Garden Pests on Vacation

It is not definite whether they are on vacation or if they have gone back to school, but the garden pests are not much in evidence now. The garden has not been sprayed with sulfur or BT since the last several rains. Except for one squash plant there seems to be little deprivation. That one plant only has about 3 leaves that are damaged. The powdery mildew seems to have been put out of business by the hot weather.

There are a lot of writing spiders everywhere. They are fearsome looking beasts, but they eat a lot of bugs and they are big enough to knock back a stink bug or something like that. There seems to be a bumper crop of rabbits this year, but the only damage from them seems to be some of the cucumber sprouts. They were sprinkled with powdered cayenne pepper and that seems to have broken the rabbits from sucking eggs.

Production has dropped off too. The new tomatoes are small and defective. The squash has almost quit. The peppers and okra are doing great.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Good Crop of Baby Rabbits

The yards at home and at the office seem to be hopping with baby rabbits. Yesterday as I went to the shed something jumped from under my feet. It was so small, I thought it was a chipmunk at first. It was a baby rabbit. So far, there seems to be no depredation in the garden. There is plenty of chickweed, clover and grass in the yard. If they will be satisfied with that, I will be satisfied with them.

The sugar peas are really plentiful. Only half of the bag was planted, but the yield is probably the best ever. They would be good with new potatoes. One disadvantage of the potato bag is that it is almost impossible to grapple new potatoes. The bag is almost full of dirt anyway so maybe it will just get dumped next week.

Knock on wood, the deer have not invaded the garden this year. The fence is not quite finished, but that is the number 1 project for the weekend. It would be good to clean up some of the vegetation on the neighbor’s side. I think that house is vacant and I may be able to get away with it.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://davidsegrest.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Adding Spice to Life for Brer Rabbit

As mentioned in the last blog, Bugs Bunny and or Brer Rabbit have been munching on the corn and beans in the garden. Since putting human hair in the rows from a beauty shop, there have been no further depredations, but why take chances? Hot chili peppers and garlic should be a tasty treat; but rabbits supposedly don’t like them.

The peppers and garlic are placed in the blender with a little cheap vegetable oil. They are whirred until they are as pulverized as they will get. There will still be some chunks. This is all poured into a 2 gallon container. A couple of squirts of dish soap are added and the container is filled as full with water as the soap suds will allow. After it is settled some it is strained into a 1 gallon sprayer through a fine screen. Enough should be used to bring the container to ½ of the fill line. Finish the fill with water.

This worked well last year with habanero peppers. No habaneros were available this year so hot chili’s were used. We will see.

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/

Nibble Nibble

The little munchers have arrived in the garden. They ate about 4’ of a bean row. Later they came back and finished the row off and started another. Last night they sampled the corn. I spread some human hair in those beds, but I really don’t have a lot of faith in that method. A little pepper and garlic spray will work until the rains come. It is a real shame that rabbit is not good to eat this time of year. A rabbit box would provide a little extra protein to compensate for the missing beans.

It probably doesn’t really matter if an irrigation system leaks; but the wasted water does not seem to be going in the right place. A 10-pack of hose washers only costs 98 cents. Every connection to which they have been applied has stopped leaking. That is a good investment. It is really early to be watering the garden, but it seems to be a drier than normal spring.

The garden is really growing well. The raised bed system seems to have less weeds so far. The growth of everything is really good. This is the time of year when the garden really gives a lot of joy.

One fig tree was pruned, the other was not. The idea was to see if the pruning reduced the yield. The pruned tree seems to have as many or more figs than the un-pruned tree. The figs from each will be weighed and that will be the real test.s

David Segrest is an International REALTOR in Charlotte, NC. His email is david@segrestrealty.com , His webpage is http://www.segrestrealty.com , and his international real estate blog is http://dointernationalrealestate.blogspot.com/