Whether you’re new to growing your own okra plants or you’ve been growing them for years, at some point in time, you’ve probably seen tiny specks clustered around the plants’ leaves, buds, or flowers. For beginning gardeners (like I was 10 or so years ago), it’s easy to ignore or overlook those specks. I certainly…
If you’re new to gardening, you might have looked out at your garden during a rainstorm and wondered if the rain would help take care of your pest problems. Maybe it would wash off and kill some of the aphids that have shown up in your garden recently, especially when it’s pouring outside. Could that…
Aphids are a practically unavoidable menace to gardeners everywhere. There’s nearly 5,000 different species, they’re spread across all corners of the world, and they’ll show up out of nowhere to siphon nutrients out of your favorite garden veggies. Beyond a hope and a prayer, there’s little you can do to keep them 100% out of…
One of my favorite things to grow is lettuce. I go overboard in the spring planting rows of butterhead, loose-leaf, and romaine (my neighbors love me!). And I can often get a great fall crop since I live in Zone 8, which has a longer growing season. But whether it’s spring or fall, one of…
It was the middle of summer, and my pepper plants were robust and fruiting. I eagerly strolled to the garden with my morning cup of tea to check their progress. But as I walked closer, I could tell something was wrong. The upper branches were drooping, and the leaves were covered with little black specks. …
At some point in time, practically everyone has experienced ant-related headaches. My most recent bout with ants was when I found a few of them wandering on my bathroom counter. It started with a couple ants here and there, but before I knew it, they were all over the place! It’s hard enough to find…
One morning, I awoke to a few ants in my dining room. No big deal. I swept them up and got rid of them. But by the third day, there were hundreds, and they’d traveled through the kitchen and into the laundry room too. Yikes! Has this ever happened to you? If so, you know…
Say it with me fellow grower: Aphids are the worst. These irritating pests love to swoop in on thriving gardens and flourish at our expense. If you’ve been gardening for any length of time, you’ve likely dealt with your fair share of aphids plus the destruction and paranoia they bring with them. There are many…
For such small creatures, aphids can really cause really big problems in your garden. If you’ve ever had a plant with a few little crawling dots one day, then come back the next to find it completely covered in dots, then you likely know how frustrating and overwhelming aphid infestations can be. But which plants…
Two years ago, I had a problem in a few of my raised garden beds. I remember waking up one morning and seeing my month-old pepper plants looking pretty ragged. I didn’t see any plant-chewing bugs around, so when the problem got worse over the course of the next few days, I figured I must…