1. I've got a
problem on my orange honeysuckle/trumpet flower vine.
I thought there was dirt, or clumps of dirt, on the buds last
week. To my dismay, they are really zillions
of larvae of small black winged insects. The affected blossoms
are not maturing properly. I've got an organic home/garden/lawn,
so I'd like to find an organic solution. Seems like too much to
ask of my resident praying mantises. It sounds like you could have a really bad case of aphids.
There are many kinds, small black ones,
green ones, wooly ones. Yours sound like some of the ones we
have been dealing with here at the nursery recently ,
small black and winged.
The simplest method of dealing with aphids is to blast them with a jet
of water. This gets most of the aphids.
You can also liberally spray with an insecticidal soap,
use an organic insecticide product like K-Neem that we carry or use
beneficial insects like ladybugs,
lacewings or aphid midges, which we usually have in stock.
2. How can I
create protection with raised beds so I
can extend my growing season.? Raised bed protection is relatively easy. You can get rebar or
PVC tubing and bend it over to create a hoop over your raised beds
like a covered wagon. Then drape frost cloth over the whole thing
weighing down the sides. This will provide some minimal frost
protection.
If your raised beds have high walls and isn't too wide, you can also
use old window
panes to set across the raised beds to create a hot box when it gets
colder. You may also consider
with all of these putting bales of straw around the outside edge of
your raised bed to keep it warmer in the coldest months.
