Trouble shooting

Do you ever have plants that don't do well? That seem limp, flat and lifeless, or fail to grow? You wonder if it's a deficiency: not enough nitrogen, not enough sunlight, not enough water. But, perhaps it's not a deficiency at all. Perhaps something is in excess, like aphids, or mealy bugs, or scale . For example, you may have an excess of cats' bottoms in your plant pots.

[This has been tagged under wildlife, but this is Cally, MIL's cat, and she's not really wild, just grumpy.]

Buggy broccolini.

The broccolini I planted a couple of months ago is doing quite well. The grey aphids (cabbage aphids, apparently) think so anyway. Boy, do they love it. They are packed tightly into the heads, sucking away, "delicious!" they cry! I tried rinsing them off to no avail, I've tried drowning them in a sink of water, hoping they'd float off, but no go there either. I never did spray them with anything, but I suspect if I saw them and then sprayed they'd just die in the green broccoli haven and stay there tucked in the heads anyway. It's that old thing: prevention is better than cure. I have since read that when the heads begin to develop you can cover them with old pantyhose to keep them out so I will try that with some of the heads to come (but the scientist in me wants to know which denier I should use? And should I use nude pantyhose, or are broccoli more Gothic and would prefer black? Fortunately I have plenty of both after that brief but important time spent in Japan working as an English teacher, where I had to dress in corporate wear: the horror! But I digress...)
Where was I?
Oh yes, broccolini... Anyway, although I intended the broccolini for human consumption, yesterday I had a brainwave: I can feed it to our fish! We have a Gibby (called 'Gibby,' very inventive) who loves all things green, and I'm certain he or she (we don't know) would appreciate the extra protein provided by the aphids. The broccolini was just starting to flower when I picked it. It's quite pretty, really.

Earwiggy update

A quick update on the pest 'situation.'

My traps are most definitely attracting a whole assortment of insects! The earwigs are stuck on the bottom of the tins among slater beetles and millipedes and bloated grey slugs. Cue evil laugh... Actually, it's quite revolting but strangely gratifying to see how much has fallen into the traps. I think it will need a little more time to see if it's actually working to protect my plants or not. The best way will probably be to buy something cool and expensive and plant it somewhere especially vulnerable, with a trap strategically nearby, and see if it survives.

The Earwig Post.

So 'something' or 'somethings' are eating my plants. I don't think it's slugs or snails, because although I do see them around there are rarely any silver trails on the plants. My carrot seedlings barely saw the light of day before they were all gone; pooh. The rhubarb, which has been hanging on gamely since it was planted, currently has the most amount of leaf I have seen on it since it was bought from the nursery, and it looks quite sad indeed.


My other, fancier, 'Sydney Crimson' Rhubarb has been enjoyed more by the bugs than I can ever see us enjoying it.

Beans have been left as mere stalks in the ground. This is one of the survivors.


And my raspberries, my poor harassed raspberries! Just as they were starting to look OK, some little sod has come along and eaten almost all of it.


So, who are the culprits? My mum suggested earwigs, and I have seen them about in the garden, although not in enormous numbers. I did some googling and reading, and they are currently top of the list of suspects. Apparently they are scavengers, omnivorous, and have a particular fancy for seedlings. They like to live in damp and shaded areas... like under pea straw mulch, perhaps?!

There are a number of ways of controlling them, for example you can roll up newspapers and leave them overnight. They'll lurk in there, and in the morning you take them and burn the lot, or shake them out into soapy water. However I have opted for another method of control: the beer can buried with it's top level to the ground, and one third full of beer. The earwigs (and slugs and snails for that matter) are attracted to the beer, fall in and drown. I've also popped a couple of bean cans about the place, with a bit of Kecap Manis and canola oil in them. The KM being my version of 'soya sauce and molasses' which I've read about. Let's hope it works, and my pests have some South Australian loyalty and a taste for Dr Tims; I'd like to see at least a few carrots this year!

Disaster!

Some little sod has eaten two out of four of my Delicata pumpkin seedings. I went out to give them a drink this morning and found my poor plants. I thought, at least if the buggers are going to eat my plants they could have the decency to eat the whole thing and not just nibble at the stem so that it snaps off! BAH. I guess gorging on the first plant left no room for the second in tiny insect stomachs.




At least the other two are OK and I am busy drinking too much coffee so I can use the grounds as a caffiene barrier around them:


Today SP hung out on the grass while I did the rounds. I wonder if she'll be a gardener like her Mama?The broad beans are being pollinated by the honeybees.

Both the strawberries and the snow peas have their first flowers.

The bluebells finally have flower shoots too. I was starting to wonder if they were going to flower at all this year.
The coriander flowers look like lace. Even though I want the big pot, I'm leaving the coriander to it's own devices so that I can collect the seed and replant it.
Lastly, a little peek inside my kitchen. Yesterday on our way home from an ABA meeting (Australian Breastfeeding Association) I stopped by the side of the road and collected some wild freesias. Now the kitchen smells quite floral, but not as strongly as when I brought some of the jonquils inside.
They're very pretty with their creamy petals and sunny yellow details.