Oakville Newspapers

Oakville Beaver, 13 Jul 1994, p. 12

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Let nature take care of the garde One of the great benefits of garâ€" dening is the peace of mind in providâ€" ing fresh, safe vegetables to our famiâ€" lies without loading them up with pesticides. Surprisingly, the chance of garden disaster is greater if we use pesticides, unless we dump them on weekly with the persistence of an agribusinessman. Pesticides kill pests all right, but they also destroy soil life and natural predators such as ladyâ€" bugs, ground beetles, green lacewings, spiders, and toads. Without these natural predators, our garden is susceptible to ravenous pesky hordes. A good prevention technique is for the birds â€" literally. Some bird‘s diets n one of our recent garden seasons, I noticed halfâ€" moon shaped bites being taken out of our broccoli * about the size of a dollar coin. Research in all my gardening books proved fruitless, as did midâ€" night spy missions into the garden with a flashlight trying to spot nocturâ€" nal critters. Then one day, in broad daylight, I noticed our fiveâ€"yearâ€"old daughter, Charlotte, on her hands and knees lunching on the fresh broccoli. Such was the beginning of "The Giant Garden Pest" family fable. White Rose GREAT CARE IS TAKEN IN THE PREPARA:â€" TION PRODUCTION OF THIS AD, ERROR IN DESCRIPTION, ILLUSTRATION PRICING MAY OCCUR. IN THE EVENT OF A PRICING ERROR, THE ITEMSE) IN QUESTION WILL BE CHARGED AT CORRECT PRICE. DEMAND, MAY EXCEED AVAILABLE STOCK: WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES LIMITED TO STOCK ON HAND. NOT ALL PRODUCT AVAILABLE AT OUR KENNEDY RD. OR WHITBY LOCATIONS. NO LEISURE FURâ€" NITURE SOLD AT KENNEDY. WHITBY BURLINGTON STORES Mon. to Fri. 9:00a.m.â€"9:00p.m. Sat., Sun. Holidays 9:00a.m.â€"6:00p.m. This may all be great, you say, but what about those bad actors which are right now stealing the food from my table? What do I do after the attack comes? The ‘Rogues Gallery of Garden Critters‘ probably includes: Here are some attracting plants with their beneficials: white sensation cosmos (spiders, lacewings, ladyâ€" bugs); tansy (flies, lacewings, paraâ€" sitic wasps, insidious flower bugs); caraway (spiders, wasps and flower bugs); dill (ladybugs, spiders, sylphid flies, wasps); fennel (spiders and sylâ€" phid flies); and buckwheat (flies, ladybugs, and sylphid flies). Plant these liberally around and in your garâ€" den. There is a wide variety of benefiâ€" cial insects who will eat your pests, and you can attract them to your garâ€" den. are almost exclusively insects and it pays to attract them to your garden. Chickadees, wrens, swallows, native sparrows (not house sparrows), and woodpeckers will feast on garden pests. Install a bird bath and plant pines, junipers, serviceberries, hollies, cherries, mulberries, cotoneaster, native ornamental grasses, virginia creeper, and flowers to attract them. Earwigs â€" nasty looking with pinâ€" CLEARANCE SALE FROM JULY 13 TO 28, 1994 BURLING TON â€" 4265 FAIRVIEW ST. THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Slugs and Snails â€" responsible for more garden damage than any other pest, they eat into tomatoes and pepâ€" pers, and cheerfully skeletonize young seedlings as they emerge from the ground. They are repelled by onions and garlic interplanted among susceptible crops, or by crushed eggshells spread on the ground. Aphids â€" round, green, softâ€"bodied munchers living on roses, aphids can be knocked off with a spray of cold water or dried up with insecticidal soap. The best bet though, is to encourage ladybugs and green lacewings. A toad eats 10,000 earwigs in a season, another reason I‘m glad I‘m not a toad. You can trap earwigs by rolling up newspaper or setting out narrow tubes in the garden. The earâ€" wigs will quickly move in; shake the tubes into a pail of soapy water every day or two. cers that can really pinch, a few are good for decomposing organic matter; too many can ruin new seedlings, broccoli, and berries. If earwigs are a problem, a direct hit of insecticidal soap will make them writhe in agony, removing mulch will deprive them of their homes, and fostering toads will deplete their numbers. ©18"â€"24" WIDE 3115 DUNDAS ST. W. West of Winston Churchill 10 =24 W FI.UWERING SHRUBS â€" BURNHAMTHORPE ROAD WEST Cabbage Loopers â€" these small, green worms on cabbage and broccoli come from white butterflies which can be seen fluttering around the garâ€" den in June. We have a whale of a time racing through the garden with badminton racquets delivering stunâ€" ning forehands and backhands to the Diatomaceous earth, the razorâ€" sharp crushed shells of marine life, can be dusted around to pierce their soft bodies and kill them. Be extra careful around diatomaceous earth, though. You can eat it harmlessly, but wear a mask if dusting because it will harm your lungs and never rub your eyes when dusting, you can scratch your cornea with this stuff. Place boards in the garden, the slugs and snails will hide under them during the day and you can collect them and destroy them. Slug soup is reputed to have powerful aphrodisiac and intelliâ€" genceâ€"increasing properties. After seven years, our 2,00 squareâ€"foot garden requires few pe solutions because we are reluctant t use even organic insecticides such rotenone which are extremely toxic t« beneficials as well as pests. Letti nature take care of its own wil require patience and selfâ€"control t avoid quickâ€"fix solutions. The result are well worth it when you and you children contentedly graze in you. garden, eating food at its freshest an« most delicious. You may even be vis ited by the fabled Giant Garden Pest. | Earth to Oakville, do you read me Steven Moore is an environmenâ€" tal consultant with a Masters Degreé in Environmental Studies. Colorado Potato Beetles â€" bo‘j yellow with black lines runni lengthwise down their wing cover these give a very sansfymg crunc when pressed hard against a flat su: face. Pick them by hand and don miss the orange egg masses attache to the underside of your potato leave or you will soon tire of hearing th crunch. Treat striped cucumber bee tles the same. butterflies which explode delightful when strained through the strings great speed. A wonderful outing f the whole family. July 13, 1

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