Monday, May 9, 2011

Calling in the Reinforcements - The Surprise Revealed

Las week I mentioned being overwhelmed by cucumber beetles and yesterday I posted having found six squash bugs early in the season. My beans have a disease, my lettuce is bolting, my soil isn't balanced enough and the eggplants are struggling. I'm drowning - and it's early in the season.

See...look at these bean leaves. It's not just relegated to this patch of beans either. The beans on the side yard are showing the same damage.
The eggplant is showing obvious damage from flea beetles. They're everywhere and nowhere at once. I just can't find them, but their presence is obvious.




What does a woman do when faced with these obstacles at the start of the growing season? Why, she calls in reinforcements.




I needed a terminator of click beetles, the eradicator of earwigs, the only man I know who goes up against one squash bug after another and comes out victorious, sporting each of their heads on toothpicks to place high on his trellis as a warning to those that may tresspass against him. You may doubt his prowess, my friends, but you know. You know he's the master. The main man of gardening. The go-to guy for any of your needs. You need a planter? He's your man. Have your eye on an electrical thermostat to connect your greenhouse with your solar heated dish washer? He's your huckleberry. You may not recognize his back - but there is no denying the voice:








Yes, it's Mr. EG! Idiot Gardener, you were right. It was going to rain men.


EG was in town for some training he needed for work - since he was only about an hour from us, he was kind enough to stop by for some supper and a look see around the garden. It's piddly and paltry in comparison to his, but he learned me not to be afraid of nitrogen or of a little pesticide use in the right places at the right time. I'll shoot the garden with some stuff tomorrow and see if I can't spruce it up a bit.


I've enough EG fodder of our visit to last for a few posts, so I'll leave you with this last image.



It's just fantastic to have made friends like this. Gardeners ROCK!


The morning comes early. Thank you, EG, for making the trip. Sweet gardening dreams.

11 comments:

  1. Now how cool is that!!! Isn't it just what you expect from EG, who has to be one of the nicest people around. Even if he does talk funny. Come to think of it, you both do, LOL!

    Quick, get that saw away from The Boy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh My, A Jude-less EG video, on Ribbit's blog! How cool is that? What a treat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So glad y'all had such a nice visit. Your garden will not doubt benefit from it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How awesome is this! You are a lucky girl to have EG come to your garden!
    Hey EG when you coming to CA? I'll take you to Santa Cruz ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mr. E.G.!!!! How cool - I bet that visit was fun for the kids, too!

    ReplyDelete
  6. He he! This is absolutely awesome! As I was reading, I kept thinking the only person you could be describing was EG, but I was still so surprised when it was EG!!

    I agree with Granny, you both talk funny.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awe, this is good stuff. Mr. RG sure is a garden hero, I am glad he came by to help with your 'infestation' problems!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cool post and video! The "Mr. EG" part makes me smile everytime......

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hehe- with all the bug talk I thought for sure you were gonna tell us you got chickens! Boy was I RIGHT!
    *snicker*
    What a great treat. You'll definatley have to spill the secrets now. ;-)
    Wait a minute... Granny got a visit you got a visit - Who's coming to FLorida!?!?!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Granny, I'm always shocked to hear myself on film. My students always snicker that I have a northern accent, but seriously? Can they not hear me!?

    Y'all are so right. It was an utter delight to have EG come visit. I honestly don't think I've ever been so excited about a "garden event" in a long time. His thoughts, his ideas and his general unassuming nature endeared us to him immediately. It was surprising to hear his voice in person. I kept thinking I was watching a film of his and then realizing he was really there in person. It was rather surreal. I know we all feel the same way - that we know everything about each other and there's no way we haven't actually met since we're all obviously kindred spirits, since of all the garden blogs out there, we have our own circle, but it was just wonderful to share the gardening camaraderie with him.

    EG, you did a true good deed by coming out of your way. I know I'll remember it fondly and so will the kids. They've already made me reacall all of the Jude videos on your site. I'll most likely copy and paste this into my next post since I don't know if anyone will come back to check the comments.

    ReplyDelete