we keep spraying them with soapy water and they really do keep trying to bounce back. they are so hard to control. we are thinking of buying a box of ladybugs and lace wings but it might just be too late for this year.
what a lot of people don't know is that one year you have thriving squash. the next year - zilch. another year you get a glut of tomatoes. the following year - you get three! gardening is not throwing some seeds on the ground! we keep trying to impress that on people. every year is different as you battle with different weather patterns, different diseases and different pests.
some of the peppers who are hurting the most are still producing fruit. check out this little hurting cayenne pepper - he is seriously hurting but still producing. poor little guy.
it's been windy and hazy for a few days - better than muggy and foggy eh?
this post feels like a downer so i will cheer you all up with some beautiful chamomile flowers!
and my rose bush is blooming! teehee. want to know a secret? i am collecting rose petals and rose buds to put in jars of epsom salts for my 2 sisters, e and c. they don't read the blog so they have no idea what i am up to. i'm sneaky that way!
i'll end with i hope you all are doing well. if i haven't hit up your blog - send me an email or leave a comment. PP, brother, i'm on my way over right now.
If you are having a great year in gardening you can everything you grow, so you have some when its not growing !! What are you using to fertilize your garden???. If you need manure just drive to D.C. we have lots of it, free for the asking...Bhahahahahaha
ReplyDeletegood one Rob, buddy! but that is waaaay too much manure for our tiny garden - bahahahah!
DeleteYea, I know what you mean by win some & lose some. This year my squash produced a boatload of blossoms but no squash! I should have been ready to stuff them each day but that didn't happen either.
ReplyDeleteDFW - you get it. it's driving me crazy each year trying to figure out what to do when. we have never had aphids before and i don't know where they came from. last year we had a glut of peppers and thank goodness we still have a pound of frozen peppers from last year. but i don't think we'll get any this year. however, tomatoes, beans, peas and potatoes all seem to be thriving! sorry about your squash and not even getting to your blossoms! xoxox
DeleteMy peppers are having the same issue! I gave up and bought seven dust to try on them. I never use pesticide but nothing was working, and I need the peppers for salsa, and hot sauce lol.
ReplyDeletelw - several people have recommended sevin dust so we will try that. one of my bestest homesteading friends told me that we will have to sevin dust the whole greenhouse - arghghghgh! i am praying these peppers can bounce back but they really took a bad hit! i hope that your peppers bounce back! xoxo
DeleteThat's terrible about your plants. I know a lot of people who raise their own food are having problems with insect pests. I wonder if there isn't some kind of lizard you could keep in heated spaces to keep the bugs from devouring your plants. My daughter has some pet lizards and they eat bugs. There is no truth to the rumors that the lizards had any connection to kids missing in her neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteHarry - we never had aphids back in the city and we have never had them here, except for our apple trees....and then somehow they made it into the greenhouse. we have a friend who told us to put pepper and/or coffee grounds around the plants and that will kill the ants, who transport the aphids. i hate doing such things but our pepper plants are decimated. good idea about the lizards. we have a pond full of tadpoles (all named frog) and if we can catch a couple of frogs, we'll put them in the greenhouse. we'll make nice, wet homes for them out of broken pots. to be honest - i am at my wit's end with this aphid problem! much love to you and yours always, my friend! xoxox
DeleteMy peppers and tomatoes are not growing much, I watered with some epsom salt which seemed to pep them up some.
ReplyDeletePP has all those tractor girls helping him he has a grand garden as a result.
SF - ya, it's too bad we all didn't have those tractor girls helping out eh? PP is a wiener! bhahahahahah! is it very hot where you are? tomatoes stop blossoming at certain heats, although peppers love the heat. not sure what your problem is. do you have access to comfrey? try feeding the toms and peps some comfrey tea. if not, try manure or compost tea. sending good wishes for your garden! xoxo
DeleteYa know I agree with ya Trenchie 100%. Ya just never know what you are going to run into each year but after how ever many years I have never once had a bad Tomato crop. Never. They did start out a bit slow this year but something about my place just makes Tomatoes explode. I planted I think 66 this year and I am up to 72 now with green tomatoes due to volunteers I let grow.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Tractor girls can only help until about 4:30 or so then the Wife get's home :)
Love you and even Jamby but only in a friendly brotherly sort of way :)
thanks for agreeing with me wiener! yes, every single year is different due to different problems with pests, weather, etc. and it is the learning and practicing for years which is crucial. can you mail me a couple of those tractor girls? i'll be sure to have them home before 4:30 - bahahahahahah! and you know that we love you back! so there, ya wiener! much love to you and yours always, ya wiener - bahahahahaha! (oh it just never gets old!)
DeleteJust one strawberry is all I ask! LOL Actually my garden/yard is doing very good overall and I'm still learning.
ReplyDeleteoh jamie - i sooooo hear you! my strawberries started out looking really good but now they have kind of stopped growing - i did some research and apparently when first planted they put their energy into sending out roots to make tendrils rather than fruit. so you may not get a glut of strawberries this year, but next year they will have established themselves. then you'll get the glut. at least that's what i am hoping for.
Deletejamie - we are all still learning. and yes - your garden is doing extremely well! good job gurl! much love to you! xoxo
Dang aphids!! It is amazing how all of a sudden it seems like you have a gazillion of the little buggers and the damage is done. :-( My peppers had an infestation of spider mites - going to transplant them outside and then dig them up when it gets cold and try to over winter them for another year.
ReplyDeleteLovely sky pic, as usual :-) Good luck on your aphid battle!
~hobo
hobo - you are exactly right - stupid dang aphids! but part of the problem was human error. we read about spraying them with soapy water so we sprayed them 5-6-7 times a day! we killed the aphids but also burned our plants to a crisp!!! i hope that by transplanting them and then overwintering works for you - we'll be doing the same! and good luck on your aphid battle, too, hon! much love! xoxox
Deletekymber - I feel your pain. Some years I have an amazing tomato crop, others - the field mice / blossom end rot gets them...
ReplyDeleteEven the frost this year is doing damage - not only to my sweet potatoes, but also to my peas!!!!?
http://voices.yahoo.com/natural-aphid-pesticides-10-eco-friendly-ways-repel-1840538.html
;)
Dani - thanks so much for the link! and thanks for feeling the pain - it seems that all of us who garden understand and know what it's like to have spent so much time tending to plants and having them get wiped out by something! i am so sorry about your sweet potatoes and peas - i know how much you love those sweet potatoes! is it too late to try re-planting? much love always to you and yours! thanks for the understanding! xoxoxo
DeleteI thought I had my bugs under control this year but just 2 weeks ago the aphids perforated my Green Pepper plant leaves and Basil leaves. Trying to control them this year I have been spraying weekly "SEVIN" and I mean soaking the plants including the underside of the leaves (I bent my sprayer tip/shaft 90 degrees to make it easy to get the undersides). Also the every other day showers we have here I believe washes off some of the SEVIN which is why I spray weekly.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I noticed is as soon as the temps here hit 90f plus the aphids come out and come out strong. Maybe there is a temperature connection? Maybe Jam needs to A/C the greenhouse? :-)
oh Mike, buddy - so sorry to hear that you are having the same probs! the aphids got to some of our basil but we have been able to save the majority of our basil pots - thank goodness! ya - everyone keeps telling us to get sevin so that will be the route we go. thanks for the info on the temperature connection. and much love buddy! xoxo
DeleteTry tossing some onion seeds in the pepper pots. They won't get big enough to eat, but they should scare off those bugs. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWendy - yer brilliant! i am going to plant onion seeds and garlic bulbils in each of the pepper pots! thanks so much! much love to you all always! xoxox
DeleteQuestion on the chamomile? How do you use it to make tea? My son and I drink it to help sleep. I would love to plant some.
ReplyDeletelw - you can use the chamomile fresh or dried. in the early morning after the dew has dried, pop a couple of chamomile flowers off of the plant, dump them in a cup, pour boiling water, cover and let steep for 10 mins (or longer, it's your preference), then you can strain out the flower heads (i don't because they are edible and delicious) and then sip your tea. you'll figure out how many heads you like by trying different amounts. you can also add honey and/or lemon if you like.
Deletebut while the chamomile is blooming, if you collect the flowers daily, they will keep growing new flowers during the season. so i go out daily and get about 40 flower heads to dry. you can dry them in a dehydrator, or if you have a really sunny window, just put them on a plate and leave them there until they feel crumbly. then store them in a jar and you can have chamomile tea all winter long. the fresh chamomile is of course, best. but nothing beats having your own dried chamomile tea all winter long. yell if you have any more questions. much love hon! xoxxo
Thank you sweet Kymber! I am going to try planting this in the spring, maybe I will put it in my flower beds, It is so pretty! And such a great plant to have on hand.
DeleteSweet Kymber,
ReplyDeleteThose darn aphids can really destroy so many things. I so hear you on plants growing wonderfully one year and then the next doing terrible.......and some don't even pop out of the ground.
I love the chamomile flowers.......I see homemade medicinal products and some great tea there :-)
What a fabulous gift idea for your sisters............good thing they don't read your blog otherwise your surprise would be out and not surprise.
((((((((((((((((KYMBER))))))))))))))))) Big hugs to you......and little hugs to ((((((((Jambaloney)))))))). No there is no favoritism here,I love you both equally :P
It's just you were writing the post and responding, this is why Jambaloney got the hug he wasn't writing/commenting.
Our computer decided not to work any more after downloading microsoft updates. BDM worked on it all day. We had no choice but to get a new tower and now he's trying to get it back with all the programs we use.
Sending hugs and love to you both.
Your Friend,
Sandy
sweet Sandy - yes, you understand! it is always different every year, eh? and yep - you are all over the dried tea and chamomile salve - bahahahah! i have dried roses and then put them in the bath with epsom salt - and it is just so romantic and dreamy, ya know? it's just a beautiful feeling to soak in a tub with rose petals! and no, my sisters don't read the blog so they have no idea - bahahahah! but my brother, one of my sister's husband does - so he will be in on the secret!
Deletebahahahahahah! big hugs for me and little hugs for jam - you know that he is going to be jealous now - bahahahah!
good luck with the computer. computer problems suck all around. i hope BDMan can get it all set up for you! much love, sweet Sandy, to you, BDMan, Tank and of course our little Beans! xoxoxox
sweet Sandy - you do understand about some things doing well one year and some things not doing so well! and yes, gurl, you are right on about the tea and chamomile salve - bahahahah! and no, my sisters don't read the blog so they have no idea! my one sister's husband does read the blog but i know that he will keep the secret - he's my favourite brother and we are good like that! but there is just something so lovely and romantic about soaking in a tub with epsom salts and rose petals and buds floating all around you. i dry the petals and buds but they rehydrate once put in the water and it is just so inviting after a long day. i think i know somebody that i am going to send some to. i wonder if you know who?
Deletebahahahahah! big hugs for me, little hugs for jam - you know he is going to be jealous eh? bahahahahah! ya nutter!
i hope that BDMan gets everything up and running for you guys - computer problems suck!
sending much love to you, BDMan, Tank and of course little Beans! much love hon! xoxoxxoxo
Try Windex on the aphids. (soapy water + ammonia) It's worked for me.
ReplyDeleteTeflon - we haven't heard of the windex idea and at this point we are ready to try anything - like dumping gasoline on those dang, stupid aphids. your approach and advice on the aphids sounds a little more sane. thanks a bunch. we really appreciate the advice!
DeleteSometimes God/Mama nature has a very sick sense of humor and all you can do is do your best and it still isn't enough. So look at the things that are growing well and stockup on them this year and then reload on the things that did not do so well. That is about all us puny humans can do in the great scheme of things.
ReplyDeleteoh jamie - you are so right! and thank goodness we still have a pound of frozen peppers from last year because i really don't think they can bounce back fast enough to actually fruit this year. but we will have a glut of potatoes, tomatoes, peas and beans - we are happy and fortunate.
Deleteand hey - can you stop doing all of that work in your yard and making the rest of us look bad? thanks buddy! bahahahahah! much love gurl! xoxox