Friday 6 July 2012

Volunteers with us this summer


We have volunteers helping us in our gardens this year!

A big thanks to the students from the Explore program who will be with us every Wednesday in July.

A big thanks to the folks at the Mathew House who will be helping us with some maintenance and in individual plots.

Cow pots


One of our gardeners wanted to share this blog post with you. You can purchase seed starting pots made from cow poo. Want to find out more?

http://ecoproductsthatwork.com/cowpots-gardening-with-cow-poo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cowpots-gardening-with-cow-poo

Thursday 5 July 2012

Got Potato Beetles? Read this!


Here is some advice on how to combat Colorado Potato Beetles from one of our gardeners

We seem to have a plague of Colorado Potato Beetles this year. If we let them get going, they are going to be very difficult to get under control They are voracious and if you don't keep a good handle on them, they can eat a potato patch right down to the ground in a few days. (I saw them do this to Lee Coates' garden one year). They are also very fond of tomatoes, eggplant, peppers etc.

Over the years, I have come across a few hints for dealing with them. There are several stages at which they can be controlled with a bit of luck and work. The adults are those large yellow and black beetles. The larvae start out as small black things and as they grow older and larger, they become orange and more shaped like the beetle (but soft). The eggs are laid on the underside of the leaves in small clusters, and are bright gold and pointed, shaped a bit like miniature rice grains. The entire cluster is usually about 2 cm or so across. 

  1. Wear a rubber gloves if you are in the least bit squeamish and carry a can half full of soapy water. Pick or knock the insects into the can. I haven't tried it, but you can likely spray the small black stage with soapy water. There are often too many of these to pick. You can also just squish them between two fingers. 
  2. Examine the underside of the leaves for the egg clusters. These can be crushed between your fingers. 
  3. I've found Diatomaceous Earth to be fairly effective to control what you miss by hand picking. It consists of finely ground fossilized sea shells. It isn't harmful to animals or humans (but like any powder, you don't want to breath in a whole bunch of it). I buy it in bulk at Arbor Environmental on Bank Street. I put mine in a squirt bottle and sort of puff it onto the plant. Don't forget to do the underside of the leaves. It needs to be reapplied after a rain storm. It doesn't hurt the plant, but it will also kill pollinating insects. Diatomaceous Earth is sometimes called 'Fossil Flower' and can be an ingredient in other insecticides. It is a mechanical control. The sharp edges of the ground shells pierce the insect and cause it to lose its body fluids and die. Sort of 'death by a thousand cuts'. Diatomaceous Earth is also fairly effective for the striped cucumber beetle. Dust the undersides of the leaves and the stem where it comes out of the soil to prevent the beetles from following the stem down and laying their eggs on the roots of your squash, melon, pumpkins, cucumbers, zucchini etc. 
Hope that this information helps hold them at bay until we can get to the workshops. 

Jayne Huntley

First plant a row delivery!


A huge thank you to contributors from Debra Dynes Family House and the Ottawa Food Bank.

Today's delivery included:
  • 2 lbs garlic scapes.
  • 5 lb lettuce
  • 2.5 lb zucchini
  • 2.75 lbs swiss chard
  • 1.25 lbs kale

Later today there were more donations that will be dropped off tomorrow. They are being kept cool until then. This donation includes
  • 5.5 lbs onions
  • 1.25 lbs garlic scapes
  • 1 lb lettuce 

The Nepean Allotment Gardeners donated a total of 16.75 lbs food this week. What an impressive beginning!

If you have any procduce to donate, please contact Louise at donohue.miller@sympatico.ca