Pollen Party

The other morning I walked out to my garden, as I do EVERY morning, to see what has occurred in the night. I'm always amazed at the growth, or the damage, that can occur in one night. So, I like to know immediately if I've been invaded by some sort of pest so that I can obsess immediately over what measures I need to take.

I haven't updated about my garden in some time, because honestly, I almost ripped out the whole thing about a week ago. Everything was dying! Every.Single.Plant was being attacked by any number of pests. I was amazed that my little yard could be the meeting place for every imaginable pest that can destroy a garden. My tomatoes were a wilting, yellowing MESS. I was so sad and so defeated.

Until this point, my garden was totally organic. The only fertilizer had been from my own compost. There had been no pesticide use. I sprayed a castille soap mixture at one point, but that's it.

As I desperately searched for ways to save my garden, I contemplated nuking the crap out of it with Sevin dust....which seems to be everyone's go-to insecticide. BUT, I love my dragon flies! I didn't want see them killed or fly off to greener (safer) pastures! I LOVE my daddy-longleggers! I didn't want to see them lying dead all over the place. I LOVE my hummingbirds! And I LOVE my bees! My adorable little hard working pollinators!

Look at this guy! On this particular morning, I was looking in at my zucchini plant and this guy was having a HAY DAY rubbing all up in the pollen. It was adorable! You can see his legs are covered in it. By the time I got back with my camera, he was inside a different blossom doing the same thing and in turn, doing his job as super pollinator.

I was so HAPPY!

I was so happy I didn't resort to using the Sevin. Because it would have been THAT harmful dust all over this cute little bee and it would have been THAT harmful dust he carried back to his hive. And it would have been THAT harmful dust that would have potentially killed the whole hive. And we can go on and on about all the other far reaching affects that the dust would have had, but we'll save that for another day.

But another problem I was having was lack of nutrients. Like I said, I was relying entirely on my compost as fertilizer and I'm afraid it just wasn't enough. There is no manure in it, just food scraps. So, I'm sad to say, as a desperate attempt at salvaging my garden, I applied Miracle Grow. I'll never do it again....I'll take the time to research more organic products....but like i said, I was desperate! So, I think my veggies were a little extra compromised and became easy targets for the pests. The Miracle Grow worked wonders! I have to say. So, I'm happy and I feel like I'm learning soooooo much about gardening, farming, being earth friendly, and the struggles with being pesticide-free. But, it's WORTH it!

In conjunction with all this gardening drama, I read the book The Organic Manifesto. Wow! Wow! Wow! So informative!

Since my kids were born, I made more of a conscious effort to be organic, cut out high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils, and limit harsh chemicals in my house. But, admittedly, it was not a very educated decision and it was based almost entirely on the health of my kids, not so much on affects to the environment. After reading this book, though, I know more about how supporting organic farming is beneficial in so many more ways! It makes it feel really worth the effort to me.