Garden Journal: Assault on Aphids

My dear, poor garden is being ravaged on all fronts. Worms are making themselves cozy gorging on tomato plant leaves, blight has been a fight, unidentifiable bugs are sucking the life out of the mandarin tree and aphids are attacking ALL plants, rapidly devouring our precious thai basil we love to munch on so dearly.

Bugger off aphids!

Aphids are squirmy, reproduce frighteningly quickly, eat way too much and are a pain in the ass to spot on your plants. They arrive in your garden, make a ginormous family and don't just concentrate on one plant; they like to share the wealth. We have the problem of them almost destroying our thai basil plant, jalapeno plant and sweet basil, while we just noticed they moved in on our tomato plants too. Mochi (our roommates' new dog, yay!) even gave an aphid a piggyback ride into our house. They're invading our lives! I knew then it was time to take serious action, but in a friendly to the environment kind of way. :)

Like this:

Lady bugs resting up in the dairy company of milk and cheese. They need to save their energy for aphid hunting.

Release the hounds! (the ladies)

"We've come to save the basil!"

Besides being cute, pretty and actually helping your plants grow instead of devouring them to nubby stems, they also EAT aphids for dinner. What more could you ask for in a garden bug?

After some research on the internet by my resident garden scientist Tyler, we found that ladybugs are natural predators of aphids. Problem solved! I stopped by the local nursery and picked up a carton of hibernating ladybugs and quickly raced back home to place them safely in the wintery temperatures of the fridge. (They wake up and fly all around when their body temperature rises and I didn't want that happening in the car.)

Garden center information regarding Ladybug Liberation:

• Release the ladybugs in the evening
• 15 minutes before release, take desired quantity out of fridge and place in separate closed container. They have to "wake up" before being dispersed in garden
• Release a small amount every couple days because there will be some who may think the grass is greener on the other side
  
• Watch and enjoy the aphid assassins
  

There are other organic methods to ward off aphids that we are also experimenting with, like planting chives next to the infested plant because aphids don't like onion and garlic smells, and planting nasturtiums in the general area because they act as a repellent too. There is a great article here that shares natural tips to get rid of aphids.

So, I will keep you posted on the bug issues and whether the ladies are earning their keep in the garden.

Happy gardening,
Marci