Saturdays in the Garden: Getting Crops In, Pests Out

Spring has sprung full force toward summer, with spring rains nourishing new growth in our little organic family garden.  It’s incredibly satisfying to see a simple seed become the plant that will soon produce summer squash.  It’s been good to finish direct seeding pole beans and corn, lettuce, more spinach, plus herbs.

I also admire the beauty of these strong alliums that will eventually share garlic goodness for our kitchen.

The kids love picking fresh strawberries, and I enjoy providing them with these organically grown fruits instead of those doused with pesticides.  Gardening without toxic chemicals does have its challenges, though.  It’s been a really wet few days, and too wet for me to sprinkle diotomaceous earth around the young plants.  I’ve been using eggshells around the strawberries, which I think has cut down on pillbugs. But this slug invasion has reminded me that I might want to add both diatomaceous earth and epsom salts to deter them.

Next week on Saturdays in the garden:  more on detering pests naturally and why it’s still worth it to garden organically!