Aphids and horn worms and snakes, oh my!

Of course, part of having any successful garden is pest control. If you want to remain GREEN and refrain from poisons on the food you plan to eat, like I do, this can be challenging. Daily inspection of my plants will allow me to "catch" the culprits early in their damaging cycle and deal with them on the spot, whether it be with an organic spray, or a trap or the simple act of picking the critters off, as is the case of the hornworms. And I can accept the fact that they've got to eat, too.

However, even I was flummoxed to find a copperhead dozing under my cucumber plant yesterday. I don't like snakes. In fact I'm terrified of them, but I recognize that there are lots of good snakes out there, and on the very rare occasion I've run across one of those good snakes, we've gone our separate ways. But this was a copperhead and I just about touched it! Virginia has exactly 3 poisonous snakes, I'm told. What bad luck for both of us that one of them ended up in my garden. So, (and my PETA friends can just close their ears now) my son killed it for me.

I feel bad about this. I like nature and its creatures. But I like my garden, too, and I don't think I could have gone back out there today and started working in it if I was looking over my shoulder (or at my feet) the whole time. In fact, I'm nervous anyway. I'm wondering if mom is around. Anybody have a mongoose for sale?

Slowing down and looking around

Water, sun and soil. The big three components of successful gardening. Too much of one, not enough of another and your best efforts are thwarted before you get started. Here in Virginia Beach we had a very wet spring and as a result I was late getting my vegetables garden planted. So the 90+ degree temperatures we've had for the past week were an especially tough blow to my barely established transplants. I've gone to 2-a-day watering sessions, early morning and late afternoon, for both my raised beds and my container grown plants.

In the process, I've stumbled upon an unexpected benefit. Peace. Quiet. The sounds of birds in the morning. The sight of dragonflies in the afternoon. Like just about everyone I know, I'm busy. Too busy for my own good, I suspect. Remembering that gardening is my passion precisely because it forces me into a life-rhythm that must make room for patience, an appreciation of nature, and nurturing, rather than multi-tasking, is a great gift!