We finally gave up the hopeless fight with aphids today and I dug up the what was left of the cilantro and consigned it to the cylindrical file. The garlic plants we earlier dug up also perished but one still remains, growing strong.
25 August 2006 - Bradley the Dadley
Our garden has become rather neglected lately. we dug up some garlic about a week ago and discovered it hadn't really grown. A bummer, but we put it back anyway. The cilantro now looks weird and much of it has died. We've used some basil, and it's pretty good, but the oregano is by far our best crop. The aphids couldn't even slow it down and it grows much faster than we can eat it! |
Our neighbor below us, Dorica, gave us this lovely basil plant to add to our garden last week. Tonight Alora noticed that the cilantro looked funny, and sure enough, it was infested with aphids. Hundreds of the little buggers! This picture I took is out of focus, but it was the best I could get. All the little black dots are aphids. There are also a few on the oregano and basil. Alora did her best to kill as many as she could by hand, but I do not know if that will be enough. It seems that our new basil plant is the culprit, but correlation is no proof. We will probably never know for sure. |
I think we've enjoyed the oregano most from our garden because the girls don't like cilantro and the garlic is not yet ready to harvest. Fresh oregano has a very interesting property - it really numbs your mouth! I don't exactly what chemical is involved, but it's quite a powerful effect; definitely better than any mouth-numbing chemicals available over-the-counter.
With the worst of the summer heat passed our little plants are growing away, especially the oregano. You'll also note we've put up fencing to keep our little Zara chicken in. The passing of the heat wave has also allowed us to be more lax in our watering since the soil doesn't dry out every day.
This is our garden. Dad got it at Target!!! Is that so cool that he got it at Target. I got to water the plants. I tried the cilantro. I did not like it.
This is our garden ... I think we killed the cilantro.