May 2022

Letter from the Editor - The gardens look so wonderful this time of year. With all the rain, everything is lush and green. You all have been taking such good care of your plots, fertilizing and weeding, and it is a pleasure to come out to the Garden. I know this can’t last, as the heat will come, and the diseases and insects. But you guys are doing a great job so far this season! And it is nice to see you introducing yourselves to your neighbors and growing the Community. That’s what makes our Garden a special place.

Plant Sale Successful - Despite the weather!

We dodged the raindrops on Saturday, May 7 and were glad we set up. We had many customers, including Community Gardeners and we sold enough plants to add a little to our coffers. Many thanks to Jessica Stephens, our President-elect,who did most of the heavy lifting, ordering seeds and material, starting seeds in her spare bedroom and transplanting and growing them on. Thanks also to CG’er Randi Helpinstill who graciously took home 9 flats to care for and donated some of her own plant babies. And to the volunteers who helped with the transplanting and the sales events. We are now arranging to give the leftover plants to our food pantry partners to share with their clients. Next year we are considering offering a pre-sale event just for the Community Gardeners!

***Please return our 3” pots to us for use again next year. You may leave them at the greenhouse or under the shade structure. Mother Earth thanks you!***

Word of the Month: Plant, plant, plant!! Get it in the ground! Yahoo! (And mulch!)

Note on Hardwood Fines Mulch: This mulch is not well-composted and as such, it will draw nitrogen from your soil as it breaks down. While it is great to use for the foot paths in your plots, if you are using this mulch on your vegetables, you may want to consider adding some nitrogen to compensate. Alfalfa pellets and milorganite are two organic amendments that are high in nitrogen. 

You are also welcome to bring in the leaves from the field beyond the fence to use as mulch. Or you can bring in straw or pine needles. Placing newspapers down directly on the soil before mulching can improve the mulch’s ability to prevent weeds from coming back and it decomposes quickly and adds to the soil. Weeding is no one’s favorite activity and covering the soil will keep the weeds down while it holds the moisture in the soil.

Compost Bins:  As you all know, the first bin on the left in our composting area is for “trash”, that is, compostable material that may be too woody, may have produced seeds, or is diseased and should not be put in the working compost that will be returned to the garden. Bin #1, the second bin from the left, is for green and brown material that will compost well. Please feel free to fill that bin up with appropriate material that we will be able to use, rather than just dumping everything into the trash bin. Thank you.

Questions Answered - Virginia Tech is our land-grant college that carries out research on horticultural topics. Their Extension service is charged with passing that information to the public. You may access all their publications at their website www.ext.vt.edu. There is a very useful search box to enter your topic. Also the 2022 Pest Management Guide for Home Grounds and Animals is very helpful. You can find that at https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/456/456-018/ENTO-462.pdf

You are guaranteed that the information provided is research-based and unbiased. They offer organic and inorganic solutions, so for our garden you will need to be careful to use only the organic recommendations.

Insect Alert!

Two years ago we had a severe infestation of the Colorado Potato Beetle. We are now seeing the beginnings of them coming back hard again. Here is a reprint of last year's article on control for this pest.  

Recently we are starting to see the emergence of the Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB) in the garden. This pest was very annoying 2 years ago and was present last year but not to such an extent. As the name implies, these pests' favorite host will be potato plants. However, they can also attack other plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), including eggplant, tomato, pepper, nightshade, and ground cherry.

Adults overwinter four to 12 inch deep in the ground of harvested potato fields and emerge in spring around May. Adults do not migrate but will fly for several miles to find their Solanaceous hosts. Adults then mate and lay eggs on the host plants. Egg laying may last as long as a month and may be as many as 500 eggs on a single plant. After four to 10 days, depending on temperature, eggs hatch.

CPB undergo complete metamorphosis: adult, egg, larva, and pupa.

Adults are hard-shelled with a round, convex shape. Their forewings are yellow with a total of 10 black stripes running longitudinally. They are about a half an inch long. Adults eat foliage until they pupate.

Eggs are oval, yellow to bright orange. They are laid in clusters of 10 to 30 eggs on the underside of leaves.

 

Larvae are slug-like with a soft shell. They are red to orange to tan depending on age and they have two rows of black dots on each side. The body which is humped enlarges with time and grows in four size stages. Larvae eat foliage as they grow and this is the most destructive stage. These larvae can decimate a plant if not controlled 

 

Pupae are small and are found in the soil .

Control: 

The best organic method for controlling the CPB is to hand pick and squoosh the rascals. It is usually preferred to wear gloves when doing this. It is also effective to drop them into a cup of soapy water. The smaller larvae are easy to squoosh in large quantities when they first emerge and are close together on the leaves. Also important is getting rid of any eggs in the same manner. As with the harlequin bug, breaking the reproductive cycle early in the season will yield huge results longer term. 

CPB are essentially resistant to all synthetic pesticides. 

Neem oil is effective for a few days and probably will require repeat applications. Neem is less effective on the larger larvae and the adults. 

Spinosad, made from soil bacterium, is effective for about 10-14 days. 

If you have insecticidal soap or insecticidal soap plus pyrethrins, this mixture may offer some effectiveness as well, especially on the larvae.

Would you buy a radish from these guys?

Executive Director Charlie Morse and photographer and CG’er Elvin Clapp

Caption Contest! 

Send in your best caption for the photo below of Charlie Morse, Elvin Clapp, and Community Garden Team member David Sobash. You could win, um, bragging rights. Send to Barbara@growwilliamsburg.org.