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Earwigs, Dermaptera, are perhaps more well-known for their freakiness than for their capacity to be destructive in the garden- but trust me, they are both.  These lovers of water in the desert are common in dry climates where water is present- i.e. irrigated gardens and farms.  In fact, they look like miniature aquatic crawdads.  They are nocturnal so you may not even know you have them until you go out with your headlamp and see them feeding on tender corn silks, the leaves of young fruit trees, or zinnia leaves and petals.  Luckily the tell-tale signs of earwig damage are easy...

Listen to our recent interview on the Misfit Gardener Podcast! Connecting with Giving Ground Seeds

Did you know??!!! Climbing peas are an excellent use of space and are productive over longer periods of time than bush peas. This long season of harvesting makes them an excellent choice for home gardeners, who typically don’t need a bumper crop all at once but want a more sustained fresh harvest over weeks. Climbing peas are amazing at using vertical space to capture tons of light energy. While many varieties grow a reasonable 4-6’, some reach 12’ plus in height. And they do this without the energy and time intensive process of growing sturdy woody trunks.  This vertical growth is possible...

Codling moth Cydia pomonella is the most common pest in our area (Intermountain West of United States) of apples and pears.  If someone is complaining of "wormy apples", it is likely codling moth larva causing the damage.  We deal with codling moth in our apple and pear trees, and we've tried a lot of organic control methods.  Here is a bit about our experience of what we have tried. Lifecycle: Larvae drop with fruit, well fed, in the fall and hide under leaves, soil, apple containers, or in the bark grooves on tree trunks where they overwinter.  Larvae pupate in the...

Cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, is one of the most visible insects, pest or otherwise, in our garden.  It looks lovely and innocuous, dozens of white yellow butterflies floating around the garden on a warm summer day.  But watch them closely and find that what they're really doing is laying their eggs on host plants, which are those in the brassicacea family.  For us, the larva are mostly a problem in cabbage, as the leaves they feed on are also the part we eat.  They're frass fills the crevices of the growing cabbage, making it a disgusting mess.  Their feeding can stunt broccoli,...