Thanks to some cooperative play on the part of my sons, I was able to plant some tomatoes. In March, I took a class with Marta Teegan of Homegrown LA. I used some of her tips when getting these plants in the ground.
I made room for the plants by clearing out my brussel sprout disaster. I've not had much luck with the brassicas. The aphids, however, had a field day with these plants coating the undersides of the leaves and blanketing the brussel sprout heads with their dusky bodies. I have yet to find a good way to deal with the aphids. I'm hoping the toxic leaves of the tomato plant will be an effective deterrent all by themselves.
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I've read that row covers can do a lot to deter aphids, parsley, dill, cilantro, tansy and/or sunflowers nearby will attract beneficial insects to eat them, nasturtiums can be used as a trap crop, and mint and garlic are natural repellents. I don't have too much experience with aphids, though, so I don't know if any of these actually work. Our big pests last year were Colorado Potato Beetles and Flea Beetles.
ReplyDeletesoapy water spray. also- keep your ant population down- they farm aphids to 'milk' the honeydew that aphids secrete. Soap spray does them in, too. I think BT is supposed to work on aphids as well.
ReplyDeleteMight be too warm in your area for brassicas.