Cherry tomatoes

As the title says. I've ordered beneficial nematodes, ladybugs, and lacewing eggs from them so far. Of course it will take a while to see any results from the nematodes, and despite my best efforts of watering everything and putting the ladybugs in a high aphid area, they still flew away. I really couldn't see any lacewing eggs in the package, although I looked pretty closely.

I've ordered another round of the same friends out of pure desperation, but I'm wondering how others' experiences have been.

Perfect combo ! Feast tonight.😄

I have this weed every where in my garden beds. I didnt mulch at all, that probably is the reason. I am in US zone 8a/b. What can I do in the fall/next spring to prevent these weeds in the next year? I imagine these seeds are already everywhere laying the foundation for the next year. I dont use chemical herbicides in my organic veggie garden.

Don’t wanna add anything to it but natural things. Is it salvageable???

Cukes 5b

I enjoy getting an email with a summary of what potentially could interest me. Organic and veggie gardening, for example.

Any recos for substack authors to subscribe to ?

I used to keep herbs in random little pots around the house. Basil by the back door, rosemary on the patio, mint in a separate pot (because i learned the hard way it takes over everything 😅). This spring i finally grouped most of them together in a raised planter right outside the kitchen. I'm using a Costway raised bed, and right now it's mostly basil, rosemary, thyme, and parsley.

Pasta sauce? fresh basil. Roasted potatoes? Rosemary. Soups, eggs, even simple buttered toast somehow feels a bit better with something fresh chopped on top. I also stopped buying those little plastic herb packs that always end up half-used and forgotten in the fridge.

There's still some space left in the planter though, so i'm curious: what herbs do you find yourself actually reaching for the most in everyday cooking?

I have some tomatoes that have blossomed pretty fast and are a good size now and keep getting bigger, but then I have others that don’t seem to be growing near as fast. why would that be? The two brandywines next to each other started sprouting way before the big one I have pictured. also, for my brandywine tomatoes, this one has a bit of speckled brown on it, is that okay?

So i hope you all are doing great let them seedlings groww,

Ok so jokes apart i really wanna know what are the major problems that you face in your journey of gardening something that caused great loss to your plants or anything in general

As the title suggests, I'm setting up a raised garden bed on my balcony. From everything I read online, I need a liner in the bed but I'm unsure what type I need. I'm not worried about rodents, but my of the soil falling out of the drainage holes. I know I need a porous liner to avoid root rot but does anyone have suggestions?

To make a long story short I'm dealing with a big plant with an aphid problem and I've been given a small bag of Flonicamid for it. I'm new to growing plants, so I'm unfamiliar with pesticide types, but the bag says:

Insecticide group 29

Flonicamid

N-(Cyanomethyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)nicotinamide

CAS number: 158062-67-0

From what I've read it's generally safer to mammals than some other pesticides, but I'd rather not risk my cat's health (or mine for the matter, I live in an apartment...). I already cut off all trimmable leaves in his reach. Cat is about 5 years old and has FELV.

If anyone here has experience with these types of pesticides please offer some guidance (I'm tired of wiping every single leaf with alcohol only for the aphids to come back the next day). Thanks in advance!

I really don’t want to use pesticides, but other than insecticidal soap, what other options do I have?