Corn Meal

Today I took the girls to the garden to mix in our corn meal around the tomato plants. Katherine helped me water and she dug in her area. I also sprayed with Sinosad again on the cucumber, zucchini and squash plants.

I was excited to see that the bean and pea plants that I planted from seed are already sprouting. It is fun for the kids to see things that start from seed since all of our other plants were transplanted. We also planted some radish seeds, not because we really want radishes but because I was told that the cucumber beetles or other pests like to eat radishes so they are sacrificed to save other plants.

treatment

Sara went to the garden and said that she did not see other cucumber beetles so what we did Sunday worked for now. We will continue to spray with Sinosad.

She did say that a neighboring garden had tomatoes with something wrong with them. Her suggestion was that we stay ahead of the game and mix corn meal with our soil around our tomato plants. Again, I am so glad she knows what she is doing. I would not have thought to look at neighbors plants, I would not have realized anything was wrong and I would not have known what to do.

our first pests

Sara called to tell me that there are cucumber beetles on our cucumber, squash and zucchini. Uh-Oh! They are all over the garden, not just our plot. So, our garden is only 2 days old and we are already challenged to rid ourselves of pests the organic way. Let the challenge begin.

We are going to begin with a 2 step treatment. First we are introducing beneficial nematodes to the soil. Apparently these microscopic worms that live in your soil. They eat the larvae of pests. So, they will not kill the cucumber beetles that we already have but they will prevent new ones from hatching on our plants. Second, we are spraying with a Green product with Sinosad. It is what was suggested to me instead of Neem oil by the expert at the nursery.

Sam went to spray these on the garden Sunday night after the sun went down because the nematodes can be killed by sunlight.