When I dug up my lawn and planted vegetables in my front yard, I didn't realize that a good third of my lawn was not grass at all, but rather nutgrass, (Cyperus esculentus) which is actually a sedge rather than a grass. We use all the Valley Oak tools in our own gardens. Our customers tell us the Valley Oak broadfork is an excellent garden bed preparation tool, and we think so too. The broadfork also has 12" tines, helping to loosen the soil much deeper than a rototiller could, while helping to maintain that ever-important soil structure. The broadfork makes for a quiet way to work the soil. With the Valley Oak Broadfork we need not deal with cans of gasoline, engine fumes, and wrestling a machine around the garden. We find that our time spent in the garden is more pleasant when we can take the time to enjoy the day, listening to the birds, and breathe fresh air. His mood brightened at the thought of once more having tomatoes in his garden.īroadforks Replace Rototillers - A Quiet Way to Work the Soil He like the idea and vowed to try it next year. Plants such as lemon balm, and those in the umbellifera family, which attract parasitic wasps, which will parasitize eggs of harlequin bugs, and other stink bugs. We also suggested that he grow some plants that will attract natural enemies of the harlequin bug. We have some sprawling, flowering daikon plants in one of our tomato gardens, and the tomato fruit is unmolested by the harlequin bugs, but the daikon has a moderate population of them. Daikon radish is a favorite plant for a wide variety of purposes in the garden, and also attract harlequin bugs. We suggested that he plant a trap crop for the harlequin's with the hope that the insects would leave the tomatoes alone. Harlequin bugs are black with bright orange and red markings, and are often found feasting on members of the brassica family. A little questioning revealed that the insects his tomatoes were attracting were the ubiquitous harlequin bug. And truly, the lure of vine-ripe tomatoes is what draws so many people into gardening in the first place. The thought of not growing tomatoes made our gardener sad, for he loved his home-grown tomatoes. We recently met a gardener who had stopped growing tomatoes in his home garden because of the damage that stink bugs had done to his fruit in past years. Lettuce plants, carrots, broccoli, kale, greens, peas, and the like are going into garden beds. Now is the window for the last push for gardeners and farmers to finish getting many of their fall crops planted. The chickens head in to roost a bit earlier each evening, and the time for evening, outside chores shortens ever so slightly by the day.
Mid-August in the garden brings us fading evening light, rampant squash vines, sprawling tomato plants, drooping sunflower heads, and a feeling of being on the cusp of the time of transition. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.” ― Wendell Berry Looking Forward to Autumn “The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility.
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