Pest management

June 13, 2019 Market newsletters, Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

You may have seen our recent post on Instagram and Facebook about pest management. I get a lot of questions at markets about this, so decided to share a video of one of our primary methods of pest control- physically going from plant to plant looking for and smashing problem bugs! But in fact, this technique only comes into play later (hence my reference to it as “remedial pest control” in the post’s comments). Preventative management is actually the biggest tool we have to combat pests. This means that we take measures to prevent or delay the impact of pests before they even show up or become a problem. Row...

Ups and downs

May 30, 2019 Market newsletters, Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

There’s a good and bad side to everything and the early heat this year is no different. This week, we’ve gotten to see both the ups and downs of this weather. On the positive side, we’re getting many of our crops in earlier than last year. This week, one of my yearly favorites, garlic scapes, will make its debut. Garlic scapes used to be seen as only a leftover bi-product of garlic production and were usually relegated to the farm’s own kitchen, but they’ve gained in popularity in recent years and for good reason. They combine the traditional taste of garlic with a hint of sweetness and are especially tasty...

Pest Season

May 25, 2018 Market newsletters, Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

This week definitely entails a lot of re-grouping for us. We had beds to rebuild and tons of peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes to finally get in the ground. Mike spent hours on Monday reburying all of the plastic mulch on the tomato beds. The dirt that was holding it down had been washed away in last week’s torrential rain and it was no fun at all to have to re-do an already challenging task that we thought we had completed for the year. Even as we feel like we’re still playing catch-up, the natural world continues to roll along and pest season on the farm has officially begun. Flea beetles...

Working around cucumber beetles

May 10, 2017 Diseases, Pests, Tips & Tools

Remember those pesky little cucumber beetles I talked about a few times last year? Shown in the picture above (taken last year), they cause double damage by creating scar marks on crops in the cucurbit family like squash and cucumber and transmitting a disease called bacterial wilt that can kill the entire plant. They tend to get to work early, making their first appearance in the late spring even though they prey on heat-loving summer crops, which means that they can definitely do some damage to young cucumber and squash plants when they first get planted outside. As we near the first frost dates around our region and it gets to...

The insect mystery

April 13, 2017 Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

It’s only mid-April, but the weather is definitely feeling like summer. On Tuesday, our home thermometer registered 90 degrees outside! I won’t deny that weather like this is a welcome relief after winter, but it’s always kind of a bummer at this point of the season when the plants love cooler, wetter conditions. It’s tempting to think that this is it and summer is here to stay, but I’m betting we’ve still got some cool, rainy weather in store for us before April and May are done. Despite the dry weather, I’m suspecting that there may be slugs going to work in the garden. Last week I mentioned how the kale was getting chomped...

Bean crazy

September 14, 2016 Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

Last week’s mild heat wave gave new life to the summer crops and forced me to withdraw from my “no more canning” stance. I simply couldn’t help but put up another round of pickled roasted peppers. Additionally, we’ve seen a new influx of cherry and slicing tomatoes, which are now once again covering much of our kitchen counters. But the real beneficiary of the warm weather was the string beans. I harvested almost 3 pounds in one day over the weekend and then another pound two days later! Harvesting beans even this far into the fall is something new for me. At the farm I managed until this year, we had a serious...

Bacterial wilt

August 8, 2016 Diseases, Pests, Tips & Tools

Earlier this year, I talked a bit about cucumber beetles. You’ll find these little black-and-yellow striped or spotted bugs on plants in the cucurbit family like cucumbers and squash. While damage from the beetles to the leaves and fruit of these plants is in itself not that problematic, as the summer progresses these insects’ bites can transmit a season-ending disease for some cucurbits. If you’re a gardener, bacterial wilt is likely something you have seen before or may even be experiencing in your garden right now. This disease is transmitted from plant to plant when cucumber beetles bite and the bacteria can even overwinter in the beetles’ guts. Besides cucumber plants, bacterial wilt also...

Flea beetles

July 28, 2016 Pests, Tips & Tools

Flea beetles are one of those challenging pests that can quickly wreak havoc on crops and are also very difficult to eradicate once present. These tiny insects with their shiny black exoskeleton will jump away as soon as you get nearby, hence the name flea beetle. They go after many crops, but seem to particularly love arugula, the leaves of young eggplant, and the greens on turnips. The tiny holes they create in crops’ leaves are unsightly and can also diminish the plant’s ability to undergo photosynthesis, thereby decreasing growth and overall health. Once flea beetles have arrived, it can be quite challenging to get rid of them. When I was growing...

Cabbage worms

July 18, 2016 Pests, Tips & Tools

Cabbage worms are one of the most common garden pests in this region and, in a bad year, can easily decimate crops in a short time if not kept under control. Cabbage worms target crops in the brassica family, also known as cole crops. These include kale, cabbage, broccoli, collards, arugula, and mustard greens, among others. You’ve probably noticed the white butterfly adult form of these pests flying around from spring through fall. The eggs these butterflies lay on brassica plants will hatch into the small green, velvety-looking worms which can grow to a plump 2+ inches as they munch on the leaves of the plant. A sure sign that you...

The crop pests cometh

June 24, 2016 Pests, Tips & Tools, Weekly Updates

There’s always that brief window in the year when I think, “Maybe this year is the year that I’ll have the perfect, pest-free garden.” And then they arrive! Despite a relatively light spring in terms of pest damage (we did have the broccoli annihilated by cut worms, but little else was affected), they’re here at last. The eggplant leaves are becoming speckled with the tiny, pin-prick holes that are the signature mark of flea beetles and, more severely, cucumber beetles have arrived to feast on the previously perfect squash and cucumber plants. If in your garden you’re noticing ragged holes on the leaves of these plants with the outside rim of...