We'll close the books on this spring shortly, and it's been a weird one indeed. It started off with a three-day scorcher then retreated back into cold, clammy dampness for several weeks, followed by another couple of sticky meltingly hot days, then lately its just been wet and thick. As a result, the garden has been slow to produce anything in quantity besides lettuce (which I love, but even I can't eat salads three times a day!), and none of the plants are particularly happy for very long.
Peas love the cooler weather, but as soon as the heat spell hits, they put the brakes on. Tomatoes, on the other hand, love the hot weather, but won't set fruit when it's chilly and damp. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if all the veggies were totally neurotic, not sure whether the dawn will bring them succor or torture.
No such anxiety plagues the bugs, however. Indeed, they are the only living things that seem to be deliriously happy in the garden, regardless of the weather. This is not new news. In an earlier incarnation of this blog, I wrote at length about bugs here and here and even published a pirated edition of their tell-all rag, The Insect Informer, which you can read here. But this year, the chilly,damp/steamy, moist roller coaster we've been on seems to have had a multiplying affect on their numbers. They're everywhere, and in profusion. And they're not shy. Not only have I been able to document their damage, but they've been cooperatively posing for portraits as well!
Here's an example. This lace doily is actually an eggplant battling for its life. It's been beset by not just one, but two types of bugs, neither of which have had enough manners to identify themselves to me. Click on the center photo to get a better look at the tiny little black beetles that are doing a number on that plant. On the far right is a pair of what I call Tank Bugs (because they look like miniature Sherman Tanks, minus the gun barrel) who have the audacity to think that eggplant leaf is their very own heart shaped honeymoon bed in the Poconos!!
We've been using ecologically responsible natural anti bug techniques such as Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew, described as containing...
"a product first isolated from a naturally occurring soil dwelling bacterium that was collected on a Caribbean island from an abandoned rum distillery. "
... figuring enough rum ought to take care of any nuisance. But alas, Captain Jack's doesn't appear to do jack, and the bugs have been having a field day.
We do grow enough veggies so that even with this kind of damage, we'll have enough to harvest. Although that does not prevent me from taking matters into my own hands when I do find bugs in fragante delicto, in which case, their next stop is the compost pile.
While the bugs seem to be gaining ground with the veggies, our strawberries seem to be unscathed by their primary tormentors of the rodent variety. Last year, in their first season, the meager crop was decimated by mice and chipmunks. This year, ants have eaten a few that were ripening on the ground, but now we have Mrph, who specializes in dragging live chipmunks and dead voles into the house. As a result, we've had a totally unexpected, but very welcome strawberry harvest this year.
Just two of the lovely strawberries we've been able to pick fresh for breakfast!
Although yesterday, I think the bugs may have finally gotten the word to the rodents that there were goodies worth risking life and limb for. I found the evidence below that someone had managed to make off with and enjoy some forbidden fruit.
CSI, Strawberry patch. Evidence of theft and indulgence!
Clearly, Mrph has been slacking off. I must have words with him and set him straight. Oh, right. He's a cat. He'll do whatever...
Mrph doing whatever with the strawberries...