Good Bugs . . .

The other night I noticed that the Green Lacewings were out. I usually can find them on the inside of our screens (besides out in the garden); I suppose they are attracted to the lights in our house. They are bright green and have sheer, lacy wings---hence their name---and they have bright yellow compound eyes. These insects come out at night and feed on pollen, nectar and aphid honeydew.


They lay 100-200 eggs on leaves that are close to aphid populations. They lay their eggs on many different garden plants, including corn, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, leafy greens, apples, strawberries and cole crops. I have seen them over the years in my garden. The eggs hatch in a few days and then the fun begins!




The larvae are also known as aphidlions. When they hatch they are voracious predators. They eat most insects, especially the soft bodied aphids, caterpillars and insect eggs. If there is a high population of aphidlions, they will even eat each other. When they find an insect, they grab it and inject their pray with a digestive secretion. This secretion can dissolve the organs of an aphid in 90 seconds! These larvae can eat 100-600 aphids each, but sometimes have trouble finding their pray on leaves that are hairy or sticky.

Do you have trouble with aphids? Now you know who to call! Green Lacewings can be purchased online, just like many other beneficial insects.

Carrots and Beans

I picked these carrots this morning and I will snack on them later today. They were planted a couple of months ago, but are still chugging along. As you can see, they are small. These are some that I thinned, so the others could grow larger. I planted the Orange Ball Carrots in a bag of topsoil. Their roots aren't very long so they can grow just fine in the bag. [See post 5/6/09]. The other carrots are my Cosmic Purple Carrots. I planted them in a self-watering grow box. They are growing nicely and I will keep thinning/harvesting as I go along.


I am making progress in my raised bed garden. Saturday evening I planted Contender Bush Beans and Bountiful Esther Dry Beans along the front of my garden. I then laid down thick pieces of wet newspaper and on top of that a flake of straw. Lastly, I put some unfinished compost that I have over the planting of beans, down the center of the straw. That will keep the beans moist and keep their paths to the sun easy to get through. You can see a plant right in the middle of the bean row---it's a Bright Lights Swiss Chard that I planted in the early spring that never came up, well at least not until now. I will leave it there and add it to the menu when it gets big enough!

I am working on this garden bed piece-by-piece until it gets done; and I will use the newspaper and straw method over the whole bed. It is difficult for me to cover the weeds now, because the praying mantis' have hatched. They are about 1/3" long and tend to like the crabgrass, where they feel protected and can find a good bug meal! I will pull out the grass and leave it in a pile near the garden for a few days, that way the spiders and mantis' can find a new home, instead of being covered up with no way out. Later I will put the weeds under wet newspaper in my new raised garden bed. With so much to do to tidy up the yard, I will have to divide my time over several projects---but it will get done!

My To-Do List . . .

My to-do list for this week:
---yes, those hedges still need pruning!
---deadheading will go on though the summer!
---weeding will go on till the end of the world!
---plant my cucumber and melon starts (done)

Things I have gotten done that were not on my list:
---laid out three 100' soaker hoses to water most of my new fruit trees and blueberry bushes
---still baby-ing my little plant starts

Moon signs:

Monday is Aquarius---very good for planting above ground plants, but not seeds (they will rot).

Tuesday-Thursday is Pisces---2nd best for planting root crops; #1 for planting above ground plants, trees, bushes and vines.

Friday-Saturday is Aries---very good for planting root crops; not good for planting above ground crops, or transplanting; good to kill weeds, bushes; barren time.

Sunday-Tuesday is Taurus---#1 for planting peanuts, root crops; very good for canning, making pickles, and transplanting all plants; 2nd best for transplanting above ground plants.

Wind Chimes

I went out to work in the garden yesterday and ended up putting up my wind chimes! I have several, and most of them are fairly quiet. This one is one of my favorites. I love the blue and green colors. It is made of glass and has a nice sound.

Above are two that are made out of some kind of thin sea shells and have a pretty, soft sound.

This is my favorite---yes, it's a fish skeleton! I have had this one hanging in my garden for several years. It doesn't usually make any sound, unless the wind is really blowing, because it's made of a fairly heavy metal. I like it because it's different, kind of quirky.

This wind chime is just outside of my bedroom sliding door. When it gets warm, we leave our sliding glass door open, with the screen closed and locked. This lets in the breeze, which we get nearly every night in Fresno, and I can hear the quiet, peaceful wooden knock through the night.

I did do some gardening---I planted a row of Contender Bush Beans and a half of a row of Bountiful Esther Dry Beans. I do get distracted, but it's all good!!

Container Gardens

I have always been interested in container gardens, but have never found the combination of flowers that I liked. While visiting our local hardware store recently, I spied this Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera hybrida). It is a beautiful two-toned flower, with yellow outer petals and orange inner petals. It is sitting in a large aqua-green pot, waiting to be officially planted. This is the first thing I see each morning when I open the front door to get our morning newspaper. What a cheery sight!

Gerbera Daisies are suppose to be planted in full sun, but with our super-strong sunshine and high temperatures during the summer, they will do better with some shade, especially shade from the afternoon sun. They come in many gorgeous colors, grow 12"-18" high, and bloom from late spring to fall. For optimal flowering they need to be dead-headed regularly, and fertilized monthly. This Gerbera is located on my front porch, which faces the east, and gets early morning sun.

A New Garden Magazine

I just finished going through a fairly new garden magazine from Fine Gardening (Taunton Press) called "grow". It is beautifully put together with a lot of wonderful pictures. The articles may seem to be written for the beginning gardener, but they will not put off seasoned gardeners. The articles are written about individual kinds of vegetables and fruits, such as carrots, heirloom tomatoes, raspberries and strawberries. Following each article are tasty sounding recipes that use that particular vegetable or fruit. Don't hesitate to take a look at this magazine as it will inspire you to grow more food in your garden, and give you new ways of cooking it!

Love in the Garden

"I used to love my garden
But now my love is dead,
For I found a bachelor's button
In black-eyed Susan's bed."
Anonymous