The services of ladybugs are required at Thistle Dew, so I obtained a quantity — 1500 or so — and turned them loose this evening.
Also purchased additional packets of seeds, as my earlier experiments — carrots and some salad greens — have failed to yield much and the plot looks barren. Potatoes are doing well, as are collard greens and spinach.
Carrots are tricky, for me anyway. Slow to germinate and from all accounts, inconsistent. Who needs that? So we’ll do some more greens, some broccoli and spinach, and some cabbage. Leafy greens. Tomatoes are coming along, as is basil. So we’ll have a few fresh items from the garden this summer.
One lesson I learned is that irrigation systems for small plots like mine are more trouble than they’re worth. If you water everywhere, you’re liable to get weeds everywhere. But if you water just the veggies you are about, everything else withers away. Drip systems are all very well, but who wants to run a line to each head of romaine or bunch of spinach? Easier to carry a can of captured rainwater out there and walk the rows. You can see what’s going on and deal with it at the time.