How Does Your Garden Grow?

Just in case you're wondering...Beetles are EVIL.  Here you see my very nice, green Sweet Pepper plant that has been pillaged by a bunch of very vile little creatures.  Flea beetles are the culprits here and there is not one good thing I can say about what they've done.  The phrase, "Well, at least they haven't eaten the whole plant" IS NOT a helpful thing to say, it is like saying "at least the house didn't burn down alll the way".  Um, hello? the point here is that these poor little plants are being treated like the $ 9.99 Chinese dinner buffet  or the Elks Lodge All U Can Eat Fish Fry!!  My plants are not supposed to be eaten by little critters!! 

In my quest to stay "organic" in my gardening methods, I've refrained from mass extermination with chemicals that will only prove harmful when our hair falls out.  No, that doesn't mean that I haven't tried any deterrents, I've just tried making some icky concoctions to keep the evil pests away.  I have made spray using dish soap, garlic, and cayenne pepper. However, the weather has not been a great collaborator on this "Rid my garden of Flea Beetles" quest. Every evening for the past 4 days I have patiently sprayed down all of my plants with my nasty smelling brew and every morning for the past 4 days it has rained and washed my brew away.  grrr.  Then, the sun comes out and the beetles say "Oh, Look!!  Freshly washed Pepper plants, how delicious! I believe I will go and eat them!!!"  

Now, I don't hate a lot of things, probably not as many things as I should actually.  Truthfully, I try not to use that word flippantly because I believe it is supposed to be very strong in its usage.For instance, I don't say "I hate pantyhose" or "I hate McDonald's",  even though I dislike those things very strongly and believe that they exist for the destruction of mankind. I try to reserve the "hate" word for things that God hates.  However, I  now believe that it is good and right to hate beetles.  They are only good for NOTHING! The beetles in the Garden of Eden probably had a good purpose, but since the curse, they ain't good for NOTHIN'!!

In order to not let the beetles take over my blog too, I'll move on now...

The cucumber plant you see is growing like a madwoman! (Not me, but somebody else).

We're all dreaming of homemade pickles and fresh cucumber salad.  Can't wait for those yummy cucumbers to be ready!  Believe it, or not, I'm going to train it onto a support thingy. I've not done that before, but have heard that it works well for container gardening.  Works for me...or not, but I'm gonna try it!

The  'maters are growing so well that we think they're confused about whose garden they're in!  Don't you tomatoes know that I can't grow tomatoes?!   Well, I'm not about to tell them and you'd better not either!

Ethan harvested his beets this evening and is so excited to get to eat them tomorrow.  Who would've thought that kids would like beets??  Well, they do 'round here and they even like the greens!  Such precious children.  

We're getting ready to replant some areas where we had spinach and lettuce.  Since our weather has gotten so hot and humid both the spinach and the lettuce decided it was time to bolt and be done. Too bad.  We were really enjoying the garden fresh salads, even the pickiest of salad eaters was gobbling it up.  If it cools down a little I will try making a shade cover and try planting again.  Can't hurt, right?

We're all having a great time together watching things grow and fighting the "bad guy" bugs. Ever notice that when there are kids around there are always "bad guys" around in some measure? Maybe that's just my fabulous kids, or maybe not.  Bad guys or not we're having a wonderful time!