Composted all my Cauliflower plants today. It's way too hot for them now. They used to be on the left, here.
I've planted in their space more Green Beans. Left the Broccoli in, there at center, as I still think I might get a few more heads- but that's probably wishful thinking. On the far right are the Peas, still providing fresh kid snacks!
and the tall plants through the back with tiny white flowers are the Cilantro. Some have started to make seed.
Acted drastically on my Rhubarb patch. First I took out all the browned and damaged leaves, being careful to pull and twist them from the base, not cut- any stump of stem left in could rot to the crown. Then I gathered up all the leaf litter and mulch, to take a closer look at the plants.
They look so much better already, all cleaned up! But I'm afraid too many stalks have been removed- each plant lost at least one, the two on right three or four. And on closer inspection, it looks like the center has rotted out of this one.
I'm afraid it's going to die, or at least not revive after winter. I think I planted them too low in the ground, so the crowns aren't staying dry enough. After giving them a feeding of compost, I watered carefully, pouring it on slow around on the soil a distance away from the center. But the water all ran in and collected at the crowns. So maybe my problem is rotted crowns. I don't know if I can save them. It would probably shock them too much to dig up and move, now in the heat of summer.
Last night I put out beer traps near all the plants that have holes eaten in them. I was surprised to find this morning that I hadn't caught a single slug, but lots of little tiny, round brown bugs
I tried to take a picture but they're so small its very hard. I don't know what they are or if they're what's eating my plants. They were on the Rhubarb, Green Beans and Swiss Chard. I wonder if they're
everywhere.
6 comments:
I composted about HALF of my garden today!! I found a Louisiana agriculture site and found out why my beans and tomatoes aren't bearing fruit when they flower...turns out it's too hot :/ Duh...We're getting heat indexes around 110 here, so the pollen just turns to sticky gunk. But I did learn that now is the time to start my FALL tomato plants from seed and that I can also start a fall crop of summer squash and southern peas. So that's what I'm going to do with my new garden space :)
I hope your rhubarb is ok!! I've been thinking of trying rhubarb next year, but I wouldn't know what to do with it! I've never even tasted it before! And those little bugs are creepy :p
Wow. I can't imagine that kind of heat. Too hot for tomatoes and beans? I always wait for it to get hot enough! cool that you can grow them in fall, though. Fall will be my time to plant lettuce, and try cauliflower and broccoli again (I wonder if that means I should start them soon?)
Rhubarb is yummy- it's quite tart, and you can only eat the stems- the leaves are poisonous. My mom always made it in pies and cobblers, but people make it into jams, tarts, scones, etc. Very nutritious too, I believe!
The awesome thing about rhubarb is that once you get it established, the plant will grow back every year. They can thrive for ten to twenty years!
Did you ever figure out what those little brown bugs were?
No, sorry.
i found those same bugs in a box of champagne flutes given by a friend...any luck on finding what they are....
No luck, sorry. I haven't seen them since.
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