So, the bugs ate more last night. I have pretty much NO CHARD left. Bastards. I almost had enough to make a slaw and now it's gone. I stopped at the hardware store for a sprayer as the small "misto" oil sprayer from my kitchen lasted about 2 minutes as a garden sprayer. Frustratingly enough, the garden sprayer is plastic. I could not find a metal one for any price. I'm going to keep looking though. I saw one weeks ago at a thrift store and thought "I just don't need it so I'm not buying it" and it was metal. DOH!
Anyway, I've got to order the b-t bacterial treatment online I guess and for now I'll keep spraying onion, garlic and cayenne stank on the remaining garden bits and hope for the best.
On the upside, I read of a new and better way to get the worms out of the worm poop so you can use said poop on the garden. You put some shredded paper or other appropriate bedding (leaves) in an old mesh bag, like an onion bag, and add some of their favorite food. Mine like melon rinds so I diced up a muskmelon that was in the fridge and put the rinds and torn up paper from my retirement fund annual report (best fed to worms...I'll grow more food with the poop than I'll ever buy with a retirement fund at the rate things are going).
Tied the bag shut with a twisty I saved off some broccoli and stuck it on one end of the worm thingy. Supposedly in a week or so, most of the worms will be in the bag. We'll see!
My outdoor composter is doing OK too. I had a some beans going off in the fridge (I over estimated my need for beans-n-rice), as well as some strawberry bits, quite a bit of tabouli and etc. Since the worms are not getting fed for a while, it all went into the outdoor composter. Then I grabbed some of the grass clippings that the lawn boy had piled next to the composter (why not in? Who knows). Just about 3 inches down from the top they were already heavily decomposed! It's only been about 10 days since he put them there. Awesome. I still threw them in the composter so I get the required layers of food and clippings that supposedly speed compostery.
In sad news, the grasshoppers have also moved in. They are eating leaves off the raspberries! I hope that doesn't kill the berry crop this year. I'm tempted to wrap the garden and the raspberries entirely in cheese-cloth this year. The grasshoppers would probably just tear through it anyway.
1 comment:
I dislike bugs with a passion. My cankles are raw after sitting outside on Jon's birthday--July 2nd. Damn chiggers. . . There was a boxelder bug on my lettuce, but he was just sleeping, not eating. YET. I've been searching for a natural bug spray to make for the grass to get the little nippers gone. Any ideas?
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