Ellen Wallace
The most difficult moment in the gardening season is upon me: watching the aphids eat buds in my newly flowering garden.
Photos: click on images to view the grim scene larger
If I leave them alone the ladybugs and flying ants will multiply and suddenly devour them. They are far more effective than any chemical product at destroying aphids, but you have to give the flower-eaters time to get started, so the insects that eat them find an adequate population.
Saturday night I took a glass of white wine, an elegant mineral Chasselas from one of Vaud’s best terroirs for this grape (Henri Cruchon, Les Clos des Abbesses 2002, Morges) out to the garden, sat down and watched the minuscule, violent world of insects, a far rougher spectacle than Euro 2008 football matches. I felt like Gulliver. The ants vacuum up the aphids, then two ants bump into each other and stand up to battle each other. Next time I’ll try catching it on video.
You have to be a gardener to enjoy this kind of Saturday evening.
Two sources for increasing the ladybug population
in your garden (allow a week or more for delivery since they cannot be kept in stock):
- Schilliger Garden Centre, Gland
- Biogarten in Andermatt – site with shop, in German, but they accept phone calls in English
GenevaLunch, 8 June 2008.
Filed under: Garden
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.