No, not Gavin and Graeme. They believe themselves to be incredible helpers, and they are getting the hang of it. (Gavin actually helped cut veggies tonight for our salad.) However, I'm talking about ladybugs. I knew they were supposed to be helpful in the garden, eating bad bugs, etc. They proved themselves today, for sure!
I've noticed in the last few weeks that we've had a number of ladybugs attracted to our massive parsley plants. (No, we don't eat tons of parsley - it just grew back really, really big this year.) This morning, though, I wanted to cut back the parsley to give the other veggies and smaller plants some sun and air. Hmmm... I don't want to compost the ladybugs though.
Solution? I transplanted about 5 ladybugs (2 mating, in fact, hopefully I didn't disturb things) to a little pot of 3 peppers that were completely covered in aphids. Now, I've got little peppers throughout the garden, as well as a strawberry patch. So I don't know why these were the ones attracting bugs.
Enter ladybugs. The boys and I checked later this after noon. Two plants virtually clean; one lady bug resting. The third plant had some aphids left; ladybug still in action. We actually got to watch him eat few bugs! It was pretty cool, you know, for the boys to watch. They got to squish a few aphids too. They pop a little. So that's fun.
Checked later this evening: plant #3 clean.
Ladybugs rock.
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