Summer scourges

As ever life is a battle here in the plague garden. The enemies this year are familiar foes, with a few newbies thrown in to keep life interesting.

Last couple of years have seen leaf miner damage on chard, spinach and beets; this year the victim was my new sorrel plantings. Here's what it looks like when the situation gets out of hand:



I finally pulled all the diseased leaves off and sprayed with neem oil and it seems to help, though I do find that neem seems to burn the leaves. Apparently the trick is to spray in the evening. when the good bugs have gone to bed and the leaves have time to absorb the neem and avoid sunburn. Perhaps I need to adjust the dosage.

Codling moths have been at my apples again this year - slackness with tree banding on my part; now I gather I'm supposed to pick and destroy infected fruit - it's edible but doesn't store well once it's been tunnelled. None for the compost, since that would just give them a nice warm place to overwinter. Apparently they have 2-3 generations per year. Here's what the entry channel looks like from outside and in:



Two damp springs in a row have escalated the scab on my poor yellow transparent apple tree. Quite a few more apples affected this year, but such a heavy crop it may not matter. Bordeaux Mix dormant spray is said to help as a preventive measure; I'm also told to use compost tea as a foliar spray to generally boost the tree's immunity, but the tree's very large and I'm just getting up to speed with the tea production this year. And pruning is supposed to help as well, but the tree is so big and lush it's hard to know where to begin, although I've worked at it - summer pruning of water shoots and shaped for easier picking.



The zucchini I bought as seedlings from two different nurseries are both developing blossom end rot. Depending on who I ask, I get the answer that it's either due to lack of calcium, lack of water, or lack of pollination. I've put finely crushed eggshells on them now and hope that will help with the calcium; being in pots they are most likely thirsty too so am trying to be more diligent there.



I don't think there's any question who's been eating the healthy zucchini either:



This year's slug battles have been very hard on a couple of bean plants; this one is making a plucky comeback now the overshadowing pea trellis is gone, and is even producing beans now, though is still embattled.



and these beets which were nibbled down to the stem - probably by birds - are growing new leaves!



But. It's not all bad. My plum tree yielded a fair crop of small, tart plums before it was decapitated (leaning heavily on the fence) - as did the neighbour's - two batches of jam and one of chutney so far. And I made some Rote Grütze with plums and other fruits (cherries, blackberries, blackcurrants, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, cranberries) from this year and from the freezer, and canned that to have on my yogurt through the winter. And my zucchini is coming - not too fast



and there are some footsoldiers working hard to keep the ecosystem in balance:

What's eating what

It's a late summer here, so I consider this the end of spring, and there are a lot of springtime shenanigans happening in the garden.

Number one enemy is waffling between slugs and cabbage moths. My attempts to get on top of the slug problem - by setting nifty little beer traps for them in old drinks cups - are foiled by an unknown midnight visitor (raccoon seems to be the candidate of choice) who gets downright cranky if it can't get the lids off. Great, a furred vandal with a drinking problem. As if I don't have enough problems in the plague garden.



The cabbage moths are about to drive me to near-chemical control methods. They have denuded my defenseless broccoli



with their evil eggs



which hatch into evil, hungry worms



which get large on my brassicas



and leave evidence of their digestive successes. The moderately good news is that it's highly nutritious for what's left of the plants.



The options of choice for dealing with this monster are: yellow sticky traps for the moths, and Btk for the offspring. As I saw a moth fluttering around this morning, so shall it be.

Also destined for yellow sticky traps are the evil leafminer flies who lay their evil eggs which hatch into evil offspring who tunnel between the layers of leaves - of spinach, chard, beets, sorrel...



(note worm-like shape eating its way downwards in bottom right: this is why you might not want to eat mined leaves) you name it; even beans this year.



Because they are within the leaves you can't do much except take the leaves off and drown the occupants in your slug bucket. But the yellow sticky traps (and/or neem oil) are said to be all you can do about the adults. The other advice - cover seedlings with row cover - is not an option at this stage of my plants' lives. And what an ugly garden that creates anyway, shrouded in reemay.

Slugs have been busy procreating in my garden:



Last night's hunt yielded a total of 61 babes from one half-wine-barrel planter. Now deceased. 61 fewer appetites to skeletonize my hapless plants.



It's a bad year for beans in my garden; those that have not been eaten alive are developing some nasty ailment that might be rust



- very bad news if it is. Not so bad if it afflicts, as it does, my garlic



as it won't affect the bulb. But with beans, it discolours and stunts the pods, apparently. Can't wait to find out. My fellow gardeners shake their heads and tut about beans, and most other things, saying "it's just too cold this year". I may have to give up on that bed and try to plant something else for a winter garden. Hmm. What doesn't mind being overshadowed by a giant pea trellis in an already dark garden?



There are successes to report. I've managed to stay on top of the aphids this year



and the parasitic wasps are getting the tent caterpillars under control.



Tomatoes have not yet expired from lack of sun, and a few are even setting fruit



while the volunteer potatoes are happy enough to be in sore need of hilling up



So far the aphids are not getting the better of the favas, as they did last year



and the blueberries are abundant. Soon I will cage them in hopes of foiling the birds.



The apple crop is looking awesome



and the fennel is surviving, and so is the garden supervisor.