dirt, compost, etc., and plant as usual. For some reason, the height of the beds will keep rabbits and other animals from entering your garden.
Fencing. By putting a fence around your garden, you can keep unwanted rodents from entering. Use chicken wire or other fencing materials available at the home-improvement store. The height of the fence will depend on the size and leg span of the rodents in question — higher for deer, lower for squirrels or rabbits.
Cages. We’ve resorted to cages for our strawberry plants, to keep both the rabbits and chipmunks out. Using narrow wiring, we wrapped the material around boards and built a simple yet effective cage that the rodents can’t get into, but that allows plenty of circulation and sunlight in.
Here are photos of our strawberry cages, built with chicken wire and 2 x 2s.
I was happy to discover the other day that the peach tree on our property has many, many small peaches growing on it. The little green peaches are about the size of two side by side marbles, and are smooth and fuzzy to the touch.
What’s disappointing is that many of them have a tiny little hole in them, indicating a pest problem - oriental fruit moth. The moth lays an egg or two on the fruit, which hatch into little worms that dig into the fruit and set up camp.
I did some research, and it seems early and frequent spray applications with an insecticide like Imidan does the trick. You must begin spraying in very early spring to help alleviate the problem - immediately after petals drop, or even before all the blossoms are gone.
To keep spraying all summer long, it’s important to protect the fruit. It’s been recommended to bag the peaches in zip top sandwich bags with the corners cut off for drainage, and the plastic above the zip strip also cut off. After the final thinning of peaches and the fruits are bagged, they are safe from the pests; however, a new pest may emerge. Earwigs may crawl up the trunk and move their creepy little selves in the bags, so check the bags often.
Mint plants not only add flavor to tea and desserts, serve as a pretty garnish, and generally smell great - they also can be used as a natural pest deterrent.
The mint plant – and spearmint in particular – is a natural ant repellant and will drive the little buggers away and prevent them from returning. Now that the warmer weather is arriving in most areas, if you find that you have an ant problem in your home, first determine where they are getting in. Then, try planting a spearmint plant in that area.
Tip: spearmint, as with most mint plants, is invasive; plant it in a decorative planter or, if you wish to plant it in the ground, first put it in a large planter or basket. Then plant it in the ground deep enough so that the container is hidden in the dirt.
