The Amateur Gardener

The bugs it seems have decided to give me a breather. Not the slugs though. The snail are happily munching away on my Gerbera’s even as I sit and write this post. 

I have decided I am going to give Sluggo a try. It seems to be safer to use than the other brands of snail bait. 

During my vacation trip, I lost a few plants and that had included the Okra seedlings. So I planted them again and they seem to be thriving as of now. 

My tomatoes seem to be doing well despite the onslaught of bugs they had to bear. I should be getting a nice crop of tomatoes in a few weeks time; that is of course if there are no more pest attacks. 

The green chillis and green peppers too have begun to bear fruit. Can’t wait to harvest my own veggie’s and make a meal of them . 

Ok!! So I am battling with the critters again. Hopefully I will survive their onslaught, this time. About four years ago when I tried my hand at growing plants it was a disaster. I bought some flowering plants at a grocery store and they were ok for a month or so. Then came these small green little bugs which just kept coming back and I gave up. The plants went to the trash can and I decided I was no gardener. 

A year ago we bought a house, with a small garden. Keeping the plants alive would be a challenge for me was my first thought. I managed to do that, with the help of automatic sprinklers of course. 

In the last few months I planted some more plants and vegetable. I survived the little green bugs attack on my miniature rose bush, which I found out were aphids. I also survived the little green worm’s attack, which I still am not sure what they are. They were eating up all my rose buds. The buds got snipped and trashed. I found them again last weekend on my tomato plants. So again I snipped of the leaves and fruits which seemed infested.

I though I was doing fine. I had come across the description of the green horn worms while trying to research the green worms I found on my tomatoes. I felt glad, my tomatoes were not infested with them.  I celebrated a bit too soon . Monday evening I came home to discover five of these pesky worms on my four tomato plants. I think I got them early. Not too much damage done. Hopefully I got them all. Again snip and discard.

 Four years ago these plants might have gotten trashed long ago. These bugs sure do test your limits. I do use fertilizers on my plants, but am keen on avoiding pesticides.  I am considering using snail bait though. These slugs are the ones I just can’t seem to get rid of.  They have devoured more than half of my green chilli and green pepper plants and feast on my Gerbera’s like a kid would devour candy. Grrr@!.