This is my second year of serious “square foot garden” experimentation, and so far it has not been going nearly as well as last year. My lettuce was infested with little bugs, which apparently is par for the course. After copious washing I got a nice (if somewhat bitter) salad out of it, but was constantly worried about finding more bugs in my dinner. I didn’t end up using the other two heads, and eventually threw them out.
I kept seeing maturing strawberries appear, but by the time I got to them they had disappeared — apparently eaten by birds. Now I’m putting up bird netting to try to protect my other berries, none of which have come in yet. My bell pepper seedlings refuse to grow, for no clear reason. My broccoli bloomed and was ruined because I wasn’t paying attention. And when I just pulled my single head of cauliflower (1 per square foot), it was infested with both earwigs and little green worms. Yuck!
I’m tempted to call the whole thing off and go back to just getting everything from the supermarket. Or, I guess, learning about pesticides. Bah.
Or do what we did and join a csa. Yum local food and delicious surprises every week!
Get one of those fake owls and put it on a stick by the garden. Move it every week or two. That should keep the birds away. We’ve also had a lot of success with the black bird netting around our blue berries.
As for bugs I’ve heard that a mixture of mineral oil (and maybe water? the oil is the key ingredient) work well. I’d google it though first.
Or do as Jess suggests and join a CSA. Do they have any out in Hull?
Telling me to join a CSA is telling me to give up! I expected more encouragement!
We got a nice tomato plant to grow, and the tomatoes are lousy.
I guess we are so long from the fields that we have forgotten how to farm. Except by factory.
I would find a mild insecticide, maybe soap based, and spray your produce. It might help and I doubt a little diluted soap will cause any harm.
It is frustrating.
Our fruit trees came in and the gardener stole the fruit just as it was getting ripe.
Grr.