Damn You, Fruit Flies!

Soooo.....snails have been a pretty big problem in the garden lately. I came outside this morning to discover all but one leaf on one of my Sweet Potato vines eaten down to the nubs by these little bastards! I've had little trays of beer set out in the garden and, as it turns out, snails get pretty excited when you offer them beer- like college students and those guys in South Tampa whose biceps are bigger than their torsos...Anyway, they just LOVE drinking and they fall into the beer and drown. Bye-bye snaily. Unfortunately, I'm a pretty absent-minded gardener, so I forget to change out the beer in the traps with regularity, which brings me to the new plague sent to me by the gardening gods- fruit flies. There were thousands of them in the garden this morning- hanging out in the big yellow flowers adorning a couple of squash vines and, disturbingly, in the rancid beer (not dead, mind you, just drunk and a bit ornery)...Now how to get rid of 'em without spraying nuclear waste all over my food producers?????  The answer can be found, apparently, in a solution of Apple Cider Vinegar, Water, and Dishwashing Soap (for viscosity, not flavor!). Check out this little instructional vid from The Urban Farming Guys...

 In fact, check out their YouTube page- tons of videos on their awesome project in Kansas City- they're creating community in a pretty rough urban area. Urban farming, off-grid energy, etc. Seriously, look them up. Every city could use this kind of help!

The Verdict....

 I forgot to cover a big pot of Cuban Oregano for last night's frost. It's not looking very healthy today...only time will tell if it will bounce back. Poor, delicious, somewhat-hardy, formerly green herb!

sad little Cuban Oregano needs a sweater!

Lesson 1: Cover the Cuban Oregano, it's tropical!

On the other hand, the tomatoes, squash, and eggplants seem to have fared well under the "Planket" (overpriced plant warmer).See below for proof! Bright, shiny, and bug-free! I guess I should thank freezynight for helping me out!

tomato flowers made it through the night!

snail-free, caterpillar-free!

Kabocha Squash Flowers going strong!

happy collards take whatever the weather throws at them! 

So here it is, the first hard freeze of the season. 10pm to 9am. That's too cold! And for too long! And, of course. Three days after the backyard tomato jungle proves viable, yet not quite ready for harvest. Two days after a pile of new eggplant flowers open - yes, the Ichibans, the Chinese, the little white ones- they were all in full crazy-warm Florida winter bloom. Who will survive? Who will die and agonizing, wilty, early-morning death???? I certainly don't know. I read somewhere that collards are frost hardy, so I suppose we'll see about that...I'm out of sheets for my haphazard garden!

Hell's bells, the anticipation is killing me! Wish me luck!