Jan Rutella's potager in the village of Potsdam is luxuriantly healthy and productive this year. Jan made her first batch of pickled beets this week.
Jan is very happy about the ripe eggplant in her garden, not so happy about the disease attacking her dwarf apple trees.
I know from driving around the North Country peering into people's yards that many gardens are robust and apparently productive this year. That said, I've been hearing regularly from gardeners battling insects and disease they don't normally find in their yards.
Last summer, Dale Hobson reported at The Garden Plot about an invasion of leek moths in the North Country. This week, a reader in Potsdam reported that he has seen signs of these moths in his garden this year for the first time. He pulled his crop a bit earlier than he might have this year because it seemed stressed, whether related to the moths or not.
Crop rotation is one recommendation for outwitting pests. If you usually plant all of your garden space, crop rotation is complicated by the fact that when you are ready to plant garlic in the fall, other crops are still bearing in the space you might use. One solution is to always leave one section of your garden fallow for rotation. Is anyone else out there experiencing leek moths? Any other troubling insects besides the cucumber beetles we covered earlier this week?
Martha Foley and horticulturalist Amy Ivy periodically discuss insects in the garden during their Monday morning conversations. If you are not sure whether the insects on your plants are good ones or bad ones, listen to this discussion.
