Now that the summer is in full swing, there are some pests showing up in the garden.
If you have lots of little holes in the leaves of your leaf-greens – those are flea beetles! If you look closely you will see the tiny black beetles in your plants. Leaf miners (video)are laying their eggs on the underside of your beet and Swiss chard and the larvae create burned-looking patches on your leaves. Those cute looking white butterflies hanging around the garden are Cabbage moths, and are laying eggs on the underside of kale, bok choy, broccoli and cabbage leaves.
Fortunately, treating all of these problems is fairly easy. A close inspection of each plant to remove the pests with a strong jet of water, and treatment with neem oil or black soap if the problem is more severe plus covering the affected crops with a floating row cover for the next few weeks. Your presence in the garden is always your garden’s best protection. Carefully inspect the underside of vulnerable plant leaves and scraping off the eggs, and remove any damaged leaves from the plant.
In the early season it is essential to weed and water daily! Once your plants are fully established, you won’t need to weed very much, but now while your vegetable seedlings are small it is super important! Water deeply, ideally first thing in the morning on days that it will not be raining. For a 30 square foot garden you should be watering about 20 minutes, and using a nozzle to on ‘shower’ setting.
If you have an early-spring planted garden, you can start harvesting! Remove larger outer leaves of leafy greens for a continual harvest and pull radishes after 25ish days! Investigate with your finger to see if roots are big enough to your liking. Remember that all of your plants need their space! If your beets or carrots are all in a clump you can gently transplant them as per this handy video.