Thursday, June 10, 2010

Organic flea beetle control


My garden is all in now, it took quite a while- but it's done and just in time- we kept on having rainy days with a couple of sunny days thrown into the mix-but never consecutively. Eventually though I got it all done, now it's just waiting for everything to grow up, before I can start weeding.

The garden space is lovely but there are a few challenges we'll have to overcome- surprisingly the Deer that roam freely around here that we expected to have to beat off with sticks haven't come around yet, but It's too soon to write it off as an issue. The wind has been harsh these past few days though, so some things are looking a little beaten- we'll have to see about a small windbreak.

The biggest thing so far has been the flea beetles- not so many of them I thought at first and went in to consult my gardening books, but forgot in the flurry of bath and bedtime, and when I got back out there the next day- the Broccoli and Allysum were dead- all of it looking dry and grey and like it had been shot with bird shot. I looked around online and found that flea beetle will respond to garlic sprays, so I mixed up a batch of 'Garlic Fire Spray' from this recipe. So far it seems to have stopped the damage on my cauliflower and cabbage- hopefully it will hold off the beetles until the plants get bigger- or until another tastier crop (like canola) is ready for them to munch.

No comments:

Post a Comment