August 24, 2019
My row of iceburg lettuce looks really pretty but it tastes a bit bitter. The heat is probably responsible for that, even though they get afternoon shade from the asparagus ferns. They are way more healthy for me than store bought so I'm thankful I have them. The bush tomato, on the other hand, got pulled up because " The amount of tomatoes in the garden is too damn high". The straight neck squash also got removed because we can't keep up with it..
In early spring, as a compliment to the emerging zucchini fruit, it's a welcome addition, but as the summer wears on and zucchini becomes abundant it's a burden to keep picked. We have two mounds of zucchini with three plants per mound. Do you have any idea how many fruit they produce over the season when you pick them at 8" long? Someone started counting once and they say he's still counting today..
August 25, 2019
I've got an awful lot of whiteflies on my Brussels sprouts. I brushed up against a plant and it was like a white glitter bomb went off. I was amazed and went along and shook all the plants. I thought I'd disperse them and make them more susceptible to predation. A few hours later, while checking my cauliflower starts, I found whiteflies on them..
Had I done this by redistributing them, or were they already there? I don't know but I won't be shaking plants again. I went and got my soap spray bottle, which I should have done in the first place, and sprayed until both hands got tired. I put the empty bottle back in the greenhouse, walked across the garden to my shade chair, and was surrounded by a cloud of whiteflies. I felt like Pig-Pen from the Peanuts comics..
August 26, 2019
I've not seen many squash bugs this year but I saw a tree frog on my zucchini plant. This is a really good thing because a tree frog could probably eat 50 baby squash bugs a night. I also have a tree frog in the greenhouse, perched upon the only Swiss chard plant that doesn't have leaf miner damage. He's doing a great job. I wish I had five more in there..
These are good examples of why we shouldn't use Round up, although a three legged frog might have advantages. We've designed an herbicide that affects the DNA of amphibians, which we didn't know could happen until we sprayed it everywhere. The earth is the chemical companies guinea pig, and who knows what else is affected by their toxins. It's not a far stretch of the imagination to conclude that human DNA could be altered also..