More Reason to Grow Our Own

[BetterHensandGardens]

I was looking into which fruits and vegetables had the highest pesticide loads, and was surprised by what I found. So, I wrote about it, and identified the best and worst here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/07/25/produce-pesticides/
It makes me happy about some of the things I'm growing, but also want to try harder on some others. :watering

 

[hoodat]

I was surprised to see celery and peppers on your dirtiest list. I've never had to spray either one very often in my garden.

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

I was surprised by those too, and darn glad I'm growing my own without needing to spray!

 

[vfem]

Oh I am so glad to not be spraying! I'm going to collect our grapes today and they are pesticide free. I'm going to make grape juice concentrate from those. I also have organic peppers I am getting today as well.... Hot pepper jelly... not good with the store bought one's at ALL!!!

Thanks for the info!

 

[wifezilla]

Picking grapes already???

*Must stop getting jealous of people in other growing zones*
(Mine are still green)

As for pesticides...I used to use them. Guess what? They never worked. I have better results by letting the ducks in the garden beds in early spring and in fall to clear out the slugs, rolly pollys and earwigs, using DE as needed (I needed it for flea beetles this year) and soapy water.

One more thing I will be trying next year is floating row covers. Those cabbage moths really love my brussel sprouts

 

[hoodat]

Picking grapes already???

*Must stop getting jealous of people in other growing zones*
(Mine are still green)

As for pesticides...I used to use them. Guess what? They never worked. I have better results by letting the ducks in the garden beds in early spring and in fall to clear out the slugs, rolly pollys and earwigs, using DE as needed (I needed it for flea beetles this year) and soapy water.

One more thing I will be trying next year is floating row covers. Those cabbage moths really love my brussel sprouts

I have a black Phoebe Flycatcher that hangs around. It snatches cabbage butterflies right out of the air. I hope it gets them all but probably not.

 

[vfem]

Today I was so excited!!! I have to go get pictures, I just caught it in the act, but I found a nest of caterpillars by my sunflowers and there was a few wasps snatching them up and eating them!!! Hooray for nature... I haven't had to spray a thing over that way in the garden all season.

My biggest issues this year were mold and fungi. Other then a few June bugs that are out NOW, even Japanese beetles are not hanging around as much this year as they were last year.

*counting blessings*

 

[hoodat]

Those wasps can do you a lot of good. Yellow jackets took care of a bean beetle flare up in my garden all by themselves.

 

[wifezilla]

I have wasps fluttering around. Lots of butterflies today too....and dragon flies. What do they eat?

I figure with the diversity of helpful insects I have I must be doing something right.

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

Dragonflies eat bugs. Mosquitoes and little flies. They catch them in the air and gobble them up. Watch them when they land ... sometimes you can see them eating a bug that was too large to eat mid flight!

I took lots of photos one day in my garden of the dragonflies ... you can see them here: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/sassy_sweet_notes/2010/06/dragonflies.html

This guy has blood on his mouth from the bug he'd just finished: