Release the hounds ladybugs!

So using soapy water on the aphids was working fairly well but I decided to get some ladybugs to help keep them under control. The man at the store said to release them after dark and after I wet the area down so that's what I did. There were masses of ladybugs all over the place last night and early this morning but by afternoon a lot of them were either hiding, or flew away. They did eat some of the aphids but not all of them, which I thought was strange but maybe they just need more time to adjust. I will check on them tomorrow and see if at least a few of them are still around, I hope so!

One thing I am noticing now that it is getting warmer is the increase of insect life in the garden. I found this pretty little spider sucking the life out of a fly on one of my planters. I will need to look him up and submit my photos to Project Noah, I haven't updated my sighting list in ages and I have loads to put on there like all of the animals and fungi from Humboldt Park, and even the photos I took at Wellspring last year (the wildlife was only good thing about Wellspring aside from the Guncles!) There was also a fairly large furry spider that I think was trying to hunt the ladybugs but he got all shy when I tried to take a photo of him.

He was cute though he sort of hid behind the planter and would poke his head up over the edge so just his front legs and eyes were showing. Unfortunately he was too shy to allow me to get any closer and I only had my phone with me so he is a little blurry and hard to see. I want to say he was a wolf spider but honestly I'm not sure. Hopefully he will stick around and I will see him again and have my good camera ready!

 I finished five plant hangers and hung them over the railing on the deck. I want to have at least eight hanging down and another 5 or so hanging from above, but I need a taller person to help me hang the ones up top as I am too short and we have no ladder. I think it looks nice plus it will give me room to but the rest of the plants out in the sun, a lot of the seedlings are growing fast and will soon need full sized pots and while the table gets full sun in the morning, it doesn't get it for as long and I want the fruit, herbs, and veg in as much sun as possible. Everything does seem to be growing very well so far, I got an organic tomato feed that I used on the tomatoes but will probably also use on all the fruiting plants. Speaking of which,  the oranges seeds I planted are actually growing! I thought they weren't going to do anything and I used their dirt to plant the thyme but I noticed two of them had sprouted and had roots and one has almost got leaves!

So I pulled them out of the thyme pot and carefully replanted them into peat pots. I have some Valencia orange seeds that I want to try next but I think I am going to soak them first in damp paper towels until they sprout so I don't accidentally nearly throw them away!


 

The Garden Begins

Adam and Sons aka my new crackhouse

So now that I have some outdoor space to make a garden, a garden is being made. My roommate Kellie got some plants from work and her and I headed to our neighborhood garden center Adam and Sons to buy more plants and supplies. I already know this is going to be a dangerous place for me as I have already spent obscene (for me) amounts of money here! The only thing that stops me from buying *ALL THE PLANTS* is space and sun constraints (that and that whole pesky rent and food thing), I was tempted by roses, clematis, gardenias, basil, thyme, hot peppers, a ton of veg....things I didn't even know what they were but I knew I wanted! I know I will probably add some of the herbs to the garden at least but I want to see how the things we have are going to get on, we have already had a few problems which I will get into in a minute.

pre-squirrel garden

To start us off Kellie brought home broccoli, cauliflower, lavender, red sorrel, Brussels sprouts, chives, lemon verbena, French tarragon, fennel, Italian parsley, dill, and cucumbers. The dill and the cucumbers were both in bad shape when she brought them home and we lost the cukes and I'm pretty sure the dill has had it as well but everything else survived. At the garden center we picked up Sangria watermelons and a Brandywine Red heirloom tomato, they are Amish, date back to 1865 and are said to be the world best tasting tomato (We'll see.)

greenhouse seed starter

 I also bought a seed starter kit with a greenhouse top and some cumin, cilantro, jalapeno, and morning glory seeds. Most of the garden will be veg and herbs but I wanted to throw in some flowers and when I saw the Picotee Blue morning glories I knew those were the flowers I wanted. I was advised to nick the morning glory seeds and soaked them over night, and I am glad I did because they sprouted in the water and have actually started to poke above the soil! When the plants are big enough I plan to give a few to the guncles for their garden.

baby morning glories

So everything was going tickety boo until I went outside this morning and found disaster had struck! The parsley was a few green nubs where the leaves used to be, the lavender and chives looked chewed on and one of the watermelons was missing! As Matthew my other roommate had predicted, the squirrels found our garden and helped themselves! Well I couldn't let this go on so I headed back to the garden center to see what my options were. I was thinking netting but I found a natural repellent so hopefully that will do the trick, I don't want to get all Mr McGregor on their asses ;) And of course while I was there I needed to pick up some mint for my mojito flavored infused water. So I get to the mint section and I can't decide which mint I want, so I buy four of them, chocolate, apple, pineapple, and peppermint. I put them all in one pot that I am calling my mint garden.

Mint garden with four types of mint

I thought mint likes shade but all of them said partial to full sun so I hope they get enough sun on the deck. That's the other problem I think we will run into, lack of sun. I know they get quite a bit of morning sun, provided they are on the deck railings or the window boxes a former resident left behind, but I'm worried it won't be enough. The plants on the northeast side of the deck get some afternoon sun so I might migrate the whole lot to that side, my next step is to get those window box holder things that go on deck railings and then set the pots into that until they all need to be repotted. Not sure what I will do when they get bigger though, I'm already imagining rigging them up to hang down from the roof  and maybe tie the bigger ones onto the deck rail like some sort of horticultural shibari. It's all sort of an experiment, any failures will just be lessons learned, but it would be nice to get a crop of something for our efforts!