August Garden: Pests Gone Wild Edition

This year is almost bad enough for me to want to abandon gardening. At the very least take a break for a year and just plant cover crops that put nitrogen back in the soil. To be free of this torture for a summer, because this year is going to go down as "pests gone wild" in my book. It's out of control. 

Tomatoes

Pests? Chipmunks, white flies, black spot, lantern flies. The chipmunks have been semi-thwarted. We put up chicken wire and hardware cloth and made adjustments based on the weaknesses the chipmunks found. Only the littlest ones have snuck in (if they can get in at all) and they can't take much more than a couple cherry tomatoes out now. It's much better. Before the new fencing, we were getting nothing and they were eating EVERYTHING. Now we have buckets of tomatoes. 

In other years the squirrels have been a big problem, but this year there has only been one potential incident. The other day I found a giant green tomato high up in one of our river birch trees. It was too high to reach, too many leaves in the way to get a decent picture. But there it was, a robust green tomato wedged between the trunk and a branch. I'm not sure if it was a squirrel or a racoon that left it in a "safe" place to ripen. I'm not sure if it was mine or my neighbor's fruit. It's still there, waiting for the perpetrator to return. 

The white flies and black spot and lantern flies have been unstoppable - think clouds of pestilence flying in swarms when I hit the plants with the hose. The fruit is unscathed though, just the leaves are under attack, and for late August I think I can say that while these pests and blight are bad for the plants... it's no worse than other years when it's been very rainy and we're dealing with black spot and powdery mildew in abundance. It's a plus side to the drought and dryer weather, to be honest we might even have had more tomatoes this year than others. 

The tomato crops have been very good. The kids love the cherry tomatoes for eating. We've made a lot of fantastic tomato sauce and both Mike and I think that next year we should focus more on the good sauce tomatoes vs. slicing tomatoes because the sauce and cherry tomatoes are what is getting eaten with enthusiasm. Our fourth batch of sauce looked like this before going into the freezer:

The marigolds and borage do well in this bed when planted in the corners and on each end. I've definitely noticed a massive uptick in tomato production since adding borage to the garden - it's definitely an excellent companion plant and the bees LOVE it. I am really happy with the new tomato towers as well, they are much sturdier and taller than what I have cobbled together in the past. 

Vines and Things

The white flies loved the cucumbers to their demise. After I took these pictures I pulled the vines down, everything was past the point of potential production. Between that and the chipmunks' thievery, we only had 4 cucumbers this year total. The nasturtiums seem completely unbothered by the white flies and other pests, even if they are definitely covered in them. They just keep growing and blooming and taking over the bed. 

Squash vine borers are nipping at my cantaloupe vines, but they don't love it as much as my neighbor's squash so everything is still alive. We had two big cantaloupes on the melon tower this year which was most welcome, especially since the melons did terribly last year and we didn't have any. The year before that, the squirrels stole a couple of them. This year, both were ours. We might even get one more before the season is over if the powdery mildew doesn't take over (which it might, because it's starting). 

The carrots and swiss chard are having a much better year than last year as well. Last year the chard had a black spot on it and it rotted away. The carrots were teeny tiny. This year these two are doing much better. Even the peas that I had growing up the sides of the trellis lasted way longer than in years past, despite the heat. It was like 100 degrees in July and I was harvesting peas, it was great (I since pulled them down as they eventually did succumb to the heat). 

Mixed Flowers

The white flies love the zinnias almost as much as they love the tomatoes and cucumber vines. I've tried to help them along with a little organic insecticidal soap and neem oil, but these white flies are resilient. The zinnias have quite a bit of brown spotting, especially on the older lower leaves... but they are still producing a lot of beautiful blooms. I planted two rows of heirloom coral zinnias (classic and cactus) and then a row of mixed colors, the coral ones are definitely the taller/healthier plants this year, I'm definitely enjoying the abundance of coral in my bouquets. 

The two cosmos have done exceptionally well this year as well and have proven that 2 cosmos are more than enough for lots of blooms. Even with the lack of moisture in the air, they are starting to succumb to some sort of mildew/blight, but they lasted longer this year. Possibly due to the drier conditions (much less powdery mildew), possibly due to better ventilation in their placement and fewer plants. 

The globe amaranth is having a harder year. I think this is due to its placement (it only gets morning sun next to the towering cosmos in the middle) and I'll be sure to move it to the end/corner next to the snapdragons next year, like where I put the celiosa. It's very pretty, but not a cutting garden flower at all (though I am enjoying looking at it every time I'm in the garden the color is great). 

Hands down, the happiest thing in the garden is all the snapdragons. I can lazily water them with the hose overhead. Nothing is eating them, their leaves are unmarred. The bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love them. The color variety is superb. I'm so happy I devoted half the flower bed to them, they are just fabulous and somehow I managed to get a wide variety of colors - red, coral-orange, bright yellow, bright pink, magenta, light pink, light yellow, white, mauve. Every day there are new blooms, it's been wonderful! 

Dahlias

This has been a tough year for the dahlias. The lantern flies and white flies have left the entire collection (6 crates of bulbs!) vulnerable to aphids and these wicked spider mites that are destroying the plants all over my yard. It's been devastating. It started before we went on vacation, I sprayed everything with organic insecticidal soap and neem oil... but the sprinkler and rain washed that right off. By the time we got back, the devastation was at another level. Labyrinth and Apricot desire were 80% gone and I'm trying to resuscitate what's left. And they spread to the other plants. I'm going through tons of the soap spray and neem oil (spraying in the evenings to prevent burning, either after it rains or in 3 day cycles) trying HARD to stop this infestation. I'm losing. I keep trying, but I'm losing. 

I've almost gone through half a big bottle of neem oil and soap concentrate. I even tried harsher chemical sprays outside of the raised bed garden away from food production. They are immune to it of course. Some of the smaller dahlias in the yard died completely. Some are barely hanging on like Labyrinth and Apricot Desire. Some are shriveling slowly before my eyes in a slow march. I'm at a loss. 

The American Dahlia Society recommends that I just throw all my dahlias away, treat the soil and try again in 2 years with all new bulbs. That's super helpful. Sorry American Dahlia Society but dahlias are way too expensive do just throw out 6 crates and start over. Any time I have added to my collection over time, I have to rationalize the purchase by telling myself that I'll have them for years. The mites have already spread. Shouldn't I keep fighting? At least until the neem oil runs out?

What if I really do lose all my dahlias to spider mites? 

No matter how you cut it, the first frost is still 6-8 weeks away. I don't know how many of my dahlias will make it that long, or that far, or if the bulbs at that point will be healthy enough to come back next year. Next month this might be a dahlia death list from the yard (Fascination, Apricot Desire, Labyrinth, and Waltzing Matilda are almost gone). 

Herbs and Strawberries

Not all is doom and gloom and pestilence in the garden! The herb beds are great! The strawberries are doing their summer thing. The rosemary and lavender I transplanted have gotten so big. Even the dill is coming back after a big harvest, despite all the hot weather. The sage is the best I've ever seen it. The basil is gorgeous. The thyme has come back well, the oregano is blooming and attracting pollinators. The chamomile is producing lots of flowers. The calendula I planted was joined by a bunch of extra plants that self-seeded - so many flowers! The sunflowers grew really tall and bloomed and were beautiful. The borage back here was beautiful too. 

Maybe next year I just do herbs and cover crops after all my dahlias die?

Potted Plants

The lemon balm escaped the pots and somehow spread seeds all over the garden. Since it wants to grow everywhere, I'm transplanting some of it to the way back to see if it will survive the damp shade. The potted brown turkey fig in the back lost its little figs to birds or chipmunks. We'll try again next year - there were not many to start with. 

By the garage there are a few hot peppers growing and ripening, habaneros and cayenne. The pineapple sage, roasemary and basil are all happily growing. The flowers look good. The morning glory vine isn't looking so good again, just like last year. We'll see if it blooms. If it doesn't I have to seriously consider something else because that's two years in a row of failure. 

Other Things Elsewhere in the Yard

A deer came through the yard like a very hungry caterpillar one night. We haven't had a deer causing chaos in our yard in 10 years. I know it was a deer because of the height of leaves eaten - it was too big to be a rabbit. And it ate a good portion of my elderberry bush! And all the leaves off the hostas in the way back. And a lot of one hydrangea. I'm very unhappy about this. I guess I have to put deer netting up in the way back along the fence next winter? What the heck is going on?! 

Other than the elderberries needing to recover, everything else is hanging on. The blackberries are still slowly rolling in. The citrus trees have a few fruits the squirrels haven't found. The fig tree has a bunch of little figs, though not as many as last year so it might be a lighter year in the fruit production cycle. There are still plenty of figs coming, I'm keeping an eye out in case the birds and critters have other ideas. 

I even got purple sunflowers in the end, once the greediest of chipmunks were dispatched (the ones that were chewing the stems to knock them to the ground so they could consume the blooms).