The Grow Op – an urban gardening experiment

So I did not expect anything approaching a pest problem in my lovely little sunroom – boy was I wrong. I have had a massive aphid infestation, which i noticed right before i left town for ten days. I knocked them off where I saw them and hoped for the best. Apparently that is not a comprehensive pest control strategy. Having returned last night, it was an Aphid orgy on my red and hot pepper plants. Oh, how I wept and raged and shook my fist at the gods…But that didnt work, so I tried a solution from my good friend Janet – literally: I used a weak soap solution and sprayed the shit out of those little bastards this morning. I will keep you all updated on the results, but Janet’s reports were of unmitigated success.

In brighter news, I have a huge cucumber! No, not (just) in my pants, but also in my garden. I was having major problems with my cucumbers being shriveled and pathetic – also not just in my pants. It turns out that they need a serious water supply, and I wasnt being diligent enough about keeping my SIP full of water. Moral of the story: Cucumbers are mostly water.

But all these issues pale in comparison to the nuclear A-bomb that our supposed ally THE SUN dropped on my garden over the last few days. The heat has totally decimated my poor garden! I basically spent the morning doing triage, as most of the flowers (Catnip, Chamomile, and Sunflower) were badly burned, and looking awfully sad. Also my herbs took a beating. I don’t think a couple of them are going to recover.

Light a candle for my garden, friends…