Well, after a protracted combat with our herbivorous neighbors, I’ve finally gotten the garden somewhere near decent looking. The lettuce is still below what I would consider standard for this time of year, but considering that every time it started to look healthy, the rabbits got after it, I’d say it looked pretty good. I’ve had to do a lot of weeding, fertilizing, and chasing off vermin to get it this far. Fun fact; the Old English name for the month of August is Woedmonath, meaning “Weed-month”. I can see why they’d call it that. The peas seem to be doing alright as well, considering they were nearly eaten to oblivion a month ago. Part of my success I credit to the French marigolds I purchased last month to combat the deer, woodchucks, and rabbits. French marigolds are the tallest and strongest smelling of all the marigold types. Most pest species hate them, so naturally I had to plant them. I had to kill one of my zucchini plants, due to an invasion of pickleworms. Pickleworms are the caterpillar of a species of moth that is actually native to parts south, but it migrates up to Northern New York to lay its eggs on our cucumbers and squashes. I’ve had to deal with them a couple of times before. Zucchinis seem to be oddly susceptible to them. Fortunately, my other zucchini plants appear to be unaffected by the worms, and they’re still producing fruit. The comfrey I planted this spring has grown to an enormous size. I’m quite pleased with its progress. If this continues next year, I will be well supplied with comfrey leaves for my liquid fertilizer. The other herbs seem to be doing great as well; this is probably the best year ever for echinacea.
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AuthorI'm Ian Wilson, a slightly eccentric amateur horticulturist bumbling his way through the garden. Archives
October 2021
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Photos used under Creative Commons from PAUL (Van de Velde) -Fotografie, NSPaul, Acabashi, amandabhslater, Free Public Domain Illustrations by rawpixel, WILLPOWER STUDIOS, krossbow, Monkeystyle3000, TwinPeaks99, ungard, RifcaPeters, Sustainable Economies Law Center, daryl_mitchell, wuestenigel