After a very warm wet winter I am looking out at my garden with dismay at all the weeds that are taking over everywhere, wondering when I am going to have good weather coincide with inclination to deal with them. A weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted. But many of the common plants in gardens all over New Zealand are in fact invasive weeds that are now causing environmental damage. Three quarters of our weeds started off being planted in gardens as ornamental plants but started to … [Read more...]
Codling Moth Biological Control
Codling moth is one of the major pests of apple trees with the caterpillars burrowing into the fruit. Biological control using a tiny parasitoid wasp is a promising new control method. I was fortunate to be able to participate in the release of the parasitoid wasp in Auckland. Female codling moths lay their eggs on fruit or leaves in summer and the caterpillars (or larvae) head for the fruit immediately upon hatching and burrow inside giving us the all too familiar spotty, buggy apples. … [Read more...]
The Lawn Wars – will it ever end?
Needs update on new sowing I described in a series of posts last year about my battle to have a lawn that actually had grass in it, and without the problems of moss and particularly paspallum. I eventually resorted to having the lawn aerated, scarified and oversown to kick start the process. This appeared particularly successful in spring and lots of visitors commented about how lovely and lush my lawn was. But then as we started to head into summer, the paspallum started to rear its … [Read more...]
Controlling Wasps
Wasps are generally regarded as pests when they fly around your picnic or barbeque (especially if they sting you), but in the garden they compete with bees for food and eat caterpillars (ever wondered why your monarch butterfly caterpillars were disappearing?). Once you have caterpillars on your swan plants, cover them over with netting to prevent the wasps getting in. Not all wasps are pests, in fact some play an important role in natural biocontrol. Almost every pest insect species has … [Read more...]
Stopping the Birds from eating all the Plums
I am very fortunate to have two fifty-year old plum trees in my backyard that are wonderful for screening out the neighbours and providing welcome shade for lounging under in the summer. They also produce a great crop of plums that I love to use in all sorts of different preserves (as well as eating them fresh of course). But my biggest problem is getting them before the birds do! I am happy to share some of my crop with the birds but birds don't share nicely: they insist on pecking every … [Read more...]