My dear Grammie is not, exactly, what one would refer to as an organic gardener. Or a bug lover of any sort. I remember sleeping over at her house, as a child, and listening to the lovely sound of a chirping cricket. This sound was quickly followed by the sounds of Grammie’s footsteps, a cupboard opening and then a deadly psssSSSssst. That brought an abrupt end to the sounds of one luckless bug.
I have to say that today I felt a certain wistfulness when fondly remembering the smell of Raid (yes, I associate the smell of Raid with my Grammie, and therefore it’s not a smell I dislike). I visited the garden during a brief non-raining period during which my three children coated themselves liberally with mud, soil, and other unidentified muck. This nearly ceaseless period of rain (in its second week now) has been great for growing: our zucchini plants, to cite but one example, are looking positively prehistoric, and I would worry that they are shading the other plants too much, except that’s not possible since there is no sun to create shade.
Marvelous Zucchini and Friends
The damp has also, apparently, been marvelous for the proliferation of bugs of many descriptions.
I found lovely yellow dudes who seem to be enjoying the produce free-for-all:
Black and Yellow Fellow: who is this?
Caught leaving the scene of the crime
a hornet, many earwigs (who, in spite of their inclination to eat aphids, still make my skin crawl like no other bug can) a spider, a Daddy Long Legs , and even one big, fat slug. I gave the slug something he’s never experienced before: flight. Yes, sluggy soared aloft for several seconds as I put 20 feet between him and my food. There were also a couple of other unidentified (by me, at least) bugs:
Another nameless ne'er-do-well
Most of these bug encounters occurred as I picked an enormous pile of spinach. After very thoroughly cleaning it (resulting in the untimely death of 2 earwigs, one small spider, and an uncounted number of bug eggs) I cooked it and had a delicious lunch. It’s no wonder the bugs have been munching it. Yum.
Lunch for ME
Even though I do begrudge sharing my garden with insects, I’m also glad that the worst thing I could be (inadvertently) putting into my mouth (or the mouths of my children) would be a bug and not nasty pesticide residue. I think it’s worth it, don’t you?
I share my strawberries with slugs… I have no choice but to do that. Your Black and Yellow Fellow is a cucumber beetle (check a previous comment I made… I am over run with them… except I called them squash beetles…. but they are really cucumber beetles.) Mmmmmm… spinach. I had spinach and strawberry salad for lunch…. I rinsed the slugs off first.
http://www.organicagcentre.ca/NewspaperArticles/na_cucumber_beetle.asp
Ah-ha, that makes sense. Great article, Joan! Apparently zucchini are often used to lure them away from other plants. Hmmm. I will begin to harvest bugs soon, too. Unfortunately, these dudes like to fly off and were not quite as willing to sit still and let me photograph them (therefore I suspect it’ll be a difficult harvest). Oh well. Thanks!
A pie tin of beer works wonders on slugs. Used that trick as a child with my tomatoes. My mom would make me fill them after dark so the neighbors wouldn’t see me toting around a Bud can. True story.
You have ONE slug?? That’s hysterical to me. Slugs outnumber people in the Northwest US.
I didn’t know earwigs (shudder) ate aphids! I’ve only seen them eating plants - my zinnias most recently. They ick me out, too - I don’t let the kids touch them.
Sara - if I had some beer on hand, I’d send the kids out right now! What a marvelous use of child labour. I approve.
Jools, I only FOUND one slug…probably there are many, many, many more.
Owen can smell earwigs…. I know… weird…
So, not believing that one would be able to smell them, I did a little research. I found out that they do, in fact, stink. There is research with tiny tubes made of canvas that hang in trees and the earwigs live in the tubes to deter aphids.
Soapy water works well on earwigs. They killed a few clematis I had tried to grow over the years, but the one I planted here last year has made it and is in bloom! Yay! Love your stories, Cheri! Keep ‘em comin’!
Thanks, Aunty Mary! I just wonder whether I should try to get rid of earwigs in the garden if they’re going to eat aphids… They’re icky, but sort of beneficial…
The nameless ne’er-do-well is most likely a parasitic wasp - a beneficial insect. I hope you didn’t squash that one, it was probably laying its eggs in some nasty bug or caterpillar. With enough bugs like that around you won’t need pesticides.
Thanks Michelle! I never squish an unidentified bug, but thanks for letting me know. I guess I shouldn’t have called him a “ne’er-do-well,” hey? This novice gardener is learning verrrrrrrry slowly, but I figure as long as I keep remembering how little I know things should (mostly) work out okay.