Vegetables Gardening - Growing Organic Vegetables

Hi Sally - it is so nice to hear from you, being in Wales and all. A few years ago, when I was asking everybody in this group if concrete would leach chemicals if I used it in the garden as borders, I decided to combine all plants in one garden. I did this because I was creating terraced gardens and I wanted perennial plants along side veggies and herbs. For the most part, everything seems to be growing well but I learned that veggies, herbs, and flowering plants all have different PH needs and testing the soil is key. Grouping them all together was causing some to flourish more than others and the herbs were getting out of control.

Then, I introduced Roses. I thought, since I've done so well so far, I can handle roses. Wow, was I wrong! While my zucchini and cucumbers were growing relatively on their own, most of my time was being taken up by the nasty J. Beetles and their extended family who have made my gardens home. Now I'm thinking - if I can save my roses by controlling the green worms that attacked them earlier in the year and find a way to evict the beetle, I will officially be a gardener.

I will try the Milky spore, and your suggestion of placing black plastic around the base is excellent!

Thanks for another great idea from you and this group.

C.T.
Sent from my iPad

On Jul 16, 2013, at 11:59 AM, sally glendinning <wirlybirdone@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi CT !
>
> Sorry, but I'm mainly a vegetables person, plus I haven't heard of it being a problem in the UK -- so I've no experience of it.
>
> If you look on www.greenridgelandscaping.com (can't do links at the moment!) there's a biological control available called milky spore,but it only gets rid of the grubs, not the adult. Other than that it's chemical -- but not an organic -- control.
>
> If you use milkyspore and use a plastic sheet -- white, or black plastic (depending on your climate and your purse) -- on the ground around the plant you can prevent dispersal this year and kill any grubs already in the ground.
>
> You could also look up/contact www.ca.uky.edu -- if they're doing research they might come and grub up your grubs for you!
>
> Don't forget to keep the roses well-fed.
>
>
> Hope this is of some help -- from Sally in the Wilds of West Wales (UK).
>
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