We know it’s fall when the days are getting shorter, the garden is starting to wind down, and when we start talking about meetings! The Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be holding their first meeting after our summer break on Wednesday, September 20 at 7 p.m. in the SIGN building on North Street in Yorkton. Our special guest speaker will be John Tropin, talking to us about “Water Plants and Fish Ponds”. I know many of you have lovely ponds in your yards, and John will have great information for us about how to start or maintain this project. With changing weather just around the corner, this is a timely topic to prepare your ponds and plants for winter, so don’t miss it! And remember, you don’t have to be a member to attend the meetings, everyone is welcome.
Next, circle Friday, September 22 on your calendar, that’s the date of our Fall Plant and Bulb sale from 9:30 a.m. till 5 p.m. at the Parkland Mall, Yorkton. It doesn’t seem possible that our fall sale is not that far away, but the days pass so quickly, whether we are ready or not! On your daily garden tour, evaluate your garden space and see if you need to replace or replenish any bald spots in the garden. This sale is a great chance to do just that. There will be gardeners on hand at the sale to answer your questions, so hope to see you there!
All in all, this was a pretty good gardening year. But one thing that seemed to be prevalent in many gardens was the cabbage butterflies, fluttering along so delicately and innocently but causing all kinds of damage.
Even if you are not growing cabbage, you likely noticed the calling card of the cabbage butterflies: holes in the leaves of your plants. After having slug damage to our hostas in past years, we were thrilled that this year seemed slug-free. No chewed-up leaves, no holes, no trails of slime. But then the holes starting appearing and we realized that the cabbage butterflies were the culprits.
What to do? We heard various possible cures: spraying the plants with a garlic mixture; spraying the plants with soap and water (Dawn seemed to be the detergent mentioned most often); or using a product like bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki (known as Btk) which does not hurt the plant or any other insects, only the insects who eat the leaves. (Once the leaf-munching pests eat the treated leaves, they are affected internally and die. This is probably one of the safest natural pesticides you can use, because it is a naturally occurring bacteria.)
While doing my homework, I also found another great solution in addition to other more immediate methods. This solution was to hang up feeders for birds, who will visit our gardens and hopefully eat the cabbage butterflies. Let me tell you a story. One bright summer day, we were taking a break from our yard work and having a cup of coffee on our patio. This year we were blessed with many beautiful birds in our yard, including a family of finches. On this particular day, one busy little finch was darting back and forth when all of a sudden it zoomed in on a cabbage butterfly. We never saw such a thing, and watched in amazement as the finch captured the butterfly in its beak on the second try and flew off to its family. Amazing!
For those growing cabbages, covering the plants with netting was another offered solution. This may work, but not always. Someday when we have time and you want a good laugh, I’ll tell you a funny story about cabbages covered with netting in Mom’s garden, years ago! That was the last time we grew cabbage!
Visit us at www.yorktonhort.ca and have a great week!
