Well summer is just getting underway and I hope you have wonderful plants that you planted in the spring time! The weather now is rainy and sunny every day and it's prime conditions for your vegetable garden to explode! The bloom will burst open and before you know it you should have beautiful fruits and vegetables starting to form.
It really is a wonderful experience. I absolutely love my garden. I think everyone should have a garden. It's so rewarding even if you only grow a single plant. Just one tomato plant, or an aloe vera can brighten up not only your living space, but your entire life!
The thing about this time of year is that not only are your plants exploding with growth and blooms, the pest populations too are exploding. It happens at the same time. I write this post because if you have been following me from the beginning I know your plants are about to get eaten by bugs, so I figured I would give you my advice and save you some headache. I had an "army worm" attack last night, and it actually ate one whole tomato plant top to bottom in the course of one evening. I can't even image how it was possible.
Army worms can be huge. I actually caught two of them the next morning, and I removed them and killed them. I have inspected my plants and don't see any larvae or droppings. I can tell you that the worms I killed were adults. They were well over 1" (more like 6" these were HUGE!)
So what's the solution? Organically speaking, I believe some Neem Oil Extract is in order. Be sure to read your label on this and apply only as directed. Neem Oil can be used to treat a wide variety of infestations. But the most important thing about Neem Oil is that is 100% organic. It can be safely used on vegetables, herbs, fruits or anything really.
Neem oil is from the neem seed of a neem tree. It's diluted with water and applied liberally to your crop. You can reapply every few days for a period of time then move back to a "preventive dosage" of every two weeks. Neem oil doesn't kill any beneifical insects or bacteria either. It's really amazing. It doesn't actually kill anything, but it causes the insect to not like the smell of the plant anymore, so they will stop eating it, and actually starve to death.
It safe to eat and safe for the enviornment.
It does cost a little bit and will probably be the most expensive thing I EVER recommend on my blog. However when it comes to pest control, it's an expense you must pay if you want healthy pest free plants. It is awful to wake up one morning and realize that you have lost your crop overnight (and it can happen, trust me on this one)
As always, Keep on Digging!
Monday, June 16, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Organic Weeding for Free!
So your garden is exploding with growth because you have been following all my advice and you stop to ask yourself...."what about all these weeds?" Organic weeding is a interesting topic. The old fashioned way with no chemicals is to hand weed everything, and this works, but is very labor intensive. My garden is too big to hand weed so I guess I will have to use some chemicals.
WRONG! I would never use a "weed killer" chemical product anywhere near the food I am growing! I am going to give you a great way to weed organically on a shoestring budget.
Cost: Free
Materials:
Boxes!
The only thing you need to weed organically is boxes. You can get them from different places, like the back of the supermarket. The liquor store. Any business that will let you have them. Ask to speak to the manager and usually they will let you have the boxes that are already broken down, which is perfect for our mission.
First you cut the box and lay it out flat. Then you cover the grass with it and in a few days to a week, the grass under the box will be dead. Remove the box and rake up the dead grass and our finished! It's so easy and it costs nothing. I got my boxes from the post office (the post office really frowns on you using the boxes for anything but priority shipping, but I spend hundreds of dollars with the post office every week and I figured since I never use this particular size box for anything, I was ok for using them to grow more plants that I will be shipping!)
These are pictures of my sugar baby water melon plants getting weeded. I am strongly debating buying a bale of mulching hay once I have "weeded" my grass out, but this is the shoestringvegetablegarden blog so I am really gonna have to weigh it out. The plants don't absolutely have to have the mulch, but it approves the appearance of the crop and it's good for the fruit to be off the ground so it's not in direct contact with the soil. The soil has many bugs and insects that can ruin the fruit. In truth, watermelon grows on the ground and it always has!
WRONG! I would never use a "weed killer" chemical product anywhere near the food I am growing! I am going to give you a great way to weed organically on a shoestring budget.
Cost: Free
Materials:
Boxes!
The only thing you need to weed organically is boxes. You can get them from different places, like the back of the supermarket. The liquor store. Any business that will let you have them. Ask to speak to the manager and usually they will let you have the boxes that are already broken down, which is perfect for our mission.
First you cut the box and lay it out flat. Then you cover the grass with it and in a few days to a week, the grass under the box will be dead. Remove the box and rake up the dead grass and our finished! It's so easy and it costs nothing. I got my boxes from the post office (the post office really frowns on you using the boxes for anything but priority shipping, but I spend hundreds of dollars with the post office every week and I figured since I never use this particular size box for anything, I was ok for using them to grow more plants that I will be shipping!)
These are pictures of my sugar baby water melon plants getting weeded. I am strongly debating buying a bale of mulching hay once I have "weeded" my grass out, but this is the shoestringvegetablegarden blog so I am really gonna have to weigh it out. The plants don't absolutely have to have the mulch, but it approves the appearance of the crop and it's good for the fruit to be off the ground so it's not in direct contact with the soil. The soil has many bugs and insects that can ruin the fruit. In truth, watermelon grows on the ground and it always has!
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