Garden Update – Mo Bugs

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Saturday I arrived to find the Cantaloupes, thriving and untouched by the bugs.  Unfortunately the Squash and Zucchini I had tried to rescue were done for.  I pulled their corpses from the ground and witnessed hundreds of June bugs emerge from under the straw and begin to scamper up the pepper plants.

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I considered what to do.  After a little deliberation it was obvious that I should attend to what is working.  So many times I have focused on, and grieved, and wasted so much energy on what has not worked.  Feeling like a failure in the midst of an abundant garden has been a theme for much of my life.  Perhaps my garden is beginning to teach me to pay attention to that which produces the fruit.  The death of the Zucchini has actually made room for that which has much more promise.  Truthfully, I think that they both would have been crowded out and neither would have flourished if the bugs had not done their work.  See the Cantaloupe growing in the shade of the Tomatoes.  Last year I was quite a successful Zucchini farmer.  And in my mind I thought I would ever be.  I have never grown Cantaloupes before and on a whim I planted them.  That little space is more shaded and I wondered how well they would do.  Apparently the mix of sun and shade and the soil and the water suits them quite well.  Perhaps as we garden we need to keep an open mind.  Perhaps I am a Cantaloupe gardener after all.  Perhaps I am finally learning to let go of what is not and to celebrate what it.  I am kinda tired of Zucchini anyway.

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And all this fuss about Zucchini has not taken into account the Peppers and the Eggplant.  I like to add a layer of fried Eggplant to Lasagna.  It is very tasty.  The new babies are doing fine.  Purple Russian Tomatoes and Watermelons will all have their chance now to prosper in the absence of all the Squash.  I returned Sunday with a plan to deal with the bugs.  They will not just go away because I don’t like them.  I needed to take some kind of action to prevent them from invading the rest of the garden.  After a little bit of research I discovered a way to trap them based on their own proclivities.  So many times we attempt to wish troubles away.  Our thought process goes along a path of thinking in the negative.  “I wish they were not here” rather than “What am I going to do about this problem.”  I needed to know my enemy and their habits, what they want, and how to stop this once and for all.

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After the research (love some Youtube), and having gathered my supplies, I arrived Sunday afternoon with everything I needed to make some June Bug Traps.  The beer is optional.  I have two 2-liter bottles, two LED battery operated lights, a razor, electrical tape, and masking tape.  June Bugs are nocturnal and are attracted to light.  If one understands their enemy well enough there does not have to be much of a fight.  They can be led into a place where they will trap themselves.

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The simple idea is that they will be attracted to the light so they will climb up the tape, fall into the funnel, and become trapped.  Those who invade our gardens are not very creative.  If they were they would have their own gardens and not attempt to cannibalize others’.  There are times when we allow others unwarranted access to us because we are fearful or feel hesitant to act.  Invaders use guilt or a tender heart as pathways to steal the fruit they have not tended.  It was asked “Why do you give what is holy (bread) to the dogs, and why do you throw pearls before swine? For they will just wallow them into the mud then turn and cut you open for your trouble.”  At some point it is no longer the dogs nor pigs fault that we continue to waste our holy treasure and are repeatedly wounded.  If we continue to give what is sacred to those who can not value it that is on us and is no kindness to ourselves or them.

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Traps set.  Now get your little butts out of my garden.  Think I will have another beer as I wait for the sun to go down.  Be Groovy! 🙂

34 thoughts on “Garden Update – Mo Bugs”

  3. Garden update! I live for them, and today, you figured it out perfect! You’re crying over spilt milk got you nowhere, and you weren’t seeing what was flowering all around you. Sometimes, Nature just needs to give you a nudge so you stop looking the wrong way, and see how they served their purpose. Everything does. And so do you, for which we are mighty happy!

  4. hahaha, you make me laugh so much… I am so much the same… just everything I write I am preaching not to anyone but myself because I can be so stubborn as well and need all these reminders… hahaha, so true… I would like to sit with you and contemplate on our stubbornness, hahaha, in a very stubborn way, of course… and yes, life knows so much better what’s good for me than I know, and it has such a wider perspective than I have and keeps surprising me again and again and sends me moments and people I never ever could have expected or dreamed of… Plato I am happy that you exist and that I found you (or you me, I do not remember) in the vast wordpress.land. Xx

  5. ach, Plato, thank you for sharing yourself so graciously with us, you are such a wise man, in a sexy and humble way – that’s what the ladies enjoy most. thank you for being you.

  6. Walking My Path: Mindful Wanderings in Nature

    Haha! Yeah. Just try making plans! That’s when God/the Universe laughs.

  7. Walking My Path: Mindful Wanderings in Nature

    I love how your garden is always such a great metaphor for life. Good luck with those pesky june bugs!
    Mary

  8. (Would you be available next time we need pulpit supply?) What a marvelous life lesson. ” Feeling like a failure in the midst of an abundant garden has been a theme for much of my life.” That really resonated with me. No matter how positive I try to stay in the sight of others because what they see is an “abundant garden life”, THAT failure is the way I usually feel inside. When I do that, everyone thinks I’m so efficient that I can take on more and more tasks, when the truth is I’m drowning in despair inside sometimes.

    “There are times when we allow others unwarranted access to us because we are fearful or feel hesitant to act. Invaders use guilt or a tender heart as pathways to steal the fruit they have not tended.” Yes… As I’m learning.

    Such beautiful words…so much wisdom and just plain common sense. I love reading these. Thank you.

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