Ladybeetles vs. Aphids

I was glad to see all these little guys (lady beetle larvae) hanging out on the shade side of the parking bumper in the back yard. There were a lot more a few days ago, but I think the "landscape" crew disturbed them when they cut the grass (more like haphazardly whacked away at everything in the yard with a weedeater). As neat as it was, seeing the eggs and larvae most likely meant that there were also aphids somewhere nearby, and that my garden was in danger.

And, here they are, making themselves a little colony in a container of leaf lettuce (the tiny, round green things on the middle leaf).

This wasn't a massive infestation, rather, a small nuisance. I read that one should blast them off with a hose, or use some kind of soap or herbal mixture, but I chose to harvest all the plants and save what I could. It was getting too hot for the lettuce anyway. My method was to either shake or flick the aphids off after cutting the plants down to the soil, then smash them with a blunt object on the porch. I took the lettuce leaves that had too many aphids to get rid of out to a dirt and yard waste pile where a large colony of ants could get them. Well, where the ants could herd and use them. Here are more aphids on the underside of a lettuce plant (the small, black things).

The first time I tried my hand at container gardening, I lost a couple of columbine plants to aphids. I discovered them too late, and the plants were overrun and destroyed, which was too bad because they attracted hummingbirds.

I manged to get 5 large bags of lettuce from the plants I had. Total, I spent about $12 on seedlings and got at least 2 or 3 months worth of organic greens out of it that we'll use for salads, in BLTs (Morningstar Farms soy bacon) and as toppings for garden burgers. We may even have enough to share with our next-door neighbors. I plan on re-working the soil in the containers and planting some nasturtiums and garlic, or some more carrots, mixed with radishes. And, when summer draws near to its end, I plan on planting more lettuce and cool weather plants, like peas and spinach, so we can harvest them for late fall and winter. Thankfully, the aphids didn't get to the squash or cucumber plants.

If you're interested in identifying common garden bugs, may I recommend the following book: