On Day 9 I went looking for ladybugs. I'd found aphids among my plants and wanted them GONE. Typical nurseries and Home Depot didn't have any this time of year, so I thought I'd try Whole Foods. Instead of grabbing the dang ladybugs and leaving like I should have, I roamed the gardening section for way too long. I purchased a bottle of "Extreme Juice", which is concentrated veggie food, and a copy of Extreme Gardening: How to Grow Organic in the Hostile Deserts by Dave Owens, the "Garden Guy" from TV. It's also a great book because it gives every detail for planting all different sorts of food. I also grabbed a sprouting pot http://www.amazon.com/Handy-Pantry-Sprouting-Jar-Lid/dp/B000EDN8JI/ref=sr_1_13?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1319829618&sr=1-13
I had seen my sister making her own alfalfa sprouts and thought I'd try it. It's very easy, actually my 7-year-old son ended up doing all the work. In four days we had fresh sprouts that taste much better than store sprouts. I'm making my second batch today.
Last night we let the ladybugs go. I told my son to tip the container sideways so only half would get out and we could save the other half for another night. He "accidentally" dumped all 1500 ladybugs out and they got to work.
This morning, I have only seen 5 ladybugs :(
To catch up on what is growing, by today, Day 13, all of the seeds have come up. The beans look the best at about 3" high. I thinned them today and felt genuine remorse for starting their life and then quickly taking it away. I soon got the idea to transplant some of them to a large pot, but they're not doing too well a few hours later.
I read in the book mentioned above how herbs can keep bugs away. Yesterday my mom and I planted (in 6 pots) basil, chamomile, lavender and cilantro. We placed the pots around the garden to keep the pests away, so we'll see about that...
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