Has anyone else had this weird gardening experience?

[LAS14]

Last edited Sat Jul 24, 2021, 03:48 PM - Edit history (1)

A letter to Stepehn King, written from western Maine.

1380 Hammond Street
Bangor, ME 04401
Re: An Idea for a Story

Hi, Mr. King,

I haven't read a lot of your stuff, but I know enough about your writing to have said to myself multiple times this summer, "I feel like I'm in a Stephen King novel!"

The reason is the weird fructiousness of this year's growing season. There was almost no dieback on the roses. There is NO fungus on the tomatoes, squash or delphiniums. There are no potato bugs. There are no flea beetles after a tiny early infestation. There were no snails or slugs on the lettuce. There are no cabbage worms. Five of my six cauliflowers made beautiful heads. The sixth might do so still. There are no leaf miners on the chard. All of this without frantic spraying.

It's truly weird. What's killing the pests? Will it kill me???? Will the chard grow so big it chokes us in the night?

Maybe you've already used this plot, but if not, feel free. No credit required.

Regards,

A gardener in Maine

Edit: I'm going to add to this letter "no asparagus beetles!"

[Bayard]

1. Love it!

All their bugs and fungus came to my garden though.

[Hugin]

2. Maybe it's time to revisit, "The Langoliers"?

I've noticed similar. The birds, particularly the typically insectivore, are eating alternatives such as certain berries.

Another oddity in my area is that my plants are showing overwatering near the base and wilt at the top due to the heat. The only normal looking plants I have are those which are shaded most of the day. This is true of the full sun varieties as well.

[Tracer]

3. Very few bugs on my plants, but

very few veggies either.

I blame the poor summer weather -- 18 straight days of rain from July 3 to July 21.

[Siwsan]

4. I'm finding slimy slugs climbing on almost everything

Some huge, some small. No real problem with the veg garden, but the tomatoes and squash are far less abundant than in past years. Peppers seem to be ok. Well, except for the Scotch Bonnets. 3 out of the 4 are producing (although less than last year) but the 4th is just now kicking into gear.

Our temperatures have been all over the place, and the rain is hit and miss. I'm probably going to have to buy some tomatoes if I want to stew and freeze some.

[Unwind Your Mind]

6. For slugs and snails

One of my favorite things I’ve done is build a toad habitat. They need water and a place to hide from birds and they will come.

It takes a half bucket of water every couple days but I now get to eat my lettuce.

[Chainfire]

5. Come to my garden, your sense of normalcy will return post haste.

[Tennessee Hillbilly]

7. Bees seem to be making a comeback in my yard.

Their numbers had been decreasing in recent years. They are vital for pollination.

On a sadder note, all the wild rabbits in my neighborhood disappeared a couple of years ago and still haven't returned.

[Mariana]

9. You might have a new beekeeper nearby. nt.

[Tennessee Hillbilly]

30. Well it's mostly bumblebees and small native bees that I see now.

There used to be a lot of honey bees, but only a few now and I think they are "wild". Years ago I would occasionally see a nest of them in a tree or bush. I don't know of any bee keepers nearby.

[StarryNite]

13. I'm getting lots of bees at my birdbath and

at the water pond I have for my tortoises. I've never had so many bees before. We still have lots of wild rabbits.

[NJCher]

38. lotsa' bees here, too, and

monarch butterflies.

Northern NJ . Organic gardener long-time. I have built up a "clientele."

[Wicked Blue]

44. One of our neighbors set up two beeboxes this year

It is lovely to see honeybees again.
They are enjoying the blooming peppermint now.

[Mariana]

51. They do love most flowering herbs.

I miss my bees. I had to be away from home during most of the spring, so a friend is keeping my two colonies for the season. However, my yard isn't beeless the way it was before I got my own - someone else must be keeping bees nearby.

[Ms. Toad]

8. No fungus on tomatoes -

And fungus has decimated our plants the last couple of years.

Plenty of slugs.

Something is eating the leaves of the husk cherries to death.

[Girard442]

10. Not gardening recently, but the buddleias in the apartment complex...

....are thriving -- not seeing any butterflies.

[bucolic_frolic]

11. Several variables out of whack

Summer warmth, warming earlier in the spring, frigid spell in Feb here, less smog for 18 months, covid in the air, TFG confined to Florida, Limbaugh dead. I could think of many reasons why things are in an altered state.

Did I already forget one? Cicada year.

[luvtheGWN]

16. An invasion of gypsy moths here

in Ontario.

But my roses have been Japanese beetle-free this year!

[YoshidaYui]

12. I was trying to think of the last time I saw a fire fly

Probably when I was a kid. I’ve not seen them in years. -We used to have a plant called California paint brush I haven’t seen those either in years.

[marie999]

23. We have a few fireflies at night, but not as many as when I was a kid.

Not many bugs but that may be because we have 12 turkeys and 9 chickens. All pets.

[YoshidaYui]

26. Another thing...

Years ago, I had heard, that someone allowed SNAILS Loose accidentally in the City Of San Francisco however I haven’t seen those in years. It used to rain and they would come out on the sidewalk and you had to avoid stepping on them but they’re gone now.

Sidenote: more coyotes have been spotted in the city limits lately. I wonder what that means?

[marie999]

28. We liver in San Francisco in the 70s. Snails were everywhere.

I assume you are talking about the four-legged coyotes. Probably because we are expanding where we live and taking over their terrain.

[YoshidaYui]

29. Yup

The animal.There was also a plant called the Indian paintbrush. Beautiful oranges and yellows with dark green leaves. I don’t see them anymore either come to think of it I haven’t seen a dandelion in years either.

[Mariana]

54. I've had more fireflies this year than I have ever seen at this house.

In 2000-2004 I lived in a house that had a swampy area behind it. Firefly heaven. There were three or four different species of fireflies out there, all with their own flashing patterns.

Of course, it was also mosquito heaven. I live on higher, drier ground now.

[YoshidaYui]

56. Wow

Maybe they all left California and went elsewhere.That seems to be a trend for Californians.

[StClone]

14. Really?! Really not my experience. Worst in a decade.

Potato beetles are endlessly mating, laying, and eating through my crop. Deer are having a hay day. Tomatoes are showing wilt even though I have taken many precautions. Vine Bores have riddled my pumpkin vines and I have not seen a baby pumpkin. One blessing? Cabbage Butterflies have arrived late and my cabbage crop is great!

I have grown organic crops for nearly 25 years and had the worse frost damage in May ever (three days of subfreezing in mid-May with 26F being the lowest!).

Planting fall spinach and lettuce should have occurred last week and hope to get at it soon when I feel up to it.

[rickyhall]

15. I found a live cicada on my breezeway this morning.

We're not supposed to have any in Arkansas this year unless he flew from Illinois.

[Owl]

17. The gardener is welcome to my hordes of Japanese beetles!

Miserable things.

The beetles decimating everything... that'd be a great Stephen King novel. (He's my favorite author.)

[miffelplix]

18. Insects are dying off

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/studies-confirm-alarmiang-insect-decline

[LAS14]

33. Oh, wo!!! I was afraid something like this might be going on!! nt

[hibbing]

19. I plant native herbaceous perennials and grasses

My plants are pretty much covered in a variety of bees, wasps, moths, beetles, dragonflies and so on.


Peace

[Marthe48]

20. Yes, diversity is on the decline

However, we have mushrooms growing in the yard. In July.

I feed critters year around. This year, not filling the feeders. I had stopped because the squirrels empty them in less than 24 hrs. But learned that a die-off among songbirds might be because of dirty feeders.

[calimary]

21. Yeah, I don't see too many of the big slugs I noticed back when we first moved up here.

BIG ones. Black, brown, and with long “pleats” or “ribbing” extending halfway down their - uh - “backs?”

I never saw anything like ‘em in SoCal! They were everywhere up here and I’d always see quite a few whenever I walked the dog. And I think I’ve seen one this year.

[lagomorph777]

59. If you need some, we have extra here.

I could send as many as you like.

[womanofthehills]

22. Not only the insects - I live out in the country

Very few bunnies - they have some horrible disease out here in NM. You just find them dead. Mice population way way down from last year. Fewer birds, but thousands of flies.

[KentuckyWoman]

37. THAT'S what's missing. Squirrels and bunnies.

I keep thinking this whole summer is too quiet and could not put my finger on it. I suddenly realized I can't even remember the last time I saw any rabbits or squirrels.

[Mossfern]

40. We have bunnies now

and chipmunks. Had a decent fox population that took care of those small critters, but last year was a bad outbreak of mange.

[Woodwizard]

24. Plenty of bugs in my garden.

had an infestation of cucumber beetles just about eat all the leaves off my zucchini with all the rain tomato blight is on my least resistant varieties even with spraying the copper fungicide and trimming the plants. Good news is after eradicating the cucumber beetles I now have tons of zucchini.

I am in the Catskills lots of rain this last month.

[lame54]

25. That's the plot of To Serve Man

[bigtree]

27. the bugs are still ruling in my yard

...but the growth is unlike anything in our 20 years.

I say the sun is 'hotter' here in Md., blooming flowers like Alaska does in their short/long day season.

[brooklynite]

31. Something's been nibbling my Basil leaves...

[NJCher]

42. guessing slugs

prol'ly slugs.

They were all over my basil, tearing it up, until I threw organic slug pellets (Slug Magic) around. Safer and Bonide m'fr the pellets.

[Wicked Blue]

45. I've read that Japanese beetles also chomp on basil

My big problem with basil is the yellowing disease that wipes them out in late summer.

[CrackityJones75]

32. Japanese beetles aplenty here

[UTUSN]

34. Buckets of snails are en route to the cited address (above), with my regards.

ON EDIT: Whups, thought the address was for the O.P. -

[Treefrog]

35. I'm in a pitched battle with armies of Japanese beetles in my yard.

If anyone has the upper hand, it’s them, but I’m gaining ground.

Today discovered scale in another part of my garden. Fire ants, bees, carpenter ants all doing well. Mosquitos thriving. I try to live and let live (except for the Japanese beetles) and so far all is well.

[NJCher]

43. live and let live

yeah, me, too. In the old days, before insect die-off, I might have used ant killer to keep them out of my house.

However, I have found that being scrupulous about residue of any kind of sweet food pretty much keeps them out. Other things they like are watermelon and cat food.

I researched this and found that ants can distinguish 400 kinds of smells. It's the odor that draws them in, so keep anything they like put away. if I have a cup of watermelon, for example, I immediately rinse the dish and put it in the dishwasher when I'm through eating it.

Once and a while I will see a little scout ant wandering around but other than that, I've had no problem with them this year.

[Treefrog]

48. Yeah, no problems in my house.

It’s just the beetles after my roses, grrr.

I have great difficulty killing anything, and I won’t use chemicals, so basically I’m glad they only live 40 days.

[NJCher]

49. flour?

I've tried it for other beetle situations and it works. Sprinkle flour lightly across the leaves. Actually any white powder will work; doesn't have to be flour.

[Mariana]

52. My dad taught me to feed Japanese beetles to the garden spiders.

I'd drop the beetles in the web and let the spider do its thing. Spiders in our yard never went hungry.

I haven't seen a single garden spider in my yard since I moved here in 2013. I know they live in the area, just haven't had any take up residence here.

[librechik]

36. and very few Japanese beetles!Yay! But not enough bees. By far

and I'm trying not to think about next year and the year after that.

[Mariana]

53. Build or buy some housing for your native bees!

I did and have a pretty good population of Mason bees around now, even though I also normally have honeybees.

[librechik]

57. good idea! will do!

They have some at the local Ace. Not expensive!

[Mossfern]

39. Have no idea

Deer are very hungry and my next door neighbor insists on feeding them.
My 'smelly' herbs are doing well although they apparently can manage to eat parsley.

[Mossfern]

41. No!

The smelly herbs are NOT eating the parsley.

[FakeNoose]

46. I've seen no stinkbugs this summer, first time in probably 10 years

Western Pennsylvania was inundated by stinkbugs when they snuck on board a cargo container from China. They went crazy and proliferated everywhere because they have no natural enemies here in the states. But those ugly stinkbugs DO prefer warm temperatures, so I guess our winters have chased them south. Once the stinkbugs were here (about 10 years ago) it seemed they were everywhere. But I've seen fewer each year, and this summer there haven't been any. I didn't realize it until I read this letter to Stephen King.

[Vinca]

58. They've gone on vacation to New Hampshire. I'm happy to send them back.

[ismnotwasm]

47. Naw I'm in Washington state.

I never get tomato fungus though. I cut back my grapes a LOT and now I have to build a better arbor.

Actually I didn't plant this year— to much going on in my life. So I have a bunch of reseeded cherry tomatoes and spaghetti squash. Ok, I did throw some potatoes in an old compost and they seem to be happy. My raspberries are fabulous. Strawberries ok, I’m going to move them to the back garden. I have rhubarb every year. Tried to kill the horseradish, but I give up.

I am completely jealous of my neighbors corn though, and I saw a gardening style that kind of put squashes and tomatoes and corn together that I want to try. Healthy, fabulous plants.

My roses didn’t have aphids though, which is unusual. I let oregano grow as a weedy flower, same for thyme

[shanti]

50. LOL

And I had zero tomato hornworms on my 'maters this year. First time too.

[GulfCoast66]

55. Pretty normal Florida summer here.

Like normal can only grow peppers and okra. Field peas do ok if you have enough room. This is not our gardening season. That starts in October.

Never gets cool enough for tomatoes except cherry tomatoes which are doing well.

Actually a pretty cool summer. It was pleasant outside tonight. Even you northerners would have enjoyed it. Mid to high 70’s with a strong breeze.

I’ve read Florida may actually get cooler with climate change. More cloud cover and rain.