We’d done a little work in the garden the evening before and my husband had just cut the lawn prior to our visit to the garden this afternoon.

Shortly after I entered the garden I noticed that my dog was rolling around in the grass. I thought it was just because the lawn was freshly cut so I went over to pet her … and much to my disgust I saw a tail attached to a very rotted half mouse. EWWWWWWWWwwww.

I think my dog rolled in it! She doesn’t seem dirty or to have anything disgusting on her, but I’m pretty sure that she was rolling in the grass in that particular area because of the dead mouse. Labs are particularly fond of rolling in dead animals and other disgusting stuff.

I guess we’ll give her a bath later when we go inside. Now that’s a chore and a half.

I just hope that nobody put poison down and caused the mouse to die … ’cause if my dog tasted that mouse we might have a very sick dog on our hands!

Once the mouse was disposed of I brought my camera out and started taking pictures of the garden and some of the flowers that are currently blooming.

The flowers in bloom include white phlox, Climbing Iceberg Rose, Climbing Parade Rose, Compte de Chombord rose, Cleomes, Brown eyed Susans, a couple of Cannas, Malva, the Honey Suckle vine, Black Hollyhocks, Climbing Westerland rose, Baron Prevost Rose, Pink Salvia, Blue Salvia, Portulacas, Fuchsia, Gaillardia, Breath of Life Climbing rose, Valencia rose, Sedum, Petunias, Impatiens, Sweet William, Snapdragons and Balloon flowers. Then in the front there were several roses blooming – Climbing Eden, Standard Iceberg Rose, Yves Piaget Romatica Rose, Lavender Dreams, Bonica, The fairy and some others, plus Sunflowers, Cosmos and Morning Glory.

It sounds like there’s lots of roses in bloom from my list above, but that’s only about a third of my rose collection and of the roses that are blooming – some only have a few blooms while others like the Fairy and Bonica are covered in blooms.

Hopefully this evening I’ll have some time to upload and process the pictures that I took this afternoon and I’ll post them to this blog sometime this week.

What’s blooming or growing in your garden this week?

BTW Weather wise … can you believe that September has turned out to be warmer than July? Yeah … July was cold for these parts and September so far has just been a little warmer than average. Isn’t the weather getting stranger and stranger?

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

It’s hard to think of this tiny little deer as a pest when it’s so cute, isn’t it?

Luckily in my area I don’t get deer in the garden. Even though I’m in a large city (Toronto), just a few blocks away from me, people that live near a ravine complain about having deer in their gardens! So I guess I’m lucky that I don’t live there!

I get raccoons and squirrels in my garden and of the two, it’s the squirrels that are the biggest pests this year. They keep digging holes in my garden beds! They’ve also dug up some bulbs and displaced small plants. Little buggers!

What kind of garden pests do you have to deal with?

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

It’s been cooler than normal here in Toronto. They say our average temperature at this time of year is about 23 C (74 F), but it’s only been about 18 C (64 F) or cooler most of the month so far. I guess the aphids and slugs love these kind of temperatures, but so far it doesn’t seem like the Lady bugs do! I only saw on lonely Lady Bug feasting on aphids as I did my garden rounds.

Since the Lady Bugs aren’t going to eat all the aphids before they destroy my lovely roses I decided I’d have to go out there and fight them. So earlier this evening I went outside armed with a spray bottle full of water and a squirt of dish detergent and I sprayed all my rose plants and rose bugs with the mixture.

Die Aphids! Die!

I fully expect to go outside tomorrow and see dessicated aphid bodies stuck to my rose buds. Victory!

I’m glad it’s so easy to kill them!

As for my roses, so of the first flowers came out earlier this week. As usually Morden Sunrise was the first rose to bloom. It was quickly followed by Stanwell Perpetual and Charles Albanel. All of these rose are at the front of my house – surprisingly, since the majority of my roses are in the south facing back yard. You’d think the roses in the back would bloom first, but I guess not.

In the backyard, William Baffin has one rose open and so does Parade … all the rest of my many roses have buds that are in various stages – from just forming to just about to bloom. I’m sure that by the weekend most of my roses will have a few to many many blooms. It will be lovely.

Now we just need it to start getting warmer! Oh well … at least we don’t have to have the air-conditioning on so we’re saving money!

How’s your garden doing? Have you noticed a lot of aphids or other garden pests on your plants? How do you get rid or them.

I just remembered, we have one other major garden pest – the Lily Beetle. My lilies look awful this year. Their foliage is all raggy and they aren’t growing as well as they normally do. Anyone know of a non-toxic (no pesticide) way to get rid of lily beetles?

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

I wonder if they ordered a salad and a cocktail?

BTW – sorry that I haven’t posted a Green thumb post or any updates lately. I’ve been getting my gardening done (planting young plants and seeds etc), but I’ve also been very sick with Crohn’s so I haven’t felt up to writing.  Sorry!  I’ll be making some updates soon.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

How do you know if you have slugs or snails in your garden?

Well if you notice that your plants leaves have irregular holes in them or perhaps slime trails on the soil and leaves you probably have slugs or snails. You might also see them crawling on your plant leaves in the evening after dark.

Slugs can do a lot of damage to young plants and seedlings. They can literally strip a young plant bare or even eat it down to the ground. You might try cutting a 2 Liter pop bottle and creating a collar to place around young tender plants if you have slugs in your garden as this will help protect them.

Slugs are particularly fond of Hostas and Delphiniums. However having said that I’ve seen them on about half the plants I grow in my garden so keep any eye out for signs of slug damage.

Some tips on keeping slugs at bay

• 1. Stir up the earth in your garden beds in the spring. This helps to expose the slug eggs/ larvae and causes them to die from the exposure.
• 2. Don’t put mulch down until early June (at least here in this Zone 5b area, might be earlier in your area)
• 3. Add used coffee grounds to the soil or apply around the base of plants troubled by slugs.
  • Each year we make several trips to coffee shops and ask for their used coffee grounds. Most will give them away to the public as they are just throwing them out in the garbage anyway. Some will even take a bucket from you and fill it up throughout the day. We add the coffee grounds to our garden beds, especially around slug troubled plants like Hostas and we also add the coffee grounds to our compost container as they help make a rich compost when they break down.
• 4. Crushed egg shells around troubled plants is said to deter slugs as they don’t like crawling over abrasive material. Sand, wood shavings, diatomaceous earth, hair or ash can be placed around susceptible plants as an abrasive barrier as well.
• 5. Copper tape, used wet or dry, is one of the most effective barriers. When slugs and snails make contact with the copper, there is a toxic reaction, similar to an electric shock, which repels them. The minimum width for the copper barriers needs to be at least two inches; slug barriers sold in nurseries are often smaller and should be doubled or tripled when installed.
• 6. Slugs and snails tend to feed at night so you can go into your garden at night and literally pick the slimy slugs off your plants and dispose of them.
• 7. You also might try setting some bait for slugs in shallow containers. A popular slug trap is baited with beer, but people have also tried using yeast, damp dog food (dry pellets), and a potato cut in half.
• 8. You might also try purchasing Nematode worms from a garden supplier. Nematodes also help to keep other garden pests from the garden too.
  • Nematodes aggressively search out and attack slugs. They enter the slugs body through a hole behind their heads (the pulmonary aperture that they breathe through to be precise). Once inside they release a bacteria which stops the slug eating. The nematodes then start to reproduce inside and within 7-10 days the slug is dead. The nematodes continue to reproduce as the body breaks down. This new population enters the soil and searches out new slugs to attack. This is a natural, non-toxic product that is safe for both users and wildlife. The nematodes stay active for 6 weeks so a single dose protects plants when they are emerging in the spring and are most vulnerable.
  • Nematodes can only be used in late spring and summer when the soil has warmed up (to above 5°C). On heavy, waterlogged clay soil, the nematodes can find it difficult to move, so Nemtodes can be less effective in these conditions.
• 9. Use plants that slugs dislike to repel slugs – Ginger, garlic, mint, chives, red lettuce, red cabbage, sage, sunflower, fennel, foxglove, mint, chicory & endive seem to be less prone to slug attack. Plant them around the perimeter of your garden to keep them from infiltrating, and or plant them near troubled plants such as Hosta.
• 10. Make your garden bird friendly by putting out a feeder. The birds might pick off a few slugs while they’re visiting your yard. Also if you have frogs or snakes in your garden they will often eat slugs and other garden pests.

And a bonus tip … Slugs love moisture, so if you want to minimize slugs in your garden keep your garden as dry as possible (without killing your plants), especially in the spring when there are slug eggs in the ground. Dry soil could kill them or at the very least cause them to move to an area that suits them better – ie your neighbors yard. That’s one reason why I suggested turning your garden soil several times in the spring, preferably before your soil temp reaches 5 Celsius, as you will likely expose slug eggs and they will die because they’ll dry out.

As you can probably tell I’m not into using pesticides to get rid of slugs and other bad bugs. in fact here in Toronto they’ve banned most pesticides and herbicides so it’s a good thing I’ve been gardening without chemicals anyway! LOL I have a lot of success with these methods – particularly the coffee grounds, turning the soil and hand picking slugs and snails off my plants and as a result I don’t have too many slugs in my garden beds.

May your garden be slug and snail free this year!

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Aw, don’t they make a cute couple?

I don’t know if this is just a hug, play or something else (maybe peekaboo since one has it’s paws over the others eyes?).

I certainly hope that they aren’t getting ready to make more raccoon babies!

Now that the weather has warmed up here in Toronto (the snows actually melting and it’s been raining a LOT) we’ve been seeing raccoons almost daily! One seems to like our driveway. I guess I’ll have to walk the dog in the driveway a few times during the day to get her scent there in the hopes that it will scare the raccoon away.

If it’s warmer in your area, have you been seeing more wildlife lately?

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Oh sure this deer looks cute … but I’ll bet it’s just been in someones garden eating all the roses and tender shoots on someones prized plants.

It’s sticking out it’s tongue because it’s saying “Ha ha I got your plants, again! Oh and I’ll be back for more!”

Ok maybe it’s not saying that but I’ll bet that anyone with animal pest problems (deer, rabbits etc) in their garden would probably agree that the deer could be thinking just what I said it was above!

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Birds can be pests at times, but as you can see from the above photo they can also be quite helpful.

I know that when I’m outdoors at dusk or walking in a forest during the summer I tend to get swarmed with bugs (usually mosquitoes). It might actually be nice to have a few birds around to pick them off me like they are doing to the gazelle? in the picture.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

I’ve luckily never had too much trouble with Japanese beetles. Only a few here and there each year, whereas I hear from some gardeners that their roses and other plants are partially destroyed after a heavy infestation of the dreaded Japanese Beetles.

These nasty bugs only seem to be attacking a few of my roses. They love my Morden Sunrise in my front flower bed, and in the backyard they seem to be attacking William Baffin, Jacques Cartier, Climbing Iceberg, Baronne Prevost and Compte de Chambord. Considering how many roses I grow that’s not too bad, however these are some of my biggest roses so the damage is stating to become quite visible.

If your garden has never been attacked by Japanese beetles consider yourself lucky.

Adult Japanese beetles are 3/8 inch long metallic green beetles with hard, copper-brown wing covers. Five small white tufts project from under the wing covers on each side, and a sixth pair at the tip of the abdomen. These white tufts help to distinguish them from similar metallic green or coppery colored beetles.

Adults emerge from the ground in late May or early June. Individual beetles live about 30 to 45 days with activity concentrated over a four to six week period. Beetle numbers begin to decline in late July but some can be found as late as September.

I wonder if our cool June and rainy wet July delayed their emergence here in the Toronto area?

Japanese beetles can feed on about 300 species of plants, ranging from roses to poison ivy. Odor and location in direct sun seem to be very important factors in plant selection. The beetles usually feed in groups, starting at the top of a plant and working downward. While a single beetle doesn’t eat much; group feeding by many causes severe damage. Adults feed on the upper surface of foliage, chewing out tissue between the veins. This gives the leaf a characteristic skeletonized appearance.

I’ve also found that Japanese beetles seem to like eating rose buds and newly blooming roses.

If you don’t have too heavy an infestation of Japanese Beetles I’ve found that the best way of controlling them seems to be literally picking them off the plants and dropping them into a bucket of soapy water where they will drown.

The application of Milky Spore to the soil each year will also eventually kill off the larvae and make the likelihood of an infestation much lower.

There are pesticides that you can use if you have a heavy infestation in your garden. I prefer not to use chemicals in my garden because they often do more damage than good. I garden organically and I’ve found that dealing with pests can be quite challenging in an organic garden. I’m glad that there are always alternatives to using chemicals.

Traps can be used to attract and collect beetles however research conducted at the University of Kentucky has shown that the traps attract many more beetles than are actually caught. Consequently, susceptible plants along the flight path of the beetles and in the vicinity of traps are likely to suffer much more damage than if no traps are used at all. In most landscape situations, use of Japanese beetle traps probably will do more harm than good. If you experiment with traps, be sure to place them well away from gardens and landscape plants.

In previous years I’ve grown Four O’Clocks (Marvel of Peru) beside several of my rose bushes and it’s said that Japanese beetles do not like this plant. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never had much trouble with the darn shiny bugs. I planted my Four O’clock seeds late this year though so the plants likely aren’t mature enough to discourage the beetles.

I also used to grow garlic near my roses as that was said to help ward off Japanese beetles. I don’t grow garlic anymore as I always forgot to pick it!

Have your plants ever been attacked by Japanese Beetles? Have you seen any Japanese beetles this year? How have you handled beetle infestations?

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

We have a security light at the back porch and it’s regularly triggered at least once each evening and I often notice the light going on in the night as well if I’m up late. Most often when I peer outside the culprit turns out to be a cat.

Now, I tend to water my garden late in the evening. I developed that habit since I had an elderly neighbor who loved to watch everything I did both outside and even inside my home. She’d come outside whenever I was out, stare at me from her porch or watch me inside my home from windows in her home that faced my own. Creepy and stalker like!

She’s a nice old lady, but that watching behavior really got to me. Unfortunately she had a mild stroke in January and she’s now gone to live with her family. I suspect we’ll have new neighbors sometime in the summer.

So, as I was saying, since my neighbor was keen on watching me I was reluctant to go outside for long periods of time while being watch. Not only would she watch every move I’d make but she’d also try to talk to me from her porch. Of course I couldn’t hear her well so I’d have to stop what I was doing each time, walk up to her and find out what she’d said, reply and then go back to my gardening. This made getting anything done outside take sometimes four times longer than it should have!

Hence the late night watering! Oh, I also discovered that at the height of summer when it’s extremely hot and humid here that sometimes the only time it’s reasonable to go out and water is late at night when it’s a bit cooler.

I don’t mind the occasional cat coming through the yard as long as they don’t disturb anything, but late at night any animal making a sudden appearance can be scary. Especially if it turns out to be a HUGE raccoon or a raccoon family, which it has on many occasions.

Now that we have a dog I suspect nocturnal visits from these creatures will occur less frequently. Particularly if I bring the dog outside with me! However, I’d like to get a step ahead of my visiting creatures and do something to keep them away now.

So here’s my idea.

Our puppy just went through a big shed. She’s still shedding a bit, but a few weeks ago it seemed like her fur was coming out by the handful! One day as I was grooming her I thought about my garden visitors and thought I’d keep her fur and then, when the weather got better try distributing it through the garden in order to see if the doggy smell would deter the cats and raccoons.

About 80% of the snow has melted from our yard now. (thank you!) and crocus’ and other plants are beginning to make an appearance. I suspect I’ll be out in the garden this weekend doing a little cleaning. While I’m out there I think I’ll strategically place the dog fur in areas where I’ve seen cats and raccoons in my yard.

I guess we’re lucky that the cats and raccoons don’t really damage our yard. They use it more as a short cut to get to other areas. They come down the driveway, jump over the short gate and then head directly to the back of the garden and go over the fence into our neighbors driveway – or vise versa. Occasionally they’ll stop to search the ground and grass for worms and other delicacies, but luckily it’s not often.

So I know exactly which areas to target with my dogs fur.

Have you tried using dog fur or perhaps another animals fur in your garden to deter pests? Did it work?

I’ll keep you updated on my experiment. Wish me luck!

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy