Suck it rabbits!

The (hopefully) rabbit-proof fence. Ok, so they can likely jump more than 3 feet high. Hmm, the interwebs tells me that rabbits can jump "36 inches or higher...". I'm willing to gamble that there is enough easy to reach food that rabbits will be detered by the fence. Besides, even if it isn't entirely effective against rabbits, it can surely keep out the litterbox cats and baby D.

Black bugs on Nasturtiums

These little buggers are kind of aphid and they descend with ferocity on my nasturtiums. Nasturtiums serve 2 purposes in the vegetable garden. Firstly, they're delicious. But I'll discuss edible flowers more when I actually have some flowers to eat. Also, they act as a "trap crop" which draws little haters like these aphids away from my more valuable vegetable crops.

My first course of action has been to pick them off by hand. If the assault continues, I have heard of some pepper-based organic insecticides that might keep them away.

Grubs in the Chard part 3

Suck it grubs! Chard victorious.

Grubs in the Chard part 2

Many grubs have died under the blade of my trowel. I've dug up the wilting chard and picked them off. Dug them out of the soil around the chard too. The chard seems to be recovering!

The outer leaves are wilted and dead, but there is new growth!

What's eating the mustard?

After further investigation and consultation, it seems very unlikely that ants would be devouring the roots of my mustard green. (Not sure what the ants would be doing swarming in and out of the roots.) But the root damage combined with the little holes in the leaves of the mustard point to flea beetles as the culprit.
These can be a big problem and may get into other plants (like the eggplant) once they're done with the mustard.
There are options for controlling them, including diatomaceous earth, which absorbs lipids from the exoskeleton causing the critters to dehydrate. (It's also useful for removing DNA). That link there is about all I know about diatomaceous earth.
Will see how this infestation progresses before taking chemical intervention.

Ants in the Mesclun

After finding the grubs all over the chard, I assumed I would find them on the big mustard greens that were already dwarfing the rest of the mesclun greens. Instead on the mustard greens, I found ants. The dirt around them was teeming with little brown ants. They were boring in and out of the root. Not sure if I can do anything about them. In any case, the nearby lettuces do not seem to be affected.

Grubs in the Chard

With things finally growing comes the horrible pests that strike them down. After noticing many of the young swiss chard had suddenly gone limp and keeled over, I dug one up and discovered several fat grubs on the roots.

Beneficial nematodes, neem oil, and milky spores can be used to combat grubs in the soil. I dug out tons of them and smashed them, but I'm afraid of the ones I didn't find...

Survival

The garden survived our week away. The peas have sprouted and are going strong. There bibb lettuce, mesclun and mache are all showing great promise. There are even some chard and carrot sprouts starting to poke their way through. Nothing yet from the parsley or cilantro in the herb beds.
As if the chipmunks, bunnies and squirrels aren't enough to content with we now have wild turkeys as well! The bunnies are easy to scare away and Lucky does a good job of keeping watch. The chipmunks are a little cheeky, but even they will run when chased by a large grumbling animals (me). The turkeys, however, are terrifying. They're huge, and they just look at you. I am afraid of the turkeys.
Temperatures have been very warm - it's been in the low 90s for a few days. The leaves on the large trees are starting to come out.
As it stands now, the central and western beds get full sun from aboutb 9-5, with some additional dappled sun in the early morning and evening. The eastern bed gets full sun from about 11:30-5:30, but that big oak hasn't set its leaves yet.
On 4/26/09, I started some additional seeds in pots in doors. Despite the hot temps, we are still (technically) in frost territory. I started 2 pots each of Persian Cucumbers, Asian Cucumbers, French Beans, Kentucky Beans, Parsley and Basil.
The strawberries are looking perky and green. I mulched them with pine needles to up the acid content of the soil.