We talked about pests and planning.

Pests

People reported a number of pests.

Cabbage worm

One of the pests is the cabbage worm, which is the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly. The butterfly is not native to our area and a number of people noticed more of them this year than in the past.

They lay their eggs on the underside of cabbage family plants such a kale, which many of us grow. The eggs hatch into green caterpillars that can cause serious damage to leaves.

The typical method of control is to pick off the caterpillars (worms) and drop them into soapy water. They can be found on the leaves and they tend to rest right along the stems where they are hard to detect without careful looking. Might they be caught with a butterfly net and removed? For a photo and more information see the July 19, 2011 post of John's blog.

Squash vine borer

Another pest is the squash vine borer. A wasp lays eggs on the stem of the summer squash plant, the eggs hatch and the caterpillars bore into the stem and begin to destroy the stem. For information and a photo click on the August 7, 2011 post of John's blog.

Groundhogs

For trapping the elusive groundhog someone said that groundhogs found watermelon irresistible. Otherwise fencing that goes down into the soil helps.

Planning

In terms of considering seed orders for the upcoming season there were recommendations of the American Seed catalog and the Fedco seed catalog (which can be downloaded from their website, www.fedcoseeds.com). The Fedco catalog also has a lot of useful information on when to plant, etc. Johnny's seed catalog is another good source of information. And it was mentioned that Johnny's website (Johnnyseeds.com) also has a lot of useful videos. Check them out.

Some of the specific vegetable varieties that were mentioned were:

• Spinach: Tyee
• Tomatoes: lemon boy, black cherry, Matt's wild cherry, sun gold, and Amish paste
• Lettuce: Tango and Les Orielles du Diable (Fedco)
• Cucumbers: lemon, poona kheera

About our gardens

A number of people filled out a short questionnaire about their garden.

Sizes range from 64 square feet to more than 500 square feet.

Favorite crops were tomatoes (3), grapes, butternut squash, tango lettuce, and Kentucky Wonder beans.

Main problems were squash and cucumber beetles (2), rabbit (2), woodchuck (2), and early tomato blight.