Sunday 2nd November
What, you may ask, happened to Day 2? Here's the abridged version of events....................
Last week one of my cats, Alvin, got sick through either being bitten by an infected animal/insect or eating something he shouldn't have and becomes quite ill. My wife took him to the vet.
Whilst there Alvin bites my wife's arm so she has to go get a tetanus shot and antibiotics.
She then has an allergic reaction to the antibiotics and has to return to the doctor.
So, with trips to the surgery and the vets and nursing a sick wife and cat, the garden took a back seat.
Both patients seem to be slowly on the mend but it's going to take a while.
So here we are at Day 3 and the news doesn't get any better...............................
....caterpillars (cabbage loopers) have got into all the cabbages and had a real feast. They have bored right into bases of the newly forming heads.....
....rendering them unfit to eat. It's heartbreaking to see these veggies which I've grown from seed get ruined this way. There's nothing else to do....................
.....but pull the lot.
How long the Cauliflower and Kohlrabi will last I don't know.
I then clear out the remains of the tomato and basil from Plot 6......
......then weed and thoroughly dig it over.
I'm going to leave it like this for a few days then dig it over again before mulching it for the winter.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Long Weekend Day 3
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4 comments:
I hope your cat and your wife get better!
sorry about your cabbage.. The same thing happened to mine. It was very tragic to see it happen.
I had a similar problem, I sprayed with pyrethrin and it took care of them. It is organic, made from the Chrysanthemum plant.
Next year I am going to spray on a regular basis with BT. This is a type of microorganism that kills caterpillars and is completely safe for humans & animals. Engineered Garden blog used it on his crops and had very good success with next to no damage.
Thanks dp.
The cat is ok now but my wife is still having arm trouble and it looks as though she will be returning to the doctors next week if it doesn't improve.
The cabbage? never mind. I take it all as a learning experience.
Dan
Hmm, I'm not too keen on Pyrethrin to be honest. It's what's known as a "broad-spectrum" pesticide, which means it kills beneficial insects too. This can lead the way for other pests to go unchecked.
I may have to go the BT route myself next year too. Maybe we could compare results?
Yes the pyrethrin is a nonselective so it should not be used on anything that is blooming. It is harmless to anything but insects though. I used it at the time because I was unaware of BT. Next year I am going the BT route and spraying weekly like engineered garden did.
Engineered Garden actually just did a post on BT this evening.
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