Now that the heat wave is over and we are back to just hot days of summer and lower humidity, I sprayed the plants with The English Lady's Manure Tea. I seems to be working well, greening the plants up and giving them the strength to recover from the heat and tolerate the active insects. It's a foliar feeding so I just mixed it up in the sprayer with a 1:10 ratio manure tea to water, gave the sprayer 20 pumps for pressure and gave the plants a spritz on a calm morning with no rain in the forecast.
The soaker hose is also working well. I've used it twice a week for 45 minutes each time. The leaves and blooms of the plants stay dry and the water soaks in deeply to encourage deep roots for times of drought probably ahead in August. The herb planters and flower containers on the deck, patio, and front sidewalk and the hanging pot still take quite a bit of time to water in well.
After an initial spray with soap insecticide after the rainy, cool June days, the plants are looking very healthy. The leaves are whole and dark green, not chewed by insect mandibles or weakened or discolored by sucking insect mouth parts.
But, once again, am I ahead of myself? Overconfident? Thinking I'm in control of this thing we call "Nature." We still have August ahead in the garden--and who knows what damage weather and the little beasties can still do!
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