The war began

The most exciting plant to take off in the beginning was the basil. There is enough basil to last... I don't know, a long time. We also noticed the parsley and mint take off. Then the mint boomed in growth, and we have too much mint now. I've realized, all you can really do with mint is- add it to iced tea, make mojitos, and give it to my dog because he loves it. So, for the past month, we've been turned into alcoholics with a fresh-breathed, iced tea drinkin' dog.The tomatoes started to grow too. So exciting to see the first little flower on the plant, but to be honest... I had no idea, what does that mean? I know a flower is good and we definitely wanted to see these things, but do I have to do something? Should I pick them? Should I stick my finger in there and pollinate the other flowers? Should I eat these flowers? Maybe that's all we'll get.

Then the troops moved in at an alarming rate. Who am I talking about? The bugs. The first sign was from my husband. We were admiring all the plants and he turns a leaf over and sees some little bugs. I said, "What's that!" And he said, "Nothing to worry about I guess." I knew what he was doing! He was trying to make it seem like no big deal. No big deal, just some thieves trying to ruin OUR harvest, not theirs! They didn't grow seeds in the basement just to watch them die! They didn't drive over to Lowe's feeling like a failure to buy these plants- no, no they didn't. I DID! These little bugs, which I decided were aphids, weren't going to stick around.

We went to sleep that night, my panicking, my husband acting like it's not a big deal. Images flashed back to my time in the greenhouse- aphids flying around plants, then the spider mites

came, then there was no growth, no flowers, nothing. I dreamt of bugs taking over, moving into our house, this was war.

Through research, I learned ladybugs were a strong defense. So, I wanted them. I almost ordered 4,500 of them. Then I chilled out and decided 1,500 was the best bet. I ordered them. And waited.. and waited. No ladybugs. I called, "Where are my troops, please call me back." No such luck. Well, I found another website and ordered another 1,500. I waited, I got an invoice that said they'd be here soon. I waited some more. No ladybugs. I can't win this war alone!

I'll never know what happened to those ladybugs... Who knows what happened to my orders? I haven't heard still. Head's up- don't order ladybugs from the internet.

I then remembered, the garden store from school! So I went over and bought my 1,500

ladybugs and felt stupid, again, because I forgot I could actually purchase them from a store, rather than the world wide web.

That night, the ladybugs were released. We took pictures, checked on them a few times, then went to bed feeling secure and safe. My help was here.

Got up in the morning, they were hanging out, but in all the wrong places. On the gate surrounding the garden, on the wood, on the basil (there's no bugs there! move on!)... but okay, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. I went to work, they'll do their job.

Then I got home and noticed two things immediately. 1- no more aphids! 2- there were only 3 ladybugs still there. 3. Out of 1,500, 3 stuck around. I guess they ate and moved on to join the other ladybugs I never met. Okay, cool. Thanks for the work, see you guys.. never again. That was last week, today I went in the garden to look for the 3. I found 1. Awesome. Where was it? On the basil.

So this photo shows one of them on the tomato plant, but this was the best I could do.. this is from before they all left.