Garden pics


Don't worry about cleaning them up. It's all organic.

The evil slugs and cutworms won't crawl over the sharp edges of the shell for fear of slicing open their slimy bellies.

The shells won't get stinky when they sit around the house in a container? I'd have to eat a lot of eggs to get any significant amount of shells.

No need to wash the egg goo off. Just lay them out somewhere to dry out. I've read some folks have even dried them out in a warm oven. Then just crumble/crush them into good sized pieces. Slugs and other soft bodies insects won't travel across the sharp, jagged edges of the shells. They also add calcium to the soil. Tomatoes love calcium and will get blossom end rot if they don't get enough, as will peppers.

Calcium?

How about I mash up some Tums? I got a bottle right here. Tums Ultra 1000.

Active ingredient: Calcium carbonate 1000 mg
Inactive ingredients: sucrose, calcium carbonate, corn starch, talc (huh? talc, .. really? Baby powder?), mineral oil, "natural flavor", sodium polyphosphate.
 
The shells won't get stinky when they sit around the house in a container? I'd have to eat a lot of eggs to get any significant amount of shells.



Calcium?

How about I mash up some Tums? I got a bottle right here. Tums Ultra 1000.

Active ingredient: Calcium carbonate 1000 mg
Inactive ingredients: sucrose, calcium carbonate, corn starch, talc (huh? talc, .. really? Baby powder?), mineral oil, "natural flavor", sodium polyphosphate.
I have heard of gardeners placing tums in the hole before setting the tomato plant in. I even tried it one year. The ones I used didn't have those extra ingredients though. Maybe its because they are ultra 1000.

I always just put the egg shells in a plastic bag and take them out to the shed regularly before they start to smell bad and hang the open bag on a nail in an open area. By Spring time they have dried enough to just smash them around through the bag and dump them out. I also throw them in the compost bin.
 
The ancient Roman soldiers would place broken ostrich shells around their camps for protection.
They knew the cheapass Spartans wore these inferior sandals, imported from Mongolia, that wouldn't protect their feet from the sharp edges.

Later on Aristotle had the idea to employ this technique in the grape orchards and the idea spread when the explorer Americo Vespuchi discovered this.

Early Christians used Easter egg shells to protect the chocolate bunnies from Lucifer. In Salem, MA, women were burned at the stake when stashes of egg shells were discovered in their homes.
 
The ancient Roman soldiers would place broken ostrich shells around their camps for protection.
They knew the cheapass Spartans wore these inferior sandals, imported from Mongolia, that wouldn't protect their feet from the sharp edges.

The first example of inferior products with the "Made in China" label?
 
Picked up some more plants at Lowes over the weekend as well as some "treats" for the slugs. Thankfully, my Parks Whopper tomato plant wasn't eaten by the slimy little critters. I got a Cherokee purple, and a German Johnson I will be transplanting into the garden today. Also have Brandywine and Better Boy seeds started. In addition to the tomatoes, I picked up some okra, and some more peppers.

For the front porch, I found a lemon scented geranium that is supposed to keep mosquito's away. Man, that thing smells good! May go back and get another one.

With temps in the 80's, another good day to play in the dirt.
 
Nah, I wanted to go to the arts and crafts show at the park but didn't get around to it. You should have seen all the mule poop on the street where the parade went by, lol.

My dad told me about it. He didn't mention the mule poop in the streets, just all the vendors and stuff. He likes that kind of thing.
 
My onions are ruined. Went out to thin out a few this morning. They had such nice green tops, but when I dug them up the bulbs were mushy and infested with little white worms. I would guess they are onion root maggots :(
 
My onions are ruined. Went out to thin out a few this morning. They had such nice green tops, but when I dug them up the bulbs were mushy and infested with little white worms. I would guess they are onion root maggots :(


oh that sucks. doesn't that just irk ya. got 2 strawberry plants that look pretty good and produce a good number of berries. the lizards love'em. doesn't like i'll get any unless i build some kind of cover or find an animal that eats lizards.
 
My onions are ruined. Went out to thin out a few this morning. They had such nice green tops, but when I dug them up the bulbs were mushy and infested with little white worms. I would guess they are onion root maggots :(



I hadn't heard of that before, but I looked around for advice, since every pest is different.
Seems like the prevention is not to leave any 'leftovers in the ground from the year before....






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[TD]I just googled your question and found the following from a scientific source:
Good sanitation is extremely important in controlling the onion maggot. In order for third generation maggots to survive and overwinter in the field, they must have a supply of cull or missed onions on which to feed. If all onions are removed from the field, the maggots will have nothing on which to feed and thus cannot survive. Growers should, therefore, do their best to ensure complete harvesting and to leave no culls in the field. Removal of cull piles is also strongly encouraged. Limited natural control of the onion maggot is provided by a complex of predators and parasitoids which include the predatory flies Coenosia tigrina and Scatophaga stercoraria, the wasp, Aphaerata pallipes, the beetle Aleochara bilineata and a fungus Entomopthora muscae.I gather from the above that parasitic nematodes are not the control you require. To be successful, they also require moist soil and the correct temperature. Maybe you should plant in a different spot and do some research on when the above pretators should be applied. Also, wouldn't your ag extension office be able to guide you in the right direction?[/TD]
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[TD]View attachment 10903 RE: garlic wire worms and or onion maggots?

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[TD]Ive figured it out thank you. Your research confirms what i believe happened. Last year i had a small 3'x5' potato bed squeezed onto the end of a row, I must have missed a potato or 2 during last harvest so in the spring when everything thawed out the garlic bulbs started forming and the potatoes started rotting. that would be what attracted them and the fresh purple glazer garlic bulbs is what kept em there. Thank you for your replies and happy gardening to you all[/TD]
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oh that sucks. doesn't that just irk ya. got 2 strawberry plants that look pretty good and produce a good number of berries. the lizards love'em. doesn't like i'll get any unless i build some kind of cover or find an animal that eats lizards.

Them's some big lizards, more like iguanas if you're losing berries to them. Holy moly!

Try cayenne pepper or tabasco mixed with water and dish soap. Spray liberally and often.
It seems to work on a variety of moochers, just remember that rain washes it off after awhile, and YOU wash it before you eat it!
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I read that too, Rebel. Only weird thing is, nothing has ever been grown where I planted them. I'm wondering if they were already in the sets when I bought them and just hatched out after I planted them.

Cerberus, I have lizards here too. They were eating my seedlings as they sprouted. Thankfully they haven't found the strawberries yet. Or maybe they are just waiting for them to ripen.
 
thanks rebel. i'd try it but kinda got lazy with it now. just looking at it now as they gotta feed there families too. lol

RD, they arent even waiting til they ripen. they get a little red tint to them and they scarf them up bite by bite.
 
I read that too, Rebel. Only weird thing is, nothing has ever been grown where I planted them. I'm wondering if they were already in the sets when I bought them and just hatched out after I planted them.

Cerberus, I have lizards here too. They were eating my seedlings as they sprouted. Thankfully they haven't found the strawberries yet. Or maybe they are just waiting for them to ripen.

The only way to know for sure then is to till it real good before you plant. and I think they hate it when you add compost and stuff too. Mainly it's when you stir them up and it runs them off.



thanks rebel. i'd try it but kinda got lazy with it now. just looking at it now as they gotta feed there families too. lol

RD, they arent even waiting til they ripen. they get a little red tint to them and they scarf them up bite by bite.


I'd plant some little hot red peppers then, all around the berries and watch them suckers mess up and bite into one that LOOKED like a strawberry, HA HA
 
I can't get conclusive answers in a Google search whether lizards are color blind or not. Supposedly they are, but then what about chameleons who change colors to disguise themselves based on their environment. How would they know what color to change to?
 
Only you would think of something like that, RD. LOL. I don't know if they are color blind or not but they really are able to disconnect there tails when frightened. The tail flops around to distract the predator while the lizard uses the opportunity to escape, and then later grows back another tail. I actually saw that happen a couple weeks ago. Freaked me out because I didn't realize what had happened until I did some lizard research later on.
 
Buster chases the lizards here. Kinda funny, hasnt caught one yet but about has gone thru the fence trying to.
My little Missy does that, too. I think she is the one that caused the lizard to lose it's tail. She was barking and jumping at something, and when I looked to see, there was this "thing" twitching and flopping around. I thought it was some kind of worm, lol.
 

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