Garden Update and Tip

  The garden is all planted and we’re in the “waiting while it grows” stage.  The green beans and corn are getting taller. I expect any day now to see blooms on the green beans. (Wishful thinking)
   I am still having problems with potato bugs even after the hand picking and all.  I dusted the plants with Sevin Dust this morning.  I can’t get over how tall the potato plants are this year; over 2 feet!   I noticed that the dirt was cracking around some of the plants so I mounded the dirt up against them this morning.
   I’ve seen a worm on one of the tomato plants; killed him/her and sprinkled a bit of Sevin Dust on all of them.  I will be getting some marigold plants and setting them around the tomatoes; they are great for keeping worms off your tomatoes.
   My orange bell pepper plants are looking really good.  I’ve never had good luck with bell peppers.  I plan on paying close attention to them this year.  Does any one have a tip or two that has worked for them?

     On another note I love to take pictures with my digital camera.  Since I live out in the country, a mile off the county road, I’ve been taking pictures of wild flowers.  I’ve amassed quite a collection of pictures and I am in the planning stage of putting them in a scrapbook.  I have a book titled Wildflowers of Arkansas by Carl G. Hunter that I use for identification.  I highly recommend this book if you’re into wildflowers.
Here is a picture of White-Flowered Milkweed that I took a few days ago.  I saw this plant up on a incline surrounded by poison ivy, but I just had to trudge up there and take a look; I’m glad I did.

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COLORADO POTATO BEETLE

Yesterday I posted a picture of the tater bug invading my potato plants. Today I looked him up and found out he’s called a Colorado Potato Beetle.
Here is an excellent link about them with info on how to get rid of them..

http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef312.asp

Tilling and Bugs

Potato Blooms

I finally tilled the garden this evening.  We’ve been having chances of rain for the past couple of days and all we got here were sprinkles.  The temps have gone down for this week to the mid 70s.  I am loving it!  The garden is flourishing and as I was tilling I saw I had a sweet banana pepper on one plant.  I pulled up a few radishes yesterday.  I really need to plant more.  The volunteer squash plants continue to bloom, but no squash yet.

I mentioned potato bugs in my last post and today I worked on getting rid of them.  Instead of opting for pesticides I went plant by plant looking for eggs and bugs.  I used my scissors to cut the adult bugs in half and I trimmed the leaves off with the babies & eggs on them; placing them in a bucket.  I took the bucket and dumped it in the woods AWAY from the house.  I’m sure I didn’t get them all so I’ll have to keep an eye on the plants.  I would still love any suggestions on removing them other than picking them off.

Here’s a pic. of the bug whos babies were eating the leaves off my potato plants.
COLORADO POTATO BEETLE