pests

I thought that having a small relatively isolated container garden on a balcony I would escape the attention of pests, but that's not the case. Something dug into my big pot of Echinacea! I suspect a squirrel. At least he gave me a good look at the root system, before I filled the hole in again. Looks healthy enough.

I'm glad that I have to look close to water the little bulb vase without overflowing, where my Mint cuttings are rooting. Because the other day I noticed a lot of fine, white flakes all over the glass of the vase. Then I looked very close on the mint stems and saw tons of teensy tiny aphids! I checked the parent mint plants outside; no sign of aphids. I bet there were eggs laid on the plants and when I brought the cuttings inside they hatched in the warmth. So I simply dunked the cuttings entirely in a bowl of soapy water to kill the aphids, cleaned the vase, put them back in. I tossed the ones that hadn't started growing roots yet, am left with three cuttings.