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Yesterday was rainy and today is cool and damp again. The garden plants seem to like the wet and I think if we get some sun things will pretty much explode.
I checked on the bees this morning and there was only a trickle of traffic at 10, but by noon when I checked again there was a steady flow of bees in and out. If it's sunny this weekend I'll take another peek at the frames to see their progress.
The potatoes continue to grow, and I hope all the herbage actually translates into tubers, because they're striving to 4 feet high. I think I read somewhere that too much nitrogen can result in big plants and small potatoes. But I didn't fertilize unless letting the vetch get out of control counts as fertilizing.
I waded through the potatoes looking for any pests, but mostly I found predators that seem to have made the place their own jungle haunt -- harvestmen, lightning bugs, wasps. I tipped a few tortoise beetles, and a little slug into my little freezing jar, but the plants looked pretty well patrolled. Still feeling benevolent, I didn't molest the pair of pretty katydids that were munching one of the plants.
When you see a patch like, with all your busy predator-allies you really have to wonder why people are so quick to coat everything with pesticides.
I waded through the potatoes looking for any pests, but mostly I found predators that seem to have made the place their own jungle haunt -- harvestmen, lightning bugs, wasps. I tipped a few tortoise beetles, and a little slug into my little freezing jar, but the plants looked pretty well patrolled. Still feeling benevolent, I didn't molest the pair of pretty katydids that were munching one of the plants.
When you see a patch like, with all your busy predator-allies you really have to wonder why people are so quick to coat everything with pesticides.
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I'm really into my potatoes this year, too. (Last evening, I snuck a few fingerlings for our supper.)I'm growing 17 different cultivars this year. Last week, I decided to try adding straw mulch instead of dumping still more soil on them. I hope that does the job.
ReplyDeleteIf my husband had his way, that's all I'd grow!