And then it was June... in New England

Very NICE!

hruten - How cute! I see a real trend in everything bee-related lately. I'm finding mine really fun, to watch and to think how we can provide sustenance for 100,000 insects, who in turn give us honey...

I have to do a hive inspection today. hopefully the girls have capped the honey cells and I can place the bee escape on and tomorrow....dare I say it....extract...

Wow. Extraction. I have no idea how that works. That will be next summer.

One of my hives is so hyper I had to put a 4th medium super on it yesterday. The other one has 3 mediums and barely filling out that 3rd, but I may throw a 4th on there soon just to give it a hint anyway.

Let us know how much honey you get. First year here, all I have is sugar water in the cells I guess.

Look what I harvested yesterday! My first of these veggies!!!



OK yes, the beet is the size of a marble, the carrots are almost the length of my thumb, the zuc is ...small. But heck, they tasted good.

OK, no laffing...Hey...I hear laffing...knock it off....




CC

LOL, I aint laughing, you got more than I got.

Yeah, I'm not laughing, I'm crying, looking out over my nothingness.

Besides, the tender, young veggies are prized.

And I've been taken over by BUGS!!! Ahhhhhh! Cucumber beetles, and cabbage worms, oh my... what am I to do? I thought my plants were just starting to look strong and in flies this swarm of veggie-eaters. Crap!

Hunt up what wee beasties that can seen, kill them by hand then put tulle over the beds.... that's what I did today.

Extra tip: The cucumber beetles like to hide just under the surface of the soil.

I went to town with the Neem Oil. Hopefully this will kill off any cucumber beetles. I have some fertilizer to use after they are gone.

I think I am going to have to break down and get some neem for the dreaded cucumber beetles. They are sucking the life out of some of my summer squash.

I am going to make some yellow sticky traps for them later today. I hope I don't catch too many bees on the traps.

I was out in the garden at about 5:30 this morning as the sun was coming up because it is going to get H O T!
This mornings harvest:
1 # swiss chard
1/2 # carrots from thinning
1/2 # peas (the last)
1/2 # lettuce (this is almost gone by too)
1 1/2 # red beet greens

Camp, have you had good results with neem in the past? I'm just curious what your results have been if you have. I think when I applied neem in the early spring, some of my plants were young and suffered from using it. I'm sure that was my own ignorance and probably should have applied it gently to a chosen plant or two to test the results first. I am by no means trying to discourage your use of the product.
My beans are no longer snacks but MEALS!

I have never used Neem before. Yesterday I was standing in the insecticide/ herbicide aisle for 30 minutes, absolutely baffled. I walked out with a can of Tanglefoot for small cardboard traps.

I KNOW that quite often an intervention leads to another intervention, requiring yet another intervention, and so on... but I have reached my limit with the striped cucumber beetles.

I am tremendously reluctant to use any insecticide, organic, natural or synthetic as I prefer to have the beneficial and predatory insects in the garden; insecticides are simply too often indiscriminate in their killing abilities to offer me much comfort.

I have been doing some research and there are certain things (insecticides) that you can water certain plants with that will kill the leaf eating insects. I am still uncomfortable about using these products until I learn more. If I find anything about beans, I will let you know.
Check THIS out. An impressive, comprehensive read.

Camp, all I can say is you must be truly frustrated to be at the point you're at now. I know this is decision you are not taking lightly. I feel for you

"Camp, have you had good results with neem in the past? I'm just curious what your results have been if you have. I think when I applied neem in the early spring, some of my plants were young and suffered from using it."


Rooster,

I've been using Neem Oil for a couple weeks now and I use it on EVERYTHING, because I hate bugs. Buts thats just me. I've read quite a bit about it before I decided to get some. Neem, in-particular doesn't hurt the hard-body (sorry, the word escapes me)bugs, unless of course you spray them directly to the point where they smother. But it will make your soft-body (again the word) bugs ill. They essentially stop eating, mating, producing and then die off. It can also smother them if sprayed directly. It also prevents the larvea (sp?) from coming to life and feeding on your plants. If sprayed in the soil surrounding your plants, this is great for cucumber beetles.

The neem hasn't had any poor effect on my plants, in fact despite the cucmber beetles I was battling, I just pulled off four fresh zuchinnis for dinner this weekend!! And I have one cucumber just about ready to come in too! Even the smaller plants seem to handle it well.

I do know that neem is very powerful stuff and may burn your plants if not properly diluted. Also, it can't be used in the bright hot sun. Something about burning the plant because of its strength. I use: 1 ml dish soap, 5 ml neem oil, and about 1 liter of warm water.

Just saying... I'm happy with my results so far.


Where I got some of my info:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5111583_make-neem-oil-pesticide.html
http://scarab.msu.montana.edu/YardGarden/docs/neem-insect.htm