prepping for garden check #2

This week in the garden I prepared for my second graded garden check. Since I wasn't able to do much to my plot last week, this week I had twice as much weeding to do. Also this week I had to do my least favorite gardening tasks: building up the beds with a hoe and evening out the walkways in-between beds with a rake. I'm happy to say I've noted some flowers as well as vegetables on some of my plants!

hopefully this zinnia flower will bloom by next week!

a purple flower on my eggplant plant!

the first sign of a red knight pepper!

Other plants that began to flower include zucchini, squash, and both types of tomato. I fertilized all the plants on my plot that looked stunted and need a little boost. Lastly, I sprayed both insecticides. I was especially sure to spray my bean plants with BT because they are getting demolished by tons of caterpillars! The caterpillars munch on the leaves and then cover themselves with the leaf edge (like a blanket) to conceal themselves.

In lecture this week we learned about various garden pests. A pest is essentially an organism that can cause injury or loss to a garden. The main pests I encounter in my garden are caterpillars and whiteflies. Caterpillars are chewing pests (refer back to my bean anecdote) while whiteflies are sucking pests. Whiteflies are so detrimental to plants because they are vectors for diseases. As I explained in previous posts, BT is used to kill chewing pests, namely caterpillars. BT is a digestive insecticide; when caterpillar larvae digest the insecticide, BT crystals become toxic specifically within the larvae's gut. Contrastingly, Neem is sprayed to kill whiteflies. It is a systematic insecticide, meaning the plant absorbs the insecticide and the pest intakes the insecticide when sucking on the plant. Neem messes with the whiteflies' lifestyle, producing hormonal changes that ultimately kill the pests. These two insecticides gradually kill insects. This weekend, my gardening teacher applied an insecticide called Admire Pro to my plot. This is a soil-applied insecticide that paralyzes the muscles of insects, killing them very quickly.