Dear Garden Diary,

R completed the garden fence on Sunday; allowing me to drill in the final screw. The fence is a work of art, and fills the back yard with the scent of cedar.
It's too bad the garden within has been annihilated by the damn army worms. It's ugly out there - like shrapnel blew through the kale and chard.
The Trichograms are visible in small numbers, not that I've been able to photograph any. I suspect the ants ate more than hatched.

The ridiculous heat of late has kept me from bothering with much of anything in the garden, aside from drought prevention and pea picking. I still have some things to pot, and I have little time to get it all done before we're gone for three weeks. Yipes.

This morning while lying in bed, awake after R left to catch his early  flight, I thought of something profound to write about the garden - or about how I feel about something to do with it. It was good, really good..., but it's gone. I actually got up and partially dressed thinking I would sit down with  pot of coffee and write it all down, then shook my head, threw off my gown and crawled back into bed. There was no way I'd survive the day in the greenhouse on such little sleep. So, I willed myself to remember that profound thought and went back to sleep.
This is why it's important to keep a notebook and pencil at had at all times. I bet if I had I would have something more interesting to write about.

Somebody recently said they loved the idea of keeping a garden blog, but just couldn't imagine having the time to do it. I can't - as a gardener - imagine not doing it. Before my online journals I always kept written journal - still do, sort of. I will always doodle, and keep a pad and pencil in my garden apron - I don't know how to keep track of everything without notes. I note when I plant things, when pests arrive, buds bloom - scribbles and notes on dirty paper. I've been trying to keep better records of all my plants, inspired by the exemplary excel sheet organization of Northern Shade. Mine are coming along. Along with that darned glossary (which I've been "working on" for a few years now..)

Time is a funny thing. Funny how when you're running out of it so much can get done. So much of everything I do is done in pieces. I wish I had ten times the time I have do get things done, started - breathe life into some imagined projects. Ah well, for the time being I'm happy with keep this scattered blog. It's the best record I have of gardens I've known. My desk is covered in years of notebooks and baggies full of plant tags & empty seed packages waiting to be logged. A hoarder of important stuff.

#twopeasinapod

A lot of my time is spent staring through my iPhone, using limited characters and hashtags to write about my garden. My Instagrammed garden journal is simple to keep, simple to share. I often think of them as short abstracts to inspire me when I have the time to write more.
This is why I love photography so much - how so much can be said in a photo, one shot. I framed this one of two peas in a pod to show my engagement & wedding rings, the two peas, R's beautiful garden fence, and our summer garden all over everything. A photo that completely defines 'amy's garden' right now, us: two peas in a pod - with our Australian wedding just around the corner.♥ ♥ ♥

My to-do list is long - starting with: finish planting the poor suffering plants in small greenhouse pots. Reseed some things (spinach, beets)..plant more peas again. (The dogs have enjoyed most of the peas this year...as always). ...and on...

I look forward to seeing it all when we return.

Speaking of which, my most important to-do list item in Australia this year is to garden blog the experience. I had such good intentions of doing it last year. With tulips and daffodils blooming along side woody zonal geranium shrubs, bird of paradise plants lining the highway during Christmas in July in the Mountains. At least I can count on my hashtags to bring me back.

Beneficial Trichograms

I released my Trichogramma in the garden yesterday, leaving the little card of eggs tucked away near the yarrow pot - for shade and shelter. I'm looking forward to watching them develop and devour all the nasty caterpillars who are destroying our leaves.

another jerk

on our magical Lady's Mantle

Armyworm fact sheet from

Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives

True Armyworm infestations are more common in years with cool wet spring weather, which follow years of drought. The cool wet spring weather is thought to slow down the development of parasites which usually keep armyworm populations under control.

After hiding under debris during the day, movement and feeding occur at night - or on cloudy days.

Armyworm larvae are pale green in the early growth stage and dark green in later stages. Full grown larvae are smooth, striped and almost hairless, up to one to two inches in length. A series of stripes on the body are arranged by a thin, white, broken line down the middle of the black followed by a wide, dark, mottled stripe halfway down the side, then a pale orange stripe with white border, a brownish mottled stripe, and slightly above the legs, there is another pale orange stripe with white borders.

The adult armyworm is a light brownish gray moth or "miller" with a white spot about the size of a pinhead on each front wing. When expanded, the wings are about one inch across. Moths lay eggs at night in folded leaves or under leaf sheaths of small grain plants and other grasses. They prefer to lay eggs in moist, shady areas of vegetation.

For control, I'm using Btk

"Bacteria are present everywhere in our natural environment, including in soil, in food and even on our skin. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a bacterium that is found naturally in the soil and is known to cause illness in various insect larvae, including caterpillars of pest species such as gypsy moth, spruce budworm and cabbage looper.
There are more than 20 varieties of Bt. The "kurstaki" variety (Btk) is used for caterpillar control and other varieties are used for blackfly and mosquito control. It is not harmful to humans, birds, pets, fish, honey bees, beetles, spiders, etc.  Within each variety are numerous strains.  The Btk used for caterpillar control is the HD-1 strain."

more on Btk from the Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations, British Columbia

I'm also introducing some beneficial insects - Trichograms Trichogramma brassicae
H was not impressed this morning when she discovered what I had left in the fridge overnight. Grin. I'm going to release them into the vegetable garden later this morning and will update later... :o)

...more on Trichograms from buglogical.com

and some really nerdy further reading:

Demography and life history of the egg parasitoid,
Trichogramma brassicae, on two moths Anagasta kuehniella and
Plodia interpunctella in the laboratory
S Iranipour, A Farazmand, M Saber, and Jafarloo M Mashhadi
Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran
Agriculture and Natural Resource Research Center of East Azarbaidjan, Tabriz, Iran

Journal of Insect Science: Vol. 9 | Article 51
www.insectscience.org
10 July 2009