organic pest control

I've been working in the garden instead of crafting. Somehow the presence of living things that depend on care can wield a much more effective guilt trip than, say, an unfinished high-necked lace top. The plants will die, whereas, I will merely forget where I was on the top and have to re-read the instructions.

I have a plot in the apartment community garden, which is organic. If this were not the case, I would probably be throwing around snail pellets with reckless abandon. I read that slugs and snails may experience an electric shock when crawling over copper, so I have a small barrier of pennies around a melon seeding, but I don't have enough pennies to surround my entire garden. As it is, I think I still may end up getting some kind of "organic" snail pellets to control those slimy and disgusting predators. Ugh.

My new enemy, however, is the spotted cucumber beetle. The first time I saw one, I thought, "Aw, it's a green ladybug! They eat pests!" I was so naive. They eat vine plants, such as cucumbers, zucchinis and melons (aka about 50% of my garden). I haven't found any effective organic controls other than scooping them up with my trowel and smashing them against the dirt. Who knew gardening could be so hostile?

The most exciting discovery today has been that if you spray a mixture of 10-30% skim milk and water on leaves affected by powdery mildew (again, the afflicted plant is the zucchini... it can't win!), it helps to eliminate the disease. Yay organic solutions! Maybe this will get me to drink milk again.

P.S. I have a crafting date set up for Sunday. Woohoo!