On Patrol

We got lucky and had a mess of mantises (mantii?) hatch under our row covers in the Spring. We've always had a few of these guys on the property, but this year they were everywhere. They stationed themselves all throughout the garden and have been dutifully chowing down on other bugs all year long. Mantises actually eat pretty much everything they come across—good bugs included—but I think we have enough pests running around to serve as the primary food.

While she was at work

Meg and I usually have our schedules set up so we can maximize our home time together, but sometimes it doesn't work out that way and one of us will find ourselves alone at home for a good chunk of time. For me, today was one of those days.

I should have used the time to draft my syllabi for the fast approaching semester, but instead I spent my afternoon in the garden.


My first order of business was to find where a tomato eating groundhog was getting into our garden and plug the hole. When I look at this tomato it reminds me of The Old Man and the Sea. It's a little depressing.


I then spent some time clearing a few exhausted beds for our fall planting. The beds pictured above and below will probably be for greens and carrots.


We're not sure how we're doing on time, but our first frost seems to come later every year, so we're hoping that we'll be able to squeeze in a decent harvest.


Speaking of harvest, while gathering the green beans, I found this soon-to-be-smashed little fella. The beans seem to have caught a second wind. I was ready to give them a pull a week or so ago, but out of nowhere they just started to flower again and completely veg out.

You know when you get in to a picking zone and your eyes and hands just seem to hone in on whatever you've got goin'? Well I was in such a zone and almost picked this guy thinking it was a bean. This year we had a lot of these beauties call our garden home. Now we just need to work on attracting more lady bugs.

Perennial Attraction

When in the garden we're never really alone. With a few hamlets of flowers, Meg and I have attracted civilizations of insects. Soon we hope to increase this magnetism with creative trellising that will shape up to bring obelisks of morning glories and a wall of cardinal climbers.

Whisper words of wisdom

Our flowers are beginning to bloom and the garden is literally buzzing with activity (I can't believe I just used that pun, how pathetic. Bartender!).

We are still very new to flowers and things here are a little haphazard. Hey, what can I say, we're veggie people. Anywho, we want more flowers. It won't change the flavor of our blog, but we thought we'd warn you just the same.

Purple Coneflower

Last year we started a bed of perennial flowers in the middle of the garden to add some color and also to attract good bugs. From seed, we planted daisies, black eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, and bee balm—but, since some plants take a few years to get established we didn't get the full array of blooms last year.


This year everything already has a year of growing under its belt and the coneflowers, which were absent last year, made their first appearance.

What the hell is this?

After witnessing the fantastic results of Meg's pruning the other day, we thought we would scope out any other trees that need some lopper love. On our journey we spied a mass of eggs left by some kind of insect mathematician. They're cool looking, but if it's bad I want to squish it. Chances are it's a pest (that's just the way this place works), but if it so happens to be a pest eater, well then I think we may want to let it live (I'm convinced that God is a gardener).

If any of you know what in the blazes these damn things might be, before they hatch, please send us a shout.

Bring on the Bugs

A good omen, perhaps?


I spied this little ladybug when I was giving the onions and brassicas a spritz with the ol' water bottle earlier today. The garden so far only amounts to four flats of seedlings under grow lights, but hopefully the beneficial insects will continue flocking to it when stuff is actually growing outside.

Seeds

Meg and I have been collecting seeds from our garden as the growing season progressed. Last week we went to see the Renoir exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (if you live in the area, it is a must see) and since then I have been trying to gather as many flower seeds as possible. There is something about an impressionist depiction of a French garden that gets us fired up for color. With the addition of three small flower beds we saw a significant increase in the number of beneficial insects that buzzed through our garden. We're hoping that next year's new beds will attract even more.