08 May 2009

troubles

I'm feeling discouraged about the garden. Some things are going well- the garlics are incredibly healthy, the potatoes are coming up strong, there's lots of lettuce under kitchen window. But the winter mulch I was so pleased at keeping soil moist and fed overwinter- also kept gazillions of pill bugs around. Now they're eating my Sunflower seedlings I just set out, and chomping on the lettuce. Beer put out catches many, but when it rains ineffective. Beet seedlings are diminishing, Broccoli almost gone, Chard getting eaten. The bug repellents I've read of in helpful books are for cole crops and not specifically pill bugs. I had put grass clippings around the cloches to keep from being splahsed mud on but guess who came to stay- pill bugs. Now I know two strategies for next year- plant a wall of garlic, and grow the seedlings indoors until big enough to withstand. But for now how to salvage my garden?

We weeded today, cut tall grass on the edges, and planted some flower seeds in the front yard- delphiniums and petunias. Also I dug up many of those green leafed rhizomes that make tall, orange day lilies- and moved to corner side of house and driveway, where it's all been just weeds for so long. It looks better already.

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