Fretting Over My Garden

Though the humidity has departed, warm weather – and insects – linger. Hummingbirds zoom around the Mexican bush sage and Turk’s cap, and today I spotted a migrant warbler flitting about in our palm trees. It’s been dry, but I still have to do my mosquito dance while watering the garden. The glorious, easy days of fall and winter gardening have not yet arrived. With the first day of the Eat Local Challenge nearly at hand, I worry about the welfare of my fall garden, which I hope will supplement our planned purchases from the farmers market and other sources.
Our pole beans have grown well and have plenty of blossoms, but their leaves are getting chewed by caterpillars. I’ve applied Bt, but half-heartedly, and you have to be vigilant. The arugula is also showing signs of insect damage, but it’s minor. Most distressing, my lettuce has seemingly failed to sprout. After my “August post mentioning seed life in storage”:http://gulfcoastlocalfood.org/2008/08/today-is-international-kitchen.html, I may have finally fallen victim to some seeds gone bad. The packet indicates they’re only a year and a half old, and lettuce can potentially last six years, but I’ve sown liberally with disappointing results. If my second try fails I’ll buy a new pack, and after that I’ll start suspecting critters. On the plus side I have some Swiss chard sprouts, though no beets yet. A friend generously gave us some broccoli and cabbage starts, along with a few lettuce plants. I’ve still got green onions and jalapenos (too bad we don’t use more of them; one plant always supplies more than enough for our needs and this year I planted two.). We have new basil plants, some oregano, a little thyme hanging on but suffering in the heat, and more rosemary than we could possibly use.