@Coffee_and_Salt Lol, I gave up on trying to grow tomatoes. I got a single cherry tomato last year, despite having a large number of blooms. Pretty sure the birds next door were involved. The larger tomatoes all went to the bugs.
@Coffee_and_Salt Hmm. I have a worm bin, but stopped due to frequent road trips to visit Joe, who works in NY. However, I think my oldest is tired of summer road trips, now she stays behind and can take care of them for me. Food for thought. And yeah, I remember how many insects there were in my youth compared to now, you can really see it around porch lights at night. I'm fine with my garden feeding the food chain, really. Maybe I'll even throw some cherry tomato seeds out there just for them.
@tippitiwichet it was a really fun experience, I hope she likes it. It’s such a cool and useful activity.
oh yeah. The lack of insects should have more people reacting but they just seem to go “oh? Weird.” No! Bad! Not weird, bad.
Love the idea of feeding the bugs. Have you seen those log bug hotels? A piece of wood with just a ton of wholes drilled in? Going to make one of those for this summer and keep it kinda damp over by the pond. 🐛 🐞
@Coffee_and_Salt I have one in my Amazon cart right now, but it might sit there for a month or two :). I keep trying to make a habitat out of piles of sticks for the bugs, but the kiddo likes to play with sticks, so that never lasts long, so I'm hoping the kit will help that :).
@tippitiwichet nooo! Oi! Birds! Get your own matoes!
Yeah the bugs are an insane issue. And I don’t like pesticides. I’m guessing you’re similar there?
With the tomatoes I was doing vermiculture at the time and was boosting them with the worm tea, and they prospered enough that the birds and bugs were an obstacle they overcame. Never had plants so large as the ones I fed the tea to.