Attack of the Japanese Beetles

Wow - no posts for a while! Sorry about that. Between going to Vegas for The Amazing Meeting 7 (which was AWESOME!), working 12 hour days, and then getting sick on top of it all, I haven't been able to get in the garden much. I went out yesterday and noticed I have lost one green bean plant to Japanese beetles. The buggers have totally skeletonized all the leaves on one plant and are working on the others. They are all over the place! I've never had a problem with Japanese beetles before, so this is disappointing. Today I sent Dave out to pick off what he could and drop them in soapy water. This is the best organic approach but definitely not the most efficient. I'm not sure if any pesticide exists to destroy them and, even if there is something, I'd have to spray constantly. So, it's a battle of me against the bugs.

On the plus side, we're getting TONS of tomatoes and green peppers. I have at least 2 green peppers large enough to make stuffed peppers. Need to look up a recipe and give that a whirl. The corn and sunflowers appear to be doing well. It looks like I may have some success with cucumbers this year, too (but I'm not entirely convinced yet). I did see a bumblebee on my cucumber plant yesterday so that was exciting. Means I have some natural pollination occurring!

Well, I need to get myself outside. It's a beautiful day but nothing has been watered since the last thunderstorm came through. The plants in pots are looking pretty sad and, despite how I feel, I still need to get out there and at least get stuff watered.

Toodles!

Triumph and Tragedy Gardening Style

I harvested the first tomato of the season the other day (did I already tell you this?). This is a first for me - first tomato BEFORE 4th of July. I got my tomato plants in the ground earlier this year and it seems to have paid off. In my excitement I forgot to take a photo commemorating this feat of gardening. Dave and I ate it in a salad the other night. It was quite tasty! Now there are lots of little red grape tomatoes on the vine. I'll have to point those out to Dave as he loves grape tomatoes (I have issues with biting into them...that discussion is for another blog).

So, what's the tragedy amongst this triumph? Dave pointed out to me that I forgot to put the nozzle back up on one of the rain barrels. Of course, it was the nozzle that leaks. The entire rain barrel drained overnight. :( So, I'm torn about the 4th of July weather forecast. The forecasters are predicting storms. Yay for filling the rain barrels but it will ruin the 4th of July fireworks and I do like a good fireworks display. Even if Mother Nature were to provide a nice one in terms of lightening and thunder, I'd still miss the man-made variety.

A Break from the Heat

Finally! The way-too-early-in-the-season heatwave has broke and Dave and I are able to enjoy a nice evening outside on our expanded patio with a fire. Dave put the gazebo cover on over the weekend. I must say, the patio looks totally awesome and inviting now - hence the reason why we're enjoying a little break outside this evening. Too bad my goofy dogs hate to be outside. The pix above are the before-and-after shots of our patio. The before is from 2007 - yuck! But look at it now! We expanded the patio last year and this year added the planters for the hops. Sweet!

Yesterday I did a little work in the garden. I planted some petunias in the garden beds that had the early Spring plantings in order to spice them up a bit. Dave and I worked to cage the Roma tomato plant with some faux bamboo poles and some twine. We'll see how that works. I also trained the pickling cucumbers up faux bamboo poles (today they have blossoms!). Knock on wood, so far so good with the cucumbers this year. I guess they just need to be in a lot of soil. I also planted the regular cukes and I have pumpkin seeds soaking so I can give those a go. I hope I can attract enough pollinators to get some cukes & Jack-o-lanterns this year. Dave has discovered the frustrations of the Japanese beetle. Now that we have hops, we have them all over the place and they are eating the hop leaves. He picks them off and smushes them. I think it's weird that they eat the hops because the leaves are fuzzy and the vines are really "grabby." The vines will grab onto your clothing and stick!

Ahhhh...the Corinthian Bells windchimes are hung...we have a slight breeze...a fire and citronella candles going...now all I need is a Tequila Sunrise or Long Island Iced Tea and I'm set!

In Memoriam: MJ and FF

I know he was a weirdo and stuff, but how odd is it that Michael Jackson is dead? No matter what you thought about him since his Thriller days, you can't deny that Thriller, and MJ himself, had an incredible impact on pop culture. I mean, how many Thriller references do you still see in these days in times, nearly 30 years - yes 30 years! - since its release? Prison inmates in the Philippines recreated the Thriller dance as a form of entertainment and recreation!! When I heard he was going to be touring I thought to myself "I'm buying tickets if he comes to St. Louis because I want to see MJ live." Man, it's really weird that he's dead. I know this is going to sound strange, but this may be one of those events I will always remember where I was when I heard (had just turned the car on for my commute home and NPR announced it at the 1/2 hr news mark). Other events I remember: Challenger disaster, announcement about Kurt Cobain's death, and 9-11.

Another sad note today - Farrah Fawcett lost her battle with cancer. Again, another icon that I grew up with...Charlie's Angels and everyone wanting their hair feathered like Farrah's...I remember wearing giant rollers in my hair while I slept to try to straighten it enough so I could feather it. I was always so jealous of my sisters with their straight hair! :)

Sigh...

Add to all of this we are in our 6th or 7th day of near 100-degree weather with 105+ heat indices. Calgon, take me away!