Garden Woes - Winning the war
It took the application of a fresh coat of armor, but hooah, the tides are finally starting to turn.
The white flies are no more, and even though I’ve come across (and smashed) a couple of hungry caterpillars munching away at a few leaves, there is finally some productivity. My sad little pepper plants have finally started producing peppers, and good heavens my tomato plants look awesome. My romaine is growing like crazy, and my carrots are starting to peek out of the ground. I’ve got broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage, red cabbage, collard greens, and the cutest little cherry tomatoes you ever did see. I haven’t had much luck with spinach, and my celery could certainly look better, but all in all, things are looking promising.
I’ve attempting another go at cucumbers, spaghetti squash and cantaloupe, and they’ve already started flowering.
What was the magic trick you ask? Well, for those of you following along, keep scrolling to see how we’ve managed to turn the tides to our favor in this little war against these hungry and destructive little villains.
In order to have a successfully producing garden, you generally need sunshine, water, fertilizer and pollinators. How do you ensure all of these, and still protect your treasured plants from coming under attack by little destructive menaces?
With Google search at my fingertips, I came across an endless supply of advice and recommendations, but most didn’t pertain to my region, or they were directed at the commercial farmer.
I didn’t need to protect my plants from freezing temperatures, nor did I need a truckload of materials. Stumbling across an advertisement on pest netting, (thanks Google trackers), I hopped onto my Amazon account to see what I could find that wouldn’t cost me a small fortune, or require me to rent out a storage unit for supplies.
After checking out the different product ratings, AgFabric is what I eventually decided to try, and considering the size of the garden, I figured 10’ x 30’ would do the trick.
I knew I would need some sort of framing, as well as something to attach the fabric, so I also purchased a proverbial ton of these clips.
Having a bunch of ½” PVC pipe on hand, hubby helped me (or should I say he) put together the framing.
Of course we didn’t have enough of the right connectors, nor enough pipe, which inevitably resulted in another Home Depot run. Hubby was sure to remind me how this wasn’t very helpful to the already over blown garden budget.
After agreeing and then changing the design, along with making a few cutting mistakes, we had to order more netting, but this time, I opted for cheaper material.
Already feeling guilty about the additional expense, I tried to cut a few corners, but you know the saying about getting what you pay for? Well this stuff was it.
Sure it covered the area (we used in for the inside panels) but it is extremely flimsy and rips easily. In the end, it should do the trick for this year, but I don’t expect it will last more than one season.
The AgFabric, on the other hand, was sturdy and thick, and although it cut easily to size with scissors, it didn’t rip and should hold up for some time. Both fabrics were designed to let sun and rain in, while keeping bugs out. The only down side is we have to manually pollinate in order for the garden to produce. It’s not so bad with tomatoes or peppers, but the cucumbers, squash and cantaloupe will need a little assistance.
Working with the netting was a bit of a pain at first. Especially when it came to fertilizing and inspecting, but it didn’t take long to come up with a routine. Now, before I turn on the hose, or grab my trusty bottle of Neem Oil, I roll up all of the netting and clip it to the top of each section, and then get about my business. Watering, fertilizing, treating, and lately (she says with all enthusiasm) harvesting. 😊
My trigger finger exhausted by the never ending squeezing, squeezing, squeezing of my Neem Oil squirt bottle, I decided to up the ante and picked up a garden sprayer, along with an extra concentrated bottle of the magic juice that does a phenomenal job of chasing the creepy crawlies away.
Diatomaceous Earth is another tool of the trade, that I’ve been applying from time to time, but between the netting and the Neem Oil, I think we finally cracked the code. Keeping my fingers crossed.