He's a Keeper!
Sometimes gardening becomes less about growing and more about protecting. This little grasshopper was a friendly surprise compared to other things I’ve been dealing with lately. He minds his own business, he doesn’t destroy my plants, and he looks so pretty – grasshoppers are on my good side.
Murder She Wrote
These guys, however, are on my bad side! In fact if I see this nasty creature – called a grub – I take them out of my soil and kill them with my shovel. I know this sounds insanely violent. I’m not a natural born killer, however, when you literally start finding a hundred you know you have to do something about the problem!
Organic Defense
As a solution to getting rid of the grubs I found ORGANOCIDE. I mixed this with water and put all over the soil at night. I applied a few times then really saw less and less which was thrilling – then I found this problem:
Moving On
I’m starting to feel exhausted with problems! You try to do something good and you start to realize what you’re up against in nature. Slugs gross me out, but after the grubs I’m getting a little less squeamish. It was interesting to find that slugs hate a lot of things touching their skin. I researched copper tape, salt, and sawdust, but ended up going with the beer traps. There are multiple solutions so look up the options and see what you have at home that will work for you.
Fly away!
My third complaint (and then I’ll be done – promise) are the little sparrows in our area. Any time I plant a starter or seeds they like to come and stir up trouble. I don’t want to use fish line and risk them not seeing it, or do anything that would harm them, but I do want to keep them away. This is netting that you get when you buy potatoes, garlic or avocados at the store. I just stretched it out to fit the bottom of the stand. It’s easy to see, doesn’t block any sunlight and it works like a charm!
If you have any solutions or ideas of defense gardening I’d love to hear them! I must also end on a positive note and say: isn’t this guy adorable! He was a surprise under one of our bins the other day. I was so happy to finally see some friends in the garden!
Back to my good side
3 Comments
What about snails?? They’re my biggest issue but I’m not sure how to fight them without possibly hurting the pugs who try and eat anything and everything.
Snails are in the same category as slugs. Few ideas to try:
-Beer traps. Set out a saucer (a jar lid will do) with stale beer. Slugs and snails like the scent so they will climb in and drown.
-Use the dog food. Use this to lure them away from the garden then throw them away.
-The easiest and most hands off way (and what I would do) is to get a product called “Sluggo” This product is sold most places. It contains iron phosphate which interferes with the slugs metabolism. This causes them to stop eating and die about 4 days later. Good luck!
Alrighty, gonna give it a try and let you know how it goes! Thanks girl!!