Share Your Garden Tips and Questions

[Harvesttime]

I would like to see tips and questions for gardening. I started this thread due to we discovered by accident how to detour grasshoppers from your garden. Last year we had a very small backyard garden. My sis luvs sunflowers and planted a few. We had many many grasshopers enjoying the garden. Once she got the sunflowers growing they soon left the garden for the sunflowers. They love them. And the sunflowers survive the take over also. So seeing this year many more grasshoppers we planted them around the gardens(3 sm backyard spots this year). And guess what it is working. I just wont use pesticides and our garden is non gmo/organic. So this is working so far. We have many new veggies etc and well see how it goes with those.We also discovered a few years ago when I went looking how to get sugar ants out of garden; leave them there. With the shortage of bees, they are the next best thing for pollinating.  Please share tricks and tips and all your questions.

[wheezie]

How do you deal w/ potato bugs? Any ideas? We had to spray for them yesterday. I hated to do that, but the poor plants were just infested.

[Harvesttime]

@wheezie

are you referring to these horrid bugs? We had in nevada and the bite is big. We had these and they never hurt our garden. But our garden was on far side of yard and raised up several feet.

[Harvesttime]

or are you referring to these little guys? We got these but they just messed with our potatos. They typically dont mess to much with the veg and fruits but decaying stuff like mulch leaves etc from what I have read.

[Harvesttime]

• Cut a piece of honey dew melon or cantaloupe (corncobs work also) and put it in your garden upside down with the rind facing the sun (this keeps it from drying out).  The bugs become attracted to the melon and collect on the fruit.  You can then either throw it in the trash or rinse it off with a hose (away from your garden) and put it back into the garden.
  
• Mix rotten veggies with mulch, grass clippings, coffee grinds and/or compost on the outside of your veggie garden to divert them out of the garden. 
  
• Try putting a small bowl of beer in your garden.  They dive in and drown just like slugs and snails.
  

more here
gardeningchick.com/2011/04/rollie-pollies.html

[Libellula]

@wheezie

are you referring to these horrid bugs? We had in nevada and the bite is big. We had these and they never hurt our garden. But our garden was on far side of yard and raised up several feet.

I think we call these Colorado beetles, and after WW2 there was a big campaign to stop them entering the UK, they are still a notifiable infestation if spotted today.

[wheezie]

Neither. LOL I actually had to google it. They are called leptinotarsa decemlineata . aka Colorado potato beetle. (my FIL has always called them potato bugs, and he taught me everything I know about gardening, thus, they are potato bugs. )

Mean little suckers they are!

[Libellula]

• Cut a piece of honey dew melon or cantaloupe (corncobs work also) and put it in your garden upside down with the rind facing the sun (this keeps it from drying out).  The bugs become attracted to the melon and collect on the fruit.  You can then either throw it in the trash or rinse it off with a hose (away from your garden) and put it back into the garden.
  
• Mix rotten veggies with mulch, grass clippings, coffee grinds and/or compost on the outside of your veggie garden to divert them out of the garden. 
  
• Try putting a small bowl of beer in your garden.  They dive in and drown just like slugs and snails.
  

more here
gardeningchick.com/2011/04/rollie-pollies.html

We use the beer traps here, very efficient.

It is also war against Asian hornets this year as 7 people have been killed by them in France and they predate bees, catching them in flight!  I have an identification sheet I am authorised to share and an info sheet on making simple traps.......to follow

[Harvesttime]

Another idea for natural pest control is purchasing ladybugs or praying mantis. The ladybugs for smaller pest and praying mantis for larger pests.

[BBC]

'Avoid using the microwave to get faster internet'

With millions of people working from home, media watchdog Ofcom has some tips to boost internet speed.


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52027348