Ohioguy wrote:
songbird wrote:

it happens here all the time (no pesticides).
in this case glyphosate isn't a pesticide anyways
it is a herbicide.

There are many different kinds of pesticides. Herbicides kill
plants. Fungicides kill fungus. Insecticides kill insects. There are
also rodenticides, biocides and others. Anyway, these are all pesticides.

ah, ok, i see what you mean. i wouldn't use
pesticide in place of herbicide as i generally
don't consider many weeds to be pests (just a
few).


this season i have several examples of pests doing
some damage, but not "complete failure" level damage.
i've left them alone and most of the plants have easily
outgrown the damage.

I have previously had a fungus get so out of control that it
completely wiped out my gourds. This was despite applying garden
sulphur to the leaves.

yeah, these humid midwest summers can be
hell on the dry loving plants.


I have also had other vine crops utterly
destroyed by squash vine borer. This last one is very aggravating,
because you can even have large fruits on the vine, and be expecting a
harvest when it happens.

sure, that would suck. we have had more trouble
from people stealing melons/squash than losing them
from bugs. we haven't grown any now for a few years
because of that. this season there is a vagrant
squash plant that i'll let grow and we'll see how
it goes. if the borers get it i won't fret, the
plant is a freebie and the space will be covered
one way or another. if the squash plant can do
it then i won't need to worry about a different
cover until the peas go in again.


i'm glad. it seems that much of
what people do when they put in lawns
and gardens is try to outdo the neighbors

I never use fertilizer or anything on my lawn. What's the point?
You just have to mow more often, and it kills off fireflies and
diversity. Why pay for something you don't need, just to force yourself
to spend more time mowing and buying more gasoline, which pollutes the
air further?

majorly agreed...


Anyway, I have more clover and variety out in the yard
than just about anybody else nearby. The 'Trugreen' trucks like to
target our house as one of the lone standouts in the neighborhood when
they go around trying to drum up business. I know it probably sounds
strange, but I'll put chemicals on my food way before I'll spray it all
around the yard. My plants have to look like they're dying or
something, though, and I do tend to try to manually pick off the
offending critters first, if possible.

i hand pick first too. if the trouble is
aphids i sometimes will prune or pull the
plant. lately the ladybugs have been doing
ok in keeping the gardens clear of aphids.


The only way I'm interested in "outdoing" the neighbors is perhaps by
installing a cistern to capture some of the rainwater to water plants
with,

i'd love it if we had that kind
of setup here too. we use the well
water as it is good, but rain water is
much better.


or maybe in converting more of my lawn into a productive garden.

we have done that here to the point
where only about 5% of the grass/lawn is
left to mow. that makes me happy as i
would much rather plant gardens, weed,
mulch, harvest, etc than mow. now that
i've converted the one large area that
used to be a field of random weeds into
more managed spaces including a supply of
green manure for other gardens and making
fertilizer (using worms).


If we had enough room, I would also have a small wetland area in the
back. This year I planted some garden crops out in the front yard,
around the mailbox. (kohlrabi and kale) I may expand this slowly. I
would like almost my whole front yard to be a garden, but I'm a bit
worried about how the neighbors in this area would react to something
that unusual. We are fairly new to the place, and I'm already putting
out an urban chicken coop in the back yard.

if you are in a city or town there may
even be regulations about how tall your
grass can be before you start getting
threats of mowing from the outside. i
was rather amazed when i lived with my
exgf that she got a letter for letting a
few plants grow taller in her lawn so
they could flower and set seed (we suspected
her ex for instigating that). oy!

i'm tremendously lucky here, we aren't
in the city/town and no nearby neighbors
to harrass us over such things. the only
trouble we get is from drifting sprays
from the farm fields or runoff if there
is a lot of rain quickly.

we have a small pond, but it is kept
sterile (not my doing, i would like
a real frog habitat, but that's not
happened yet). i use various methods
for keeping runoff sequestered in low
areas but if it is dry for a week or
two then these areas go dry. i would
like to have a much deeper spot for a
pond but not yet. some day...
i have a good source of water that
could be used to keep the level somewhat
constant and i have a design in mind
but getting it by the management and
going is a whole different story.

good luck with your plans.


songbird

"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
FarmI wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote in message

I also have a BS in Environmental Studies.

I'm not ready to go organic, and probably never will.

LOL.

You don't need tertiary studies to have BS.

True, but I did enjoy it. It got me wondering if there was such a thing as
a Fundie Republican Uni

FarmI wrote:
"David Hare-Scott" wrote in message
...
FarmI wrote:
"Ohioguy" wrote in message

I also have a BS in Environmental Studies.

I'm not ready to go organic, and probably never will.

LOL.

You don't need tertiary studies to have BS.

True, but I did enjoy it. It got me wondering if there was such a
thing as a Fundie Republican Uni

In the US sure, they vary from fairly respectable (except where subject
matter clashes with Fundieness) to worthless degree mills. In Oz no. But
give the Mad Monk a turn in office and you never know.

D