Aphid watch : Good Bugs to the Rescue
I am washing lettuce when I see a smallish “worm” on a leaf. Not a slug – that is usually a greyish-brown colour. The insect on my lettuce is white to clear-bodied, with black inner organs showing through the skin. The bug is about 1/2 an inch or 1 cm in...
In My Greenhouse: Food and pests
Pillbugs are so voracious, the wood in the planter is actually falling apart in some places. While Bob was filming I picked up a pillbug to show him and it started dropping live young. I was so shocked. I have never seen this before in my 40 years of gardening.
Ready For Garden Disasters: Response, Recovery, Restoration
Racoons, Rats and Snow in September. Three disasters for gardeners and what you can do to bring your garden back from the brink.
When a Good Bug Goes Bad: A Good Gardener Can Make it Right
I am watching ladybugs eat my aphids and I am patting myself on the back. And then I see it’s a bad version of a good bug. How can that be possible in my all-organic beautiful garden? Yikes. We all know and love lady beetles and children’s rhymes have even been written for them…”Fly away, fly away, fly away home…” But who knew a positive role model, known to eat aphids in our garden, could go bad? Like bunnies in Australia this beetle is snapping up habitat and pushing our own native beetles aside! Luckily, says Ken Fry, this bug is not everywhere. “This species is well established in the coastal areas of B.C., favouring humid environments. It is only rarely found in Alberta (too arid).” Find out more about how you can encourage native predators and why you should stop buying lady beetles for your garden.
Grateful For Bugs
I am grateful for all bugs even though many gardeners at large only like good bugs. And these people do everything in their power position to get rid of the bad guys. I had a neighbor once who hired a killer to eliminate all the young ladybugs on her tree because she thought they were pests. And this is not unusual. I encounter bug squeamish-ness among friends and family all the time….
