Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"
King of Denmark is a wonderful heirloom spinach that performs nicely. One look at the mature plants and you will easily see why this variety is king just from the sheer size of it. A few days ago I noted that the King of Denmark spinach was looking rather good. Then I noticed that something had been helping itself to a taste test. A couple of days later I found the critter responsible for the damage.
The damage on the King of Denmark spinach was indicative of a chewing insect. There was evidence of insect frauss as well. I kept an eye on the spinach to see what was eating it. It took a couple of days but I finally caught the little critter, a grasshopper.
Grasshoppers have not been a huge problem in my gardens. While I have had a small amount of damage due to grasshoppers for the most part it has been minimal. They can do a fair amount of damage in a short period of time. Grasshoppers tend to be more problematic during drier summers so I'm not surprised to see them leaving their mark in the garden this year.
Catching the grasshopper red handed was nice because I was easily able to identify the damaging causing insect. I captured the offending critter and put him into time out in a grasshopper jail cell. I thought it was a rather fitting punishment. It was obvious he could not stay where he was! Manual removal of any offending garden pest is always my first choice wherever possible.
I've been checking the garden for more signs of grasshopper damage. So far I haven't found any so this appears to be an isolated incident. Since the problem is not widespread I will continue to use the manual removal method.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
Funnel Spider
August 30, 2010
One of the first things we noticed when we moved here were the large funnel spiders (grass spiders). As spiders go these are about the size of a quarter. Their webs are a thin whispy sheet with a characteristic funnel shape that the spider hides in. They were everywhere to the point that we resorted to spraying to knock down their numbers a bit. The risk to humans of being bit by a funnel spider is low since they are non-agressive according to the
spider identification chart however they are venomous requiring
emergency first aid treatment for the bite and medical attention for anti-venom. Given the design of our house and the proximity of vegetation to the lower patio there is a strong possibility of one of these spiders getting indoors.
That year we were able to knock down their numbers by removing a lot of the evergreen overgrowth. My husband also sprayed the house with SpiderBan. If you have been following this blog you will know that the only time I will resort to chemical pesticides is as a last resort. This is usually when a particular pest presents a danger to humans or damages building structure. Even then if the pest can be manually removed safely that is always the first choice. The last two years we haven't sprayed the house for spider control. This year the funnel spiders are again out of control. They are everywhere! There are several webs on the grass and the globe cedars and boxwoods look like they have some type of disease due to the number of the webs. This presents a huge problem with the grandbabies visiting especially since they love running barefoot outside.
I tried controling by sweeping away their webs that just reappeared the following morning. I've stomped on them and zapped them. Manual removal is impossible given how fast they move into their funnel. Once again we have no choice but to resort to chemical control to knock down their numbers again.
Happy Gardening
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
