Interesting times in garden. Reading the tea leaves, NOAA’s 30-day weather forecast, and crossing our fingers—seeds for Zephyr and zucchini squash and cucumbers were planted on Saturday! The Remay cloth—a.k.a. thermal covers—should provide 4 degrees of weather protection. It is a small risk: $3 for seeds. The reward: eating fresh squash and cucumber 4-6 weeks earlier than in previous years. Normally the last day for a killing frost is May 14th in Asheville—but with the weather patterns we have experienced this winter and spring and NOAA’s forecast for this weather pattern to continue—it is a risk worth taking. Keep your fingers crossed!
Back to the more mundane times in the garden—weeding and the ongoing work of keeping the clover from overtaking our garden space. The teams this past week have turned the edges of all the rows…thank you. One big down side to the warm weather is the early appearance of cabbage loopers—little green caterpillars that eat the leaves of all the vegetables currently planted in the garden! If the damage becomes excessive we will begin a control program with Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt). Bt is a soil-dwelling bacterium, commonly used as a biological pesticide. Please remember that the garden is always closed on Mondays for spraying, should we need to or not.
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