Insects

I am slowly becoming more aware of the plethora of insects outside our door. I was never a fan of bugs of any kind, but gardening has changed that. So has my friend Milagra whom I casually refer to as a bee specialist, although she would deny that.

Still, I have been looking around at all the insects out there and growing amazed, really. I used to just think there were bees, wasps, ants, big spiders and little spiders. Now I realize there are many many different kinds of insects. Well, I did know of course that there were many many different kinds of insects, but I suppose I always thought that living in the city, there really weren't that many where I lived. Hawaii was the first place I lived where I realized cockroaches could actually be small animals, that cane spiders were as big as taurantulas, but could fly, that fire ants could burn your feet off, silverfish would destroy CDs, and that carpenter ants would actually eat electronics (as in my computer). That was Hawaii.

It's also true that the numbers of insects in general are on sharp decline, so there are not as many as there could be or should be. But still, it seems that there are perhaps 6 or 7 different types of bees, 3 or 4 different types of wasps, many different kinds of spiders and a few different kinds of ants, just outside our door on a daily basis.

Some sting or bite, others do not. Some pollinate, others do not. Some eat all those annoying cabbage worm larvae! Some eat aphids!

This year, we have had a drastic decline in aphids on greens, as well as cabbage moth larvae. But we've had an increase in wasps! At first, when I noticed how many wasps were about, I got nervous. But with a little research, it seems I should be hugging them for sticking around! Perhaps hug is the wrong action. Then, with yet more research, it seems that I still don't even know what kind of wasp I am trying to identify. I have named a few different wasps in the meantime, however: thread-waisted wasp, spider wasp, and mud daubers.

We also have honey bees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, hover flies, and a few others. I am learning alot. D is fascinated by bees and so I am trying to make her understand how to react around them without taking away her innate curiosity and wonder. So far it has been working.

I'm not sure why I was never a fan of insects, probably because I saw so few of them, growing up in the city, without a garden. We had plants and space outside to play, but you just don't see the mass amount of insects that you do when you actually have a functioning garden. D and I like to talk about all the insects and creatures out in the garden. She washes lettuce and points out bugs and takes them outside to help them (even slugs). I encourage it and show enthusiasm for bugs. Bugs are so important, so misunderstood, and so feared. It's too bad.

But back to wasps. I am trying to name the wasps that seem to hang around the grassy areas. Mostly because D plays there and I want to know how aggressive they are or what they are trying to do. If they are mud daubers, then they are trying to collect mud. But it's more wet and grassy than muddy. Plus they look more like yellow jackets, but I know they aren't since there isn't anything that would attract a yellow jacket there. Plus, they are bigger, longer, and simply look different than I've known your standard yellow jacket to look. They also seem unphased by us walking around and doing stuff there. What I want to know is: are they beneficial for the garden? Are they beneficial for us? For the yard? Also, will their queen hibernate and therefore their nest grow year after year? I'm not sure I want that. We had paper wasps in Hawaii and they got pretty bad, and they were right by the doorway to the house. These seem to be making their home underneath the back porch, so they are also in a high traffic area.

To be continued...

Update on the stunded bed

Well, the stunted bed continues to grow. There are tomatoes, chard, and pumpkin. All are growing and flowering and developing, just teeny tiny. I checked for root maggots but don't see any. Perhaps the bed is missing an essential nutrient. I'm not sure, but think that we'll just have to take out this bed in the fall. It's no great loss really, but it is amusing to see very miniature pumpkins and tomatoes.

Garlic!

I finally harvested the garlic and it looks GREAT! Fifteen huge heads of garlic. Well, maybe ten huge heads and the rest, your average garlic. I cured it and it's now hanging in the basement in bunches. Very exciting. My garlic last year was tiny and silly.

Onions are coming up too. For some reason my onions have started to bolt - perhaps because of all the wacky weather we are having this Spring and Summer. So I pulled a few onions that were supposed to be storage varieties. Seems we will have to eat them like shallots. I also planted new spinach seeds next to my onion I am trying to dry out in the ground. Possibly my most stupid gardening mistake of all time. So we may have to eat all the onions as shallots!

Cauliflower

I recently read that the size of the broccoli and cauliflower heads depend on how big the plants get before flowering. No wonder the heads last year never got too big - the plants themselves were pretty small.

This year is my first year growing cauliflower! I read too that you can grow cauliflower pretty much year-round here in the Pacific Northwest, from overwintering to Early varieties to the standard varieties, you can harvest heads year-round! This is good news considering how good it is for you.

We have some heads that are developing and looking good!

PUMPKINS and more PUMPKINS!

Well, after what I thought were a few transplant failures, then a few more false starts, it seems we are now in for a huge number of pumpkins! Both the sad transplants and the late sowings have taken off! We have two plants out front that are each about 9 feet long!

Stunted Bed

The two beds that we made from the leftover old pile of concrete bits is not doing that well. I realize that saying I made a vegetable bed from "leftover... concrete bits" sounds like well, of COURSE it would not do well ...

I still haven't done much investigating, but everything growing in the first bed is extremely stunted. In the other bed, the wildflowers have done well, and so have the strawberries, but everything else looks yellow, sickly and also is simply not growing. Root maggots? Bad soil? There are lots of quick, black spiders running in and out between the rocky concrete, and in March and April they had egg sacs, and were fiercely defending their territory (one bit me and it hurt like hell!). So my other thought is that somehow their presence draws other bugs that are affecting the plants. I will have to do some more investigating. Here is a picture of the sad, tiny plants (lettuce, tomatoes, chard, and pumpkin are all the same size).

Other things growing in the garden

Here is some more of what is going on in our soil. The fourth attempt (after some indoor failings and transplant failings) at pumpkins are doing great!

Next you can see the garlic growing with lettuce in between. It's time to stop watering this garlic, so we are going to have to pull the lettuce soon.

My transplanted beans (from another area of the garden) are growing well but slowly. They are a bit yellow too. The patch they are in was where the old compost was, so there may be some bizarre mix of soil there. Not sure. It's also not too sunny, so I'm not sure how they'll do.

Then there are the potatoes which I think are doing well. I've tried my best to mulch and keep the soil consistently moist, but there are quite a few of them in that little square bed!

The peas out along the backyard fence have been thriving for months!

Peppers and Eggplants

Here are the peppers and eggplants that survived from the downpour and frigid temperatures we had in May and June. Here you can see some little purple peppers on a couple plants, some very very sad looking peppers under a soaker hose, and the eggplants looking healthy and robust!

Early Summer Harvest

Here are some pictures of our harvest last week. Snap peas, collard greens, Touchstone Gold beets, one of the 47 heads of Drunken Woman Frizzy Headed lettuce, and some overwintered shallots that I grew last Summer or Fall.

We harvested maybe 60 or 70 huge collard green leaves, blanched them and froze them to use this winter.

The beet greens were partially devoured by leaf miners that I didn't tend to, but we made a large warm beet green salad with the rest!

The pictures don't do the greens and brilliant color of the beets justice. These were taken with a camera phone that is not very good with color. The beets are a vibrant orange-red and the taste of these beets (this is my first year growing this variety) is very very mild, which W prefers, since he is not a huge beet fan.

Sunshine!

Sun has finally come to Portland, Oregon! And I take stock of the damage done by the rain. It seems most of the eggplants have hung in there and come back, looking good. As for the peppers, the sweet ones are yellowing and have been mostly devoured by slugs, but as for the hot peppers, they seem a bit stunted (leaves are tiny), but I see a few small peppers coming!

So in this past sunny week, I have done the following:

Harvested much of our 47 heads of lettuce. As much as we can eat and give away, we are. There is still way too much lettuce out there, note for next year!

Harvested snap peas which are doing well, despite their initial battle with slugs.

Transplanted beans to another area of the garden, which was a gamble. They seem to have recovered easily and both sets now are growing vigorously.

Pumpkins are doing fabulously. The two planted in the ground versus the ones started indoors. Still, the indoor ones are doing ok.

Harvested beets! Leaf miners attacked the leaves more than I hoped, but there are still many edible parts, and the beets are a good size and look great!

Harvested collard greens and blanched and froze them! Harvested the rest of the spinach. I did not grow enough spinach this year.

Many of the tomatoes are doing great. Others look ill and stunted.

Chard is coming up. Strawberries are doing great. Garlic and Onions look great, and so do the potatoes!

Harvested some shallots from last Fall which look great. Right now they are hanging on our front screen door to dry out, but I have to find a better spot for them!

I will post pictures soon. I was hoping to do them simultaneously but I'm trying to catch up on posting.