Gardening Tips?

[Ron]

My wife & I have been growing a garden for the past 5-6 years & because we are pretty much city folks, we do not know a lot about gardening beyond the basics.
Rotate your crops, use sheep or cow manure, weed, get bedding plants, replenish the soil that has been lost due to erosion.
Our garden looks okay but we have a new problem........
A PEST IS EATING OUR CROPS!!!

Not a slug, not a Racoon, not a mouse, not a goat or cow, it is......
ROLLY POLLY'S, SOW BUGS, PILL BUGS, MINIATURE ARMADILLOS!

How can we get rid of them save for a low yield thermonuclear device??
Apparently the city frowns on the use of thermonuclear devices & they are illegal.

Go figure!

[KeptByTheWord]

Try sulfur. It has been my hands down best weapon against just about any predator that comes in my garden. Now, it won't smell the best, but it does work! I had turkeys, gophers, deer, and mean pests in my garden until I started using sulfur. Put the sulfur around the perimeter of your garden, and around and on top of any plants that are infected, or have something eating them. Sulfur tastes BAD and smells bad, but it keeps the BAD guys away, lol... and I actually kind of liked the smell of sulfur in my garden, because I didn't have to deal with the BAD guys anymore, lol! You can get sulfur at any gardening center. It lasts a long time.

Also for anyone dealing with chigger issues (this would be Southeners)... chiggers HATE sulfur, and is just about the only natural treatment that works to keep them away. Speaking from experience!

Also, you might consider planting marigolds and nasturtiums in your garden, in between your tomatoes, and fruit/vegetable bearing plants. I have done this also, and this has helped cut down on a huge bug problem as well.

Good luck!

[Praxeas]

Call Jose

[ApostolicKitty]

Originally Posted by Ron

Not a slug, not a Racoon, not a mouse, not a goat or cow, it is......
ROLLY POLLY'S, SOW BUGS, PILL BUGS, MINIATURE ARMADILLOS!

We call them doodlebugs.

I have a city thumb, too...

[Ron]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Call Jose

Jose can you see...?

[Ron]

Originally Posted by ApostolicKitty

We call them doodlebugs.

I have a city thumb, too...

We call them a nuisance!

[Ron]

My wife used pepper, good old fashioned ground black pepper!
So far, seems to work!

[commonsense]

Originally Posted by ApostolicKitty

We call them doodlebugs.

I have a city thumb, too...

I am a total city girl but have had moderate luck in gardening.

I do verry well with flowers.

More than one year my veggies were a free meal for any and all insect life.

This year mainly front yard flowers....in pots, in the ground, hanging planters......these are for enjoyment_____me and the neighbors

I have tomatoes in large planters on the back deck. So far the rain and sun are my friends and the plants look healthy

[ApostolicKitty]

One of the things I loved about when we lived in Indiana was that it seemed like most people had green thumbs.

I did very well with a small garden in front of an apartment I lived in back in the 1990's where I planted marigolds and other flowers. My only problem was the evening scorching sun...

I wanted to learn more when we were in Indiana, and I am sure I could have, but I really loathe coming into contact with bugs. LOL

[Jito463]

I'm a serial flower killer. You probably don't want my advice.