From the Gardens Registrar: Thefts; Flea Beetles; Tomatoes; Leave Those Bricks Alone; The Virus

Hello Gardeners,

THEFTS – Theft is fairly common in our gardens, unfortunately. Our gardens are wide open and unguarded. I’ve had a number of plants stolen over the years, so I can easily sympathize with gardeners who’ve been targeted by thieves. But this year, I’m getting many more reports than usual, especially so early in the season – gardeners have lost decorations, plants, vegetables, and even a bicycle. I believe that the thieves are (usually) not fellow-gardeners, but non-gardeners who don’t mind helping themselves to whatever looks good in our gardens when they think they can get away with it.

There are a few things everybody can do. For instance, it’s helpful to get to know your garden neighbors, if possible, so that you can recognize when somebody is in a plot where they don’t belong. I wouldn’t encourage you to confront somebody you suspect is stealing, but just watching them, and letting them know you’re watching them, can sometimes make them stop what they’re doing. Also, our neighborhood UW Police Officer  will be stopping in on a regular basis, just to establish a presence. If you do have something stolen, please send me an email. It will make me unhappy, but I need to know.

By the way, the stolen bike is a black MOUNTAIN bike 26'' sidewinder, with property tags from University Houses and Eagle Heights Apartments. Let me know if you’ve seen this bike or know anything about its theft.

FLEA BEETLES – If your vegetable leaves suddenly have lots of tiny holes in them, you probably have flea beetles. These insects appear in the spring, and eat the leaves of greens of all sorts, cabbage relatives, eggplants, and others. Their favorite vegetable is radishes. In general, they damage plants but don’t kill them, and once plants are bigger, and the beetle population dies down in the summer, your plants won’t be bothered by them. But they can definitely ruin the leaves we want to eat. Row covers are the best protection against them, but you can also make a simple soap spray to kill them. Here’s an article with a lot of information: https://getbusygardening.com/controlling-flea-beetles/

TOMATOES – Tomatoes are many home gardeners’ favorite vegetable, since they taste so much better when you grow them yourself. This is a good time to plant tomatoes – we should be free from frost now. There are many kinds of tomatoes (more than 15,000 varieties), and gardeners love to argue about which ones are best. (I think highly of Juliets, myself.) Here’s an article which explains the difference between determinate and indeterminate tomatoes, suggests some popular varieties, and explains how to plant and care for them: https://www.almanac.com/plant/tomatoes

PLEASE DON’T TAKE THOSE BRICKS – We have a pile of bricks and blocks at Eagle Heights which we plan to use for a project to shore up the 900 row. We had planned to do this project in May, but we can’t get it done until the virus lets up and we can have work crews again. In the meantime, please do not take any of these bricks and blocks for your own plot. If you have taken some, please bring them back. And by the way, bricks are not a good idea in garden plots because they sink, and eventually become buried and difficult to remove. (I’ve got bricks buried in my plot, and they’re a pain to try to weed around.)

THE VIRUS – The primary means of transmission of the coronavirus is person-to-person. So, as always, keep your distance from other people when you’re in the gardens. Don’t touch your face. Wash your hands with soap. (There’s soap at both gardens.) The virus is not transmitted as readily outside as inside, and warm humid weather also slows transmission slightly. But the risk is far from over. I don’t think masks are necessary outside, but by all means, wear one if you think it’s appropriate. It’s considerate, since it protects other people from your germs, if you’ve got any.

Happy Gardening, and Stay Safe,  

Kathryn