Luck Be A Lady

This morning I realized we weren't the only ones who had noticed the monster artichoke. I saw a bright red lady bug. I happily pointed it out to munchkin. But then I saw another and another. Aw shoot- I knew what was coming next. I flipped over some of the smaller new growth leaves and there they were. Black aphids.



But then I realized it was the perfect excuse to buy more lady bugs. Which my daughter and I love doing. We went to Shades of Green (www.shadesofgreensa.com) and picked up a bag of 1,700. You put them in the fridge and release them either early morning or dusk. Before you release them water the plant(s) you need the pest control on. Water the leaves and the ground well. The bugs are going to be thirsty and will stay on your plant if they have enough water and aphids to eat. After they have eaten what is there to be eaten, some will stay in your garden to fall asleep and some will fly on. This evening at dusk I released about 1/3 of the bag. I'm saving the rest so my daughter and I can enjoy them tomorrow. My husband informed me that the first step could have been to just pressure spray water on them which would remove most, if not all, of the aphids and that they have a difficult time returning to the plant. So since you need to water regardless you might want to start and end there...but then again what fun would that be?