Gardening for Old Folks (Adaptative)

[claudiabostic]

Yeah, squash bugs. I should have let the chickens out into the garden, but didn't. What kind of perreinials do you plant to keep them down? I do intersperse marigolds among the tomatoes.

Sunflowers are one of the major flowers that support all kinds of insects. They have nectar glands all over their stems and leaves. Others that work well in my climate are milkweed, echinacea, butterfly weed and buddleia. Marigolds, cosmos, snapdragons, shasta daisies, daffodils and crocuses. Daylilys. I also let some weeds bloom. Coreopsis tickseed is one, and queen anne's lace as long as I'm not saving carrot seed. One of the ideas is to have something blooming over the longest period possible in your climate. You can also find lists of good plants by searching the net for "insectary plant list" and your state or region. And more nurseries are listing pollinator and insect friendly plants in their catalogs.
And don't clean away dead stems and leaves over the winter, insects overwinter there. I have a ring of planting beds around the outside of the garden where I plant most of the flowers. I don't clean up stuff there until things have started blooming again in the Spring. In the other beds where I plant mostly vegetables I'll clean up more in the Fall.
The other thing is not to freak out and spray if you see some bad insects. The spray will hurt the predator bugs worse than it will the destructive plant chewers and will actually make things worse. If there are no plant chewers at all to feed the predators, then you won't have any predators. So having a few of the bad bugs around is actually good.

 

[oldhen2345]

Sunflowers are one of the major flowers that support all kinds of insects. They have nectar glands all over their stems and leaves. Others that work well in my climate are milkweed, echinacea, butterfly weed and buddleia. Marigolds, cosmos, snapdragons, shasta daisies, daffodils and crocuses. Daylilys. I also let some weeds bloom. Coreopsis tickseed is one, and queen anne's lace as long as I'm not saving carrot seed. One of the ideas is to have something blooming over the longest period possible in your climate. You can also find lists of good plants by searching the net for "insectary plant list" and your state or region. And more nurseries are listing pollinator and insect friendly plants in their catalogs.
And don't clean away dead stems and leaves over the winter, insects overwinter there. I have a ring of planting beds around the outside of the garden where I plant most of the flowers. I don't clean up stuff there until things have started blooming again in the Spring. In the other beds where I plant mostly vegetables I'll clean up more in the Fall.
The other thing is not to freak out and spray if you see some bad insects. The spray will hurt the predator bugs worse than it will the destructive plant chewers and will actually make things worse. If there are no plant chewers at all to feed the predators, then you won't have any predators. So having a few of the bad bugs around is actually good.

Thanks. I will look them up. Spring IS a new season. I don't spray because I do't want to eat chemicals.

 

[jvls1942]

going to be cold tonight, again. it did not freeze last night. hope it doesn't freeze tonight either.
today we are married 57 years. to celebrate, we gave each other a kiss and a high five.
I dropped off the spring tooth and mounted the back blade onto Ollie. I made about five passes over the driveway. It looks real nice, if I have to say so myself..
......jiminwisc......

 

[bruceha2000]

Congrats to you and DW on the 57 years!!!

Supposed to get down near freezing here tonight as well though we may not have frost. Unless something changes we will have a freeze Sunday morning.

 

[jvls1942]

thank you
we live on a sloping hillside. so often we do not frost or freeze because the air sort of slides down hill as it gets colder .
......jiminwisc........

 

[Molpet]

thank you
we live on a sloping hillside. so often we do not frost or freeze because the air sort of slides down hill as it gets colder .
......jiminwisc........

Bottom of the hill is where I am at

 

[jvls1942]

TV said it is frosty out. I looked out. It doesn't look frosty.
but none the less. I think the growing season is over for this year.
......jiminwisc......

 

[jvls1942]

the cold pretty much wiped out the vines, but the tomatoes did not freeze. DW picked all of the red and turning red ones.
She left the green ones to turn red on the vines.
the potted grape vines and herbs did not freeze..
....jiminwisc.......

 

[jvls1942]

I hate surprises.. Last night it was even colder than the two nights before. It was supposed to warm up.. 30F.. I did not go out and check any plants yet. I imagine the tomatoes are frozen.
Oh well, we had a good run while it lasted.
.......jiminwisc........

 

[jvls1942]

don't ask me how, but the tomatoes did not freeze. the vines are completely stripped of any foliage . maybe we will get some more "vine ripened" tomatoes yet.
....jiminwisc......