Blessing the Bugs Even in Death

We made a decision to immediately kill the "bad bugs" this year in our garden. We waited till it was too late last season. It was more of a live and let live attitude. However, witnessing whole families of squash bugs take over our pumpkins, squash, zucchini and cucumbers was a sight to behold. Pillbugs or as I have fondly called them in the past, roly-polys, were a huge issue too. Pap and I went round and round passionately debating, discussing the karma entailed in the killings.

What I mean by it was too late is that by the time it became apparent that we were the losers, and would have no more pumpkins or zucchinis, the squash bugs had moved into the garden in overwhelmingly huge numbers! I had seen the eggs last year and seen the bugs, but for the most part ignored them. I suppose I was hoping the lady bugs and praying mantis's would take care of them for me! So being pro-active this year I say Bless you as I send the little fellas into their next life. I am also inspecting the underside of the leaves on all my veggies that are susceptible for their eggs. The squash bugs lay the eggs in a wonderfully uniform pattern most of the time on the underside hidden from view. To remove these I tear off just the part of the leaf they are on. The squash bugs are hand picked off and thrown in a jar of soapy water. So long! Farewell!

Waiting for Warmer Temperaures

 It is still cold here in East Texas with temperatures in the 30's. Not the ideal situation for tender young seedlings! So we are patiently waiting for the days to warm up, so we can put them in the ground. In the meantime we have our seedlings all over the house in windows and in the greenhouse. Our kitchen window is a great area for growing seeds. It wraps around a corner so there is alot of sunlight during the day. We have been experimenting with a few other places in the house too. Our bedroom and bathroom windows have been good for growing too. We don't have all the fancy growing lights and heating pads, but have had no problem growing our seeds. Once they are seeded in soil we place them in a baggie or cover with saran wrap to keep the moisture in, and place them in a sunny spot. When they reach an inch or two tall the bags are removed, and they continue to grow. I did transplant our peppers and cucumbers into bigger growing containers this past week-end. They were bursting at the seams and needed more room! Hopefully, they will all be in the ground soon. 

Just One Couples Earnest Desire to Farm

Pap and I started our joint venture into gardening last year. The above pictures are some of the veggies we grew. We discussed starting out small so as not to get too overwhelmed, but that train of thought didn't last long. As soon as we got one bed of seeds growing we found ourselves enthusiastically starting a new bed, and we were up to our ears with veggies in no time at all. I have to say that being newbies at this gardening thing we did plant alot of vegetables thinking if we planted more than enough we might possibly get at least some harvest from the garden. Well, I suppose we have little bit of a green thumb with some of the plants in particular such as the cucumbers and okra! But then again these two were just hardier vegetables in the world of gardening I believe! We were giving away much of the cukes and okra to family and friends! I did try my hand at pickling some of our cukes and plan on trying it again this year with a couple of different varieties. We had great success with our chili peppers, serrano peppers, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Green onions did well as did our spaghetti squash. We also had a large variety of spinach, lettuce and kales. Small pumpkins and sugar baby watermelons too.

One thing we both strongly agree upon is having a 100% organic garden. It has been interesting making up some of our homemade organic compost teas for the garden and organic insecticides. I have to say that we spent way too much time this last year in the garden hand picking squash bugs and other un-beneficial bugs from our plants. I hope to get better control over the bugs this year! I learned some things this past year about this problem and will be sharing them with you in future posts.

Oh, about that starting out small in the garden thing, well this year Pap and I are tripling what we planted last year! Ha! Thank goodness I love the feel of dirt underneath my nails!  To see more pictures of our garden from last year go here. Garden 2012