The Rabbits Found My Garden

Sooner or later, it was bound to happen.

The bunnies I have so delighted in watching finally realized that the fence did not yet extend all the way around the garden and helped themselves to mouthfuls of tender soup bean plants. I think we caught them in time, however; with a few leaves and the occasional blossom remaining, I think these bean plants will eventually rally. Only time will tell. I do wonder, however, why as a child I delighted in tales of Peter Rabbit outwitting Farmer McGregor. Today I have much compassion for the poor storybook farmer.

Hubby and I finished putting the rest of the garden fence up tonight in the hopes that we will be able to keep the bunnies from feasting on more beans or any of the other plants. (Especially since I need to plant my pepper seedlings.) I took a long shot of the garden while David was fixing the fence, and I have to say that even with a section not yet planted, the garden is looking amazing! And of course, the zucchini is producing like crazy. So are the tomatoes, and it won't be long before they begin to turn and I have some luscious, red, juicy tomatoes to eat! They're best straight out of the garden on a warm, sunny day, but frankly, I'll eat tomatoes just about any way I can get them!

The sunflowers and okra continue to grow. Not much to report there. The cucumbers continue to blossom and are still trying to overrun the dill and cilantro. Well, not really trying, actually, but rather succeeding. I do need to train the cucumbers up, and to that end, I purchased three large trellises at JoAnn Fabrics a few days ago. They are regularly $24.99 each, far more than I would ever consider paying; however, I happened to be endcapping in the store (searching the clearance endcaps for bargains) when I discovered that the wrought-iron trellises were 70% off, making each one just $7.49 each! Now that is my kind of deal! I'm going to try setting them up at the end of the fencing and train the cucumbers up the trellises. If it works, it should be much easier to harvest the cucumbers.

Today's zucchini harvest totaled 8, with 5 sun sugar tomatoes. The tomatoes are slow, but I suspect they will all ripen around the same time. It has cooled off again, so their growth will slow a bit. But as soon as the weather heats up and humidifies, they'll take off again. Without looking back at previous posts, I think I've harvested close to 40 zucchini already. I'm not sure what the poundage would be--maybe next year I'll invest in a scale and weigh my produce.

And finally, the bug report. David and I went out and attacked the bugs again. I added another inch of handpicked bugs to my disgusting beetle bucket, and David sprayed down the bushes and trees again. Just so you get a sense of how thick the Japanese Beetles are, here's a shot of just one leaf-worth--13 bugs. See how they have eaten the life right out of the leaf? And this is just one leaf of hundreds sporting this many bugs. How many bugs does it take to make a plague, anyway?

Rules for Mulching with Grass Clippings

It's 80 degrees out with no breeze and an ungodly percentage of humidity that only the Midwest seems inclined to produce. It rained just a little sometime this morning, so I thought maybe I could get some planting done before the next rain, which could be any minute now.

As flies, gnats, and other buzzing creatures swarmed around me, I began to suspect that this was not the best time to plant.

However, I'm seriously behind in my planting, so forward, hoe! A planting I did go. I planted a row of Old Mother Stallard soup beans, and decided I have planted way too many beans. We will have to keep windows cracked this winter to dispose of the excess methane produced by so many beans as it is. I skipped the Hutterite and October beans, which was a good thing, because these poor seedlings have been bound up so long in their little peat pots that they are near death. The cuke seedlings didn't make it, either, so I planted cuke seeds today straight into the garden. I took the two boxwood basil plants that have been on the verge of dying in their pot as well and planted those, and threw in a row of Mammoth dill seeds next to the cucumbers. I mulched everything and then, arms flailing at the bugs, I marched quickly into the house to shower.

As I was planting and fighting off a determined swarm of flying annoyances, a couple of thoughts occurred to me that I would like to share with you so you may learn from my experience.

1. Do not leave grass clippings in a wheelbarrow in the rain. They will smell like cow dung and attract flies. Big, nasty, annoying flies that scare the crap out of you when they buzz your head.
2. If you despise spiders, it is best to use FRESH grass clippings, not the clippings that have been sitting in the burn pile, mildewing in the rain. Apparently spiders really dig these kind of clippings.

Once I have cooled off and rested, I will plant some tomato seedlings to plant in a couple of days. Provided the rain stops long enough.

Staking Out the Beans

Yesterday, I planted two rows (16 plants total) of pole beans, staked them and labeled the rows, and mulched around them. Additionally, I put up part of my garden fence (once I finish planting, I'll finish enclosing the garden.

Those two little rows wore me out so much that I went into the guest bedroom, flopped on my back on the bed, and took a zombie nap for a couple of hours. I was completely non-functional the rest of the evening.

Today, I managed to get out, plant two rows of soup beans (Lina Cisco's Bird Egg and Irish Creek Annie)--about 8 plants each), staked them, and watered the whole garden. That was enough for the evening.

At this rate, I might actually have my entire garden planted by August 1. [sigh]

Anyway, I planted today in my bare feet. Yes, people, I ignored my mother's advice from my childhood about not running around the yard without something on my feet and planted my toes in the grass and soil. The grass was soft and silky and cool as it caressed my soles; the dirt rough and rocky and...painful. Despite the pain, I managed to plant the two rows of beans before putting shoes back on for the staking. So why even bother to tend the garden with tender tootsies?

Microbes.

Microbes? Why would I want to capture microbes with my feet? The answer: for better health.

I know, it sounds counter-intuitive. We're supposed to avoid bugs at all costs, according to social norms. We're supposed to antibacterialize and disinfect our homes to avoid breathing in a single bacterium. That's supposed to be healthy.

But it's not. In fact, our urge to over-clean everything just may be at the root of several illnesses, not the least of which include an increased incidence in asthma, allergies, and autoimmune disorders. A review of the "hygiene hypothesis," by Fernando D. Martinez from the University of Arizona Respiratory Sciences Center lends credibility to the hypothesis that lack of exposure to microbes in childhood may result in allergies and other conditions. When a person is exposed to microbes, the body works to develop immunity toward those microbes--in a sense, the microbes act a bit like a vaccination. When a person isn't exposed to these microbes, the body doesn't have a chance to develop an immunity, and therefore may react allergically to these microbes when exposed to them later in life.

So...I'm inviting microbes in. How about you?

Bugs. Yuck.

I really don't care for bugs. I know that some of them are beneficial for the garden, and I do try to leave those to do their special garden tasks, but what I find super creepy are the bugs that eat my food. [I caught one mid-bite--take a look at the picture at left.]

Our weather here in Central Illinois has been crazy--warm and sunny one day, then cold, dreary and rainy for a couple of days, then cold and cloudy, then rainy, and so on. I haven't had two straight days of dry in order to be able to get into the garden until today, only to find that my soup beans are being terrorized--shredded, in fact--by the Mexican bean beetle. These horrible herbivores leave bean leaves in tatters and lay their eggs on the underside of bean leaves. They look remarkably like copper-colored ladybugs, but do far more damage. Now that they have nearly devastated my soup beans, they are encroaching upon my green beans!

How do I kill the little buggers without using any pesticides, I wonder. My boyfriend, David, helped me do a bit of Internet research, and it looks like garlic is the best defense (other than simply squashing them). I'll try some garlic powder on the leaves and around the base of the plants tomorrow, but you can bet I'll be squashing the life out of as many as I can and scraping the eggs off the leaves.

I do find it interesting that they headed for the soup bean plants first, and wonder whether planting cilantro among the green beans (a la "companion planting") has kept the damage to the green beans to a minimum. Hmmm...you would think that Mexican bean beetles would actually like cilantro, a pungent herb used in salsa!

April Showers Bring May Planting

"So, Michelle, how many bean plants do you think I should plant to sustain me through the year?" (My colleague/friend/compatriot-in-garden-crime planted green beans and peas for her family last year, so I thought she might advise me.)

"Oh, three or four plants ought to be enough."

"Oh." I was quiet for a moment. "So about 19 ought to be plenty, I guess."

She laughed. But she also knows my OCD ways, so I can't imagine it was any surprise to her. "How many pea plants did you put in?"

"Uh, about 20."

"You'll be spending a lot of time shelling peas!" She laughed again. I suspect her laughing is because this year, my gardening habits are very different from last year's. Last year, I think it was mid- to late-June before my garden got planted. I threw everything in at the same time--cool season foods and warm season foods. The only thing I really had were tomatoes, and they were tiny. (But I've already told you about my toy Beefsteak tomatoes.) This year, I'm taking my time. Every day we don't have rain (which admittedly hasn't been very many days yet), I'm out in the garden planting.

Yesterday I planted soup beans. Of course, I didn't plant just one variety--oh, no, that makes too much sense. I planted SIX varieties (Old Mother Stallard, Lina Cisco's Bird Egg, October, Hutterite, Jacob's Cattle Gasless, and Ireland Creek Annie), and about 5-6 plants of each. So I'll be shelling a lot of beans in addition to those peas!

Today, I planted three different kinds of beets (Choggia, Detroit Dark Red, and Bull's Blood); 2 types of radishes (Plum Purple and Early Scarlet Globe), 8 types of lettuce (Amish Deer Tongue, Bronze Arrowhead, Forellenschuss, Red Velvet, Susan's Red Bibb, Yugoslavian Red Butterhead, Lettuce Mix, and Apollo Arugula), 2 types of spinach (American and Strawberry), and White Vienna Kohlrabi.

I still have a lot of seeds and garden space in which to plant, but now it looks like it will rain very soon, so I've given up for today. The nightshade family plants (tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper plants) are still growing under the warming lamp, so I suspect it will be time to plant them soon.

I'm afraid to tell you how many different tomato varieties I will be planting.