Weeds

After what feels like weeks of rain (and is, indeed, intermittent weeks of rain), I finally got a chance to weed today. For a whole 30 minutes before it started to rain. Again. So not much to report, except that the new beans are coming up and as soon as the leaves come out they are being eaten. I think the milky spore that we used in the fall will not soon control all of the beetles we have. It is a major problem. They are not only the Japanese beetles, either, but I think Asian beetles (that look like coffee beans). I've read that these are not susceptible to the milky spore, so I'll have to do something different if I want to eat a single green bean this summer.

Planted a few more marigolds around to help with pests, and added more zinnias to the garden. We need the sun! Please!

Scarlet Lily Beetles

I have been trying for years to pay my kids to squish these beetles, but they are still too squeamish. If I didn't love my lilies so much, I wouldn't think they were worth the agony.

I planted my first lilies the year Bronwyn was born, and the stargazers (my favorites) always blossom around her birthday in late July. The other Asiatic lilies bloom all through July, taking turns lighting up the garden in brilliant yellows, oranges, pinks and white.

It might have been only five years ago that I first noticed these beetles. I thought they were a lovely shade of red and didn't consider them a pest. They laid their little red and orange eggs stealthily on the undersides of the lily leaves and I was none the wiser. But I surely noticed when their little grubs started eating up my lilies.

These are easily some of the grossest pests in the garden. You'll notice the leaves disappearing, and when you flip them over, what appears to be a brown bird dropping. If you scrape it off, you'll find the little grub underneath, covered in its own poop! Yucka!

Neem oil can be added to dish soap and water and sprayed on the leaves to deter the beetles and grubs, and I've found that picking and squishing the beetles by hand, then rubbing off all of the eggs that they lay, is sometimes the easiest. But throw a few rainy days into the mix and all bets are off. The end result is lilies with pockmarked and Swiss cheese leaves, not so pretty to take pictures of.

Anyone have any techniques for getting rid of these guys? I don't want to use poisons, but it's hard to watch your favorites get shredded by pests!