I want to take this cucumber plant outside and put it into the ground, but all of the other cucumber seedlings I germinated this year have been killed by birds, mammals, and insects…. Poor cucumber flower, you will get pollinated soon enough.

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Poor Cucumber Flower
|| 5/28/2011 || 3:52 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
I want to take this cucumber plant outside and put it into the ground, but all of the other cucumber seedlings I germinated this year have been killed by birds, mammals, and insects…. Poor cucumber flower, you will get pollinated soon enough.

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The Aphid Invasion of the Escarole
|| 5/22/2011 || 9:14 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
For the last month my broadleaf escarole plant (an Endive, or type of Chicory) on my balcony has been invaded by tiny insects. Mostly aphids, I believe. I opted to not use any pesticides or neem oil to remove the infestation simply to see what damage such pests can do to the quasi-everlasting plant.




Photographs of a Ladybug in the garden
|| 4/25/2011 || 12:05 pm || + Render A Comment || ||


I spotted this little ladybug crawling through the Rose of Sharon bush the other day. I wish there were more ladybugs so they’d eat all the aphids I know will be coming to the garden later this year.
Photographs of pink chive buds
|| 4/22/2011 || 11:54 am || + Render A Comment || ||

About three years ago I planted these chives and every year since I’ve been either harvesting these pink chive buds & adding them to salads (they taste like an onion) or I’ve let them get pollinated, then wait a couple weeks, and harvested their tiny black seeds in order to grow more chives. I’ve read that they’ve been used throughout history as a means to naturally prevent bugs from eating different plants in the garden. In practice, however, I haven’t seem chives be very effective combating the aphids.
You know it’s spring when daffodils begin to bloom
|| 4/12/2011 || 11:47 am || + Render A Comment || ||
Empty Planters (not for long)
|| 4/2/2011 || 3:15 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
Soon there will be a garden…
Agent Orange? A chemical defoliant used on my neighbor’s backyard
|| 3/23/2011 || 2:43 pm || + Render A Comment || ||
The photograph below shows why I maintain a container garden:

Every year my next door neighbor puts some type of chemical defoliant over his backyard so he doesn’t have to mow his lawn. I sincerely wish he didn’t….
Baby Potato
|| 3/19/2011 || 2:53 pm || + Render A Comment || ||

Last fall I planted some potatoes to see if they would grow and sure enough a few did. I think this one looks like Venus of Willendorf.
The Scourge of this Summer’s Garden: Spider Mites
|| 9/25/2009 || 4:43 pm || 1 Comment Rendered || ||

I first noticed the green bean plants in my backyard starting die but didn’t realize that it was a pest. I simply thought the plant was receiving too much sunlight and not enough water. As the leaves wilted on the green bean plant, I sincerely wondered if the ground might have been contaminated by some foreign chemical. On my 3rd floor deck, where I was already growing my Basil plant and my Jaloro pepper plant, I decided to plant some of the seeds harvested from first green bean plant in my backyard. About a month later the green bean plant was showing the same discoloration on the leaves. Again, I didn’t think much of it. I simply thought the green bean plant was not suited to either this climate or the soil I was using. I continued to let the green bean plant grow and the rest of the leaves slowly wilted. Then I noticed that my Jaloro plant was showing discoloration on the leaves. As a pepper plant, I knew it was designed to receive ample sunlight, and the discoloration raised the final flag. I decided to turn the leaf over, squint my eyes, and there they were, spider mites.
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