Comparison pictures and 'the invisible garden crew'

 

 Remember my caution about watering when they wilt? The second picture was taken around 4pm and the bed was in full shade for at least an hour. See the different in the leaf positions? Not being beat down by the sun the plants had a chance to recharge the vascular pressure and they were fine.

Now that doesn't mean they couldn't use a good watering again so I did.

 

So I did the dig test and as you can see, the surface looked bone dry but underneath it was still nice and moist. Due to the oppressive heat we are going to get I decided to water anyway and there you go. Because I have such good drainage and the soil is nice and loose I'm not worried about them being overwatered. I'm also watering all the way to the wall to prep that for the beans I will be planting hopefully soon. After I get that aloe moved. And the soil prepped (still waiting for money).

I mentioned previously about the unseen (or seldom seen) garden grew that works under your mulch. Most people consider them pests and in certain situations, yes they are.  

This crew is comprised of,

Snails and slugs

Earwigs (pincher bugs)

Pillbugs/Rolypoly

Earthworms

We all know that any of these in your garden can be a problem. Yes, even earthworms although those are considered a good sign you have healthy soil. With all my digging I haven't encountered any which is not good but I'm okay with it and will explain.

Slugs and snails are clean up crew but can invade your plants as well. They typically hone in on decaying matter and hide under leaves brush and mulch. They usually mate in the spring and lay clutches of eggs under the ground to hatch when the soil starts warming up. 

Trivia: Snails are hermaphroditic meaning they can be either male or female depending on the situation and therefore have the capability of being both at the same time.

Joke: You know why snails move so slow? One half keeps telling the other to ask for directions.

(heard on the radio years ago from a pest control company and I passed that around work at the nursery and someone was offended. Really?)

Anyway. Besides being tasty as a french snack, snails and slugs with proper maintenance can be beneficial in a compost pile but they don't care where they go for food and that means your plants are a tasty meal as well, usually in the spring. (My brother swears he fed me a snail when I was about 2 years old, don't remember it happening of course.)

There are organic controls for them involving sulphur, iron phosphate, beer traps and copper tape.

Next is earwigs, the ugly and dangerous looking pincher bugs. They are another pest that also feeds on decaying matter under mulch and leaves but also likes to eat tender flowers. Petunias are a favorite of theirs. They don't like to climb very far so rarely found on anything taller than small bedding plants.

Remember that product you can use for caterpillar and worm control? Yep spinosad can also be used to control earwigs, pillbugs and some grubs in the soil. Usually it's found combined with the iron phosphate commercially sold as Sluggo Plus©.

Pillbugs or roly polys are almost the same but one rolls up completely in a ball (pill bugs) and the other doesn't. Generally look like a little grey armadillo, remember Bugs Life? Yeah they were in there too, love that movie!

Pillbugs really are garden clean up, I uncovered a pile of dog poo once and there were dozens of them underneath just having a feast. When there are too many of them they will climb into small plants but their mouth parts are so small they do little damage compared to the others on the list.

 

Earthworms are beneficial but also too many of them can be a problem in your soil. Worms eat organic matter and process it out to make worm castings. Worm Sign! ((heheh sci fi reference there). Ever go out in the morning and see little piles of moist dirt all over your lawn? That's worm castings. It's mostly sandy gritty by product and actually makes your soil heavier. It's beneficial to soils that are low nutrient and oddly enough has another benefit but it's costly. 

It was discovered over a decade ago that worm castings has a chiton type product in it that plants can absorb and acts as a repellent against whitefly. The downside is you have to put a two inch layer on the ground around your bush or tree and repeat that process about every two weeks. Worm castings are not sold in large bags, biggest is maybe 1 cubic foot and it's expensive. So yeah, nice try but I'll stick with other products.

 

The flowers are coloring up!

 

Before watering

After watering.

This is going to be my second bed, that white/grey area at the top of the photo is a good size puddle. Still have some leveling to do and fix that front board. Down in the right corner you can see the remains of another board that was sunk into the ground. Going to try and uncover that some more and see about moving that short board to the end and get another piece of wood for the front. That board along the wall has a strip of shade cloth stapled to it. Not sure what that was used for. Really need to get that bed fixed or it's going to be too hot to plant seeds. Again this is taken a little after 4 pm so that's the shade of a tree that is on it. Still plenty of hours of full sun there and it gives you another perspective on the position of the beds relative to sun direction.

 

I hope I get some money soon, not just for things I need but to get this garden going!