Beetles, Worms, and Thieving Robins!

(update:I played a youtube audio of a red-tailed hawk to see if I could scare off the robin. Nope. Maybe a cat instead?)

Lori Fiechter here with some less-than-stellar garden news. The good, the bad, and the ugly, right? Right on cue, the Japanese Beetles flew out of their lair and high-tailed it to their favorite edible: my elderberry bushes! And so Stan began his summer ritual (at least twice daily) of picking off beetles and letting them drop into dish-soapy water. I think he counts them. I mean, that does sound like him. I would help, but my beetle reflexes are pathetic.

The diatomaceous earth did nothing to stop the green broccoli worms--next year, we need row covers for all crops that don't require insect pollination! Stan told me the broccoli had deteriorated--sure had. That will happen when you have fat and happy broccoli worms munching away. I sprayed the broccoli worms with permethrin and that's the end of our broccoli this year. The worms are never this early. Sigh.

Last evening, I looked out the window by the computer screen and saw suspicious movement in the blueberry bushes. Bird fluttering. Robin thieving. I high-tailed it out to the garden to shoo it away. It was already gone. So I went to the shed for the 10' x 20' netting and a passel of wooden clothespins and encased the bushes. Now they will be a pain to pick. Can't win!

Finally, I'd been picking a few yummly mini red sweet peppers. Stan brought a couple more in today--I was surprised that I had missed two. We only have one red yummly that survived. I do like those mini sweet peppers so I ate it in one bite. Too bad it was a tiny, super hot jalapeno. That whole row is supposed to be sweet peppers. Now I trust none of them!