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| THE DV'S BACK PATIO |
The summer of 2015 in our area has been perfect for my garden's health and growth. Several days of beautiful sun followed by a day or two of heavy rain seems to have been what my garden needed to produce its bounty of fruits, vegetables and flowers.
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| ThE KITCHEN GARDEN |
Every spring I add to the earth, the compost from my kitchen waste, but this spring, I sprinkled a
50-pound bag of compost from Cedar Row Farm over the yard.
It made a huge difference.
50-pound bag of compost from Cedar Row Farm over the yard.
It made a huge difference.
Cedar Row Farm is a place of hope for animals that have been rescued from the abuse, neglect, and slaughter found on farms. Hundreds of farm animals, including pigs, cows, goats, sheep, donkeys, rabbits, turkeys, chickens, ducks and geese have been rescued since the sanctuary began in 1999. Located just ten minutes from my home, it's a little piece of heaven on earth.
My garden is entirely organic, which means it's full of insect activity.
If you look carefully, you will find the good, the bad, the beautiful,
the scary and the slimy.
Not a huge mosquito, as I use to think. They are harmless, just clumsy flyers.
So delicate and pretty. A good one.
Gorgeous and a must in one's garden. Got to plant more milkweed and butterfly bushes.
My garden is entirely organic, which means it's full of insect activity.
If you look carefully, you will find the good, the bad, the beautiful,
the scary and the slimy.
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| CRANE FLY |
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| DAMSELFLY |
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| MONARCH BUTTERFLY |
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| RED-SPOTTED PURPLE BUTTERFLY |
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| SLUG |
These slow and slimy ones are voracious eaters; my poor hostas look like colanders. The slugs left their marks in almost everything. Sprinkling broken eggshells around the plant kills the mature slugs, but does nothing to the larvae that have hatched in the plant.
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| TIGER BEE FLY |
This fancy, goth-looking fly is an important pollinator and has a proboscis, just like a butterfly. It's the larvae of the tiger bee fly that feeds on carpenter bees. I'll let mother nature
decide if this one is good or bad.
decide if this one is good or bad.
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| PAPER WASP |
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| ANT |
The annoying ones! But at least they don't damage the goods.
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| BUMBLE BEE |
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| GRASSHOPPER NYMPH |
At this early stage of life, it has no wings, but boy can it jump. It's gone in a flash.
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| MARGINED LEATHERWING BEETLE |
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| CRICKET |
Millions! I see them hopping out of the way as I walk in my yard.
They are the sound of summer in the country.
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| GIANT ICHNEUMON WASP |
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| CICADA |
Last, but not least, my favourite. I noticed it after it had just come out of its shell. Beautiful, but bittersweet as her song marks the beginning of the end for summer and
for the cicada's short winged life.
I'm always amazed that if you leave mother nature alone, things will balance out; it's called bio-control. But sometimes, a little help is needed with natural homemade products. Next season, I'm thinking of introducing some live praying mantises and attracting more birds.
A few seasons ago, we lost a tree to the emerald ash beetle.
A few seasons ago, we lost a tree to the emerald ash beetle.
In this cases, drastic measures are needed. I was so glad to read recently that scientists have high hopes in the introduction of predatory bark-foraging birds and predatory wasps to keep the noxious beetle in check. Woodpeckers, nuthatches and Chinese parasitic wasps
could be our new superheroes.
could be our new superheroes.
The Dusty Victorian has its own little superhero in our dog Chaz.
He patrols the yard like a little soldier making sure the wild rabbits, the squirrels and the skunks are kept at bay. Unfortunately, he won't tolerate birds either.
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| Chaz |