when absolute loss
is held close to the heart
abundance only exist
in the heart of those
who know the destruction
of utter loss
Spider mites... Need I say more? Need I express the frustration that comes with organically growing your own food?
I only saw it too late. If I could catch it earlier, I might have saved them sooner.
But here we are, after a couple of gruelling days of marking examination papers, I finally saw the destruction of what I think is spider mites.
I am not sure how to get rid of them, and I am not sure what the best practice would have been.
But with the warming weather, and the increasing winds drying everything out more, I thought of something: Why not cut off most of the leaves from all of my Swiss Chard plants?
And that is what I did...
Below, the before and after photographs make it kind of clear how aggressively I cut the plants back. I am not sure if this will help, but this was the most evident thing I could do that made sense to me in the moment.
I really hope that this works out, otherwise I will leave these infected plants to go to seed and only harvest seeds then.
In the end, I collected a 25-litre bucket full of Swiss Chard leaves, not to be eaten, but to go to the compost. I wish I could have saved them, but this is the reality of (i) organic growing and (ii) not really knowing what else to do at the moment.
But it is not all bad, doom and gloom, as I could also harvest from another patch that was not ill and infested with the mites!
I harvested a big bowl for my own consumption, adding some of the beautiful wild rocket that also grows in the raised bed (photograph of my harvest below).
But elsewhere, I also had some beautiful Chickweed and Amaranth (photographs below) growing in "unwanted" spaces. I say unwanted because my family always questions my growing practices - I grow salad in all of the "wrong" places. In fact, I just let things grow where they want, as I have come to realise that plants crave this unstructured way of growing.
Either way, after some heavy late spring early summer rains, the garden is looking incredible and things are growing out of control, like the chickweed. Usually, the chickweed only grow in the winter, but now, I had some nice chickweed in the early summer!
Just over a week ago, I harvested the last of the rocket plants. While doing this, I intentionally left some of the pods on the plants, allowed them to break open, and then add a thin layer of compost over the seeds. As usual, the seedlings in less than a week began popping their heads through the ground (below-left)! I am excited to see if they will grow in the extreme summer heat that will come - I have not yet really have had much success as it wants to grow in the winter.
The basil is also growing strongly, with its first pair of true leaves coming out (below-right). It was been just over two weeks since I planted the basil seeds, and I am glad that they are already showing sings of being healthy. I cannot wait to make basil pesto soon!
Alas, we can only do so much when we give control over to nature herself. We cannot dictate, we can only manage. And we can accept what is given to us. In the end, even the infested leaves will become compost, which I will then use to grow more leaves in for my own consumption. The radical cyclical nature of gardening has unmatched poetic beauty.
I hope that your garden is doing well, and that it is not infested with these pesky mites! Maybe you have some tips on getting rid of them.
For now, happy gardening and be safe.
All of the musings and writings are my own, albeit inspired by the poetic beauty of nature's violence. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300 or iPhone.