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Battle of the Lily Beetle

5/30/2018

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Battle of the Lily Beetle
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Lilies are amazing; they have a wonderful scent, they are gorgeous when in bloom and they come in thousands of varieties. What is not amazing however, is the lily beetle.

These pesky beetles devour the leaves, leaving a bared, scared stem in place of the usual sturdy stalk. There are some things you can do to keep this from happening to your lilies.

The first step is to determine if you have this pest. You don't have to wait for a defoliated plant to give you an indication, you can start by checking the lilies several times a week, beginning as soon as the plants emerge from the ground. 

The adult beetle is about 0.5 in. long, and is red on top and black underneath. Once you spot them, it's important to remove them immediately. They are very quick and once they sense movement, they will drop to the soil and lie on their backs making it quite difficult to find them. One trick is to have a jar of soapy water at the ready, when you spot a beetle, nudge it off the leaf and into the jar. 

After taking care of the adults, it's time to move onto the eggs and babies. Hundreds of eggs hatch at one time and will immediately begin feeding. The larvae are yellow, brown and orange, which should make them easy to spot, however, these guys are disgusting! Their favourite defense mechanism is to cover themselves with their poop. Yes, I said poop. This makes them difficult to see. They are also harder to kill. Squishing them doesn't necessarily kill them, so it may be best to pick off the entire leaf and place that into a jar of soapy water.

One precautionary measure you can take, as the adult beetles like to over-winter in the surrounding soil, in early spring, stir up the mulch or soil around your lilies and kill any emerging beetles before they have a chance to lay any eggs.

There are a couple of pesticides that have shown some promise in response to the beetles. They are Neem Oil (a botanical insecticide made from the Neem Tree) and Spinosad (derived from soil-dwelling bacterium). Neem Oil is only effective in the early season and only on the young larvae. It must be applied every 5-7 days with a heavy and complete coverage. Spinosad is best used at the first sign of the beetles. 

Although other insecticides have shown to be effective, there is concern about how these pesticides affect the environment and beneficial, non-target insects. Pesticides containing imidacloprid, in particular, are now linked to honeybee death and colony collapse disorder. This pesticide causes the nectar and pollen of treated plants to become toxic to bees.

All organic or chemical pesticides should be handled as directed by the manufacturer. There are no pesticides specifically registered for use on lily beetles in Canada.
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Quick Tips - Growing Watermelons

5/16/2018

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Quick Tips - Growing Watermelons
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Planing on growing Watermelons this summer? Remember to put a barrier between the melons and the soil. This reduces the risk of rot and disease. 

Also, Watermelons don't continue to ripen after being picked so harvest timing is important. Here are some tricks to see if they are ready to be picked:
  • Thump it. If the watermelon sounds hollow, it’s ripe.
  • Look at the color on the top. The watermelon is ripe when there is little contrast between the stripes.
  • Press on it. If the watermelon sounds like it gives a little, it’s ripe.
  • Check the tendril. If it’s green, wait. If it’s half-dead, the watermelon is nearly ripe or ripe. If the tendril is fully dead, it’s ripe or overripe.
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Quick Tips - Planting Tomatoes

5/9/2018

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Quick Tip - Planting Tomatoes
Quick Tip - Planting Tomatoes
​When planting Tomatoes in the garden, regardless if it's a Roma, Beefsteak, Heirloom, Cherry, etc., always cover the stem, up to the first set of leaves, with soil. This encourages root growth which in turn, makes a stronger and healthier plant.
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Quick Tips - Spring Pruning

5/2/2018

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Quick Tips - Spring Pruning
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​The reason why we prune plants in the spring is to stimulate growth so want to be careful not to do it too early in case of an unexpected frost (like we don't have those here!). 

Summer blooming plants like Peonies and Echinacea should be pruned in spring after the risk of frost is gone. 

Spring blooming plants like Bleeding Hearts and Asters should be pruned only after they bloom so that you don't remove any future flowers.
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Growing Flowers in the Veggie Garden

5/26/2017

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You know, I've often wondered why people plant flowers in their veggie gardens. To my untrained eye, my only theory was that people wanted to make their gardens pretty. I thought it was weird, but you know, to each their own! Well, it turns out I was wrong (an uncommon occurrence, I can assure you!), and perhaps I can go so far to say I was only partially wrong. Flowers, regardless the reason they're put there, still make a veggie garden look prettier!

So the real reason is, drum roll please... companion planting! After I did some investigating, this turns out to be almost a science on it's own! Today I will only touch on the relationship between flowers and veggies, but I will be making another blog post (or maybe several) about this subject in the future that will expand past flowers.
Marigolds
Marigolds
  • French Marigolds can be used anywhere to deter Mexican bean beetles, squash bugs, thrips, tomato hornworms, and whiteflies. They are also known to repel harmful root knot nematodes (soil dwelling microscopic white worms) that attack Tomatoes, Potatoes, Roses, and Strawberries. The root of the Marigold produces a chemical that kills the nematodes as they enter the soil. If a whole area is infested, at the end of the season, turn the Marigolds under so the roots will decay in the soil. You can safely plant there again the following spring.
  • The strong aroma from the Marigolds tends to mask the smell of the vegetable plants, which can confuse garden pests.
  • For the best results, plants clumps of Marigolds throughout the garden to ensure the best coverage.
  • The one down side to including Marigolds in your garden is that they can attract spider mites, but these can be taken care of with a quick spray down with the hose.
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums
  • Nasturtiums deters bean beetles, squash bugs, potato bugs, Cucumber beetles, whiteflies and the asparagus beetle.
  • The flowers of Nasturtiums, especially the yellow blooming varieties, act as a trap for aphids.
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Lavender
  • Lavender is an excellent general pest repellent flower to use in your garden. It repels both fleas and moths, and it can help protect other plants near it from whiteflies. 
  • Lavender’s distinctive scent can work wonders for deterring aphids, so planting Lavender around Carrots and Leeks can confuse the little blighters and send them off!
  • Lavender can also handle some of the bigger garden pests, and has been noted to be useful in repelling both mice and rabbits. 
Petunias
Petunias
  • Petunias can repel asparagus beetles, leafhoppers, aphids, tomato hornworms, and others.
  • They also trap cabbage worms. These “worms” are in fact a species of caterpillar that will eat through an entire crop if left unchecked so the best, organic method for you to control these pests is to plant Petunias in your cabbage beds.
Sunflowers
Sunflowers
  • Sunflowers might be the largest flower you have in your garden and that is what will draw those beneficial pollinators over.
  • Then for that same reason, the Sunflower will also act as a distracting decoy for aphids. The aphids will attack the Sunflowers, but they do little damage because of the Sunflowers' thick stalks and overall toughness.
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Wood You Like to Ash a Question?

6/17/2015

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I'm probably the only one who finds the title of today's blog post about using wood ash in the garden funny, but hey, life is short so I thought I'd take a chance! Some say I have a great sense of humour, but well... it's only some :-)

So, anyways, onto today's topic: wood ash. If your like us, on summer nights (spring and fall too if the weather co-operates) we love to have people over for a backyard campfire. Enough so, that the ash from the wood we've burnt has piled up and needs to removed to somewhere before the next fire. So, where to move it to???
Wood You Like to Ash a Question?
Well, as it turns out, you can use that ash in the garden! But before you go ahead and dump vast quantities of ash into your soil, there are a few things you should know:

Wood ash can be a great addition to the garden, mind you, it does have to be pure wood ash. No bits of garbage, cardboard or pressure treated, painted or stained wood. This ash contains most of the 13 essential nutrients the soil must supply for plant growth, including calcium, potassium and magnesium.

Root vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, peas and beans will do great with a little bit of added ash, some fruits as well such as raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. Underwater plants can also be strengthened by using 1 spoonful per 1000L of water.

0.5 - 1 lb. per year is actually recommend for shrubs and rose bushes. It's best to spread the ash evenly on the soil around the plants and rake it in lightly, being careful not to damage the roots. Never leave ash in lumps or piles as the concentrated salt leaves will leach into the soil creating a harmful environment for the plants.

Another benefit is that wood ash can be used to help repel insects, slugs and snails. However, once the ash gets wet, the wonderful repelling effect it has vanishes.

However, this being said, being alkaline, wood ash obviously isn’t an ideal addition if your soil already has a pH of 7.0 or greater. Regardless of your pH, it shouldn't be added around acid-loving plants such as blueberries or potatoes either as it can encourage the growth of "potato scab" which is a fungus. Newly germinated seedlings are another thing to stay away from as the ash contains too many salts for them.

So ash I see it (I did it again), using wood ash in the garden has many natural benefits. So I say - go ahead - have those backyard campfires! Roast some marshmallows! You'll only be helping your vegetables if you do :-)

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Creating a Bee-utiful Garden!

5/25/2015

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If your like me, you might spend a tinsey, tiny amount of time on this one website called "Pinterest". And by saying "tinsey, tiny", I'm probably actually saying "every available minute" :-) And while I have been perusing the pins, I have come across many that have titles such as "Save the Honey Bee" or "Plants for Bees". After seeing so many of them, I decided to do a little research of my own to see what all the buzz was! (Get it, buzz... Like a bee...)

Turns out, there is a problem, it's called "Colony Collapse Disorder". Honeybees throughout the world are abandoning their hives and disappearing. There are many ideas as to why this is happening, but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest any one theory is correct. Depending on what article you read or whom you talk to, the reason can be anything from pesticide use, to WIFI signals, to genetically modified corn.

So, that being said, there really isn't anyone practice we can eliminate to restore the bees, however, thankfully, there are a few proven ways to help increase the honeybee population.

Make a Bee Buffet
Bees need to have as much time as possible before winter comes to be able store away enough honey to survive. So it's best to give them flowers as early in spring as possible (such as a Crocus) all the way until the end of fall (with perhaps an Aster or a Mum). Plan to have approx. 1 square meter of any one type of bee friendly flower as bees like to hop from flower to flower.

As to the type of flower, almost any flower will be a good flower for bees, but there are definitely some that help more than others.
Fragrant flowers with easily accessible pollen is always the best choice. Some other tips about what to choose include:
  • Use plants with single blooms and many individual flowers
  • Pick plants that bloom heavily
  • Select plants with long lasting blooms
  • Select a variety of plants that bloom in all seasons
  • Don't forget about flowering trees and shrubs, they count too!

Here is a helpful guide for choosing bee friendly plants:

Other Bee-neficial Steps
Try limiting the spraying of insecticides, since, obviously, bees are insects. If you are going to spray, try doing it when the bees are not active which would mean spraying only late in the afternoon and not at all when the plants or flowers are actively flowering.

Also, who doesn't like a drink of water while having a meal? Bees enjoy this too! Water features or even a bird bath can help attract bees to your yard.

Something also to think about in helping the bees would be to support our local beekeepers by buying local honey. Yum!

Ohh! That Stings!
There is one other thing I would like to discuss with the bee situation. If your like me, you would like to help out the bee situation - in theory... I have to admit, I am a little afraid of bees. I for one don't relish the idea of having extra bees in my yard to run away from.

However, while doing this research, I did find out some information that might help me (and perhaps you!) with this fear: honeybees in particular are not especially aggressive. Truth be told, they would rather just be left alone. And if you leave them alone, they will return the favor and leave you alone. It's maybe a good idea to also not plant those bee-friendly plants and flowers right by your sitting areas and walkways. I know I won't!
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    Author

    Hello! My name is Lee Ann and I am the daughter-in-law to the Giesbrechts. I have learnt much about gardening from helping out in the greenhouse, but I hope that through writing this blog, I will learn more and be able to share the things I have learnt with you!

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