Andy Gooding

I have a number of mulberries that were never cultivated. They are tall, gangly, and in a stand of a bunch of weedy maples. I’ve tried the fruit and it’s fine, but there’s no way to collect it. It just falls on my kid’s toys and attracts flies.

I’d really like to turn these into helpful trees. One of my neighbors suggested cutting the trunk about halfway down and letting it grow new branches that are within reach. Even if this does work, I’m concerned that the tree will get shaded out by the weed maples. I’m no arborist. Thoughts on how to turn these pesky trees into friends?

Thanks! Here’s more info.

-I’m in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.

-It’s been unusually rainy, like devastatingly so, but my patch of land has been draining well. There has been a general bug explosion though.

-The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye etc. It has tassels.

-All of this is taking place in a 2x6 garden box in back of our apartment. This is our first year here so I know nothing about what’s been done to it in the past.

-I haven’t used any fertilizer or anything.

One sunny day, I beheld a couple of ladybugs and many ants upon one of my seven glorious surviving glass gem cornstalks. Ah, I sighed. How beautiful. Nature in her wisdom is controlling the aphid population and saving my bounteous harvest. And I went on my merry way.

Well.

I checked back today and Nature is not saving any damn thing. That cornstalk is now lousy with aphids. The ladybugs seem to have decided that it'll be a good source of food for a while because they're starting a ladybug family. Turns out ants are smart enough to do some quasi-farming of their own and aphids are like their livestock. They are not eating the aphids; they are in fact grazing and milking the aphids. Great.

So here come the stupid questions.

1. The cornstalk is not apparently suffering. Is the aphid infestation a big deal?

2. The aphids are ignoring the more delicate beans and the watermelon, which are all right there in the traditional-ish way. (I know, I know, I've figured out that the watermelon was a mistake. It has absolutely climbed the corn and can't be convinced to detangle at this point. I'll post about my watermelon scaffold plans in another forum.) Is it reasonable to have a designated aphid sacrifice or am I just contributing to the burgeoning aphid population? Will they take over?

3. I'm not going to spray pesticides on these plants. Any other way to de-aphid them? My current ideas include biodegradable soapy water in a spray nozzle and a mesh cage that I can strap to the plant and fill with ravenous ladybugs. But I don't know how the soap will affect the plant or if that will even work, and I also don't know if ladybugs who are not actively in love will fight over the aphids.

4. Ladybug bonus: how long will it take the new ladybugs to hatch and is that likely to bring this situation back into some kind of equilibrium? (As in tiltedheavily in my favor and against the aphids and ants?)

Thanks, wise gardeners!

Yooo I am a librarian by trade (15 years in the biz) and allow me to throw out this factotum: many public libraries can get stuff for free when they ask nicely. If you partner with your local permies, (and as referenced in a couple of those links public libraries are often enthusiastic about seed sharing,) you could save yourself a ton of money on seed packets going forward.

Also a note: within the profession, event programming is widely recognized as a big part of the future. Many a librarian spends their day scouring the web for free presenters. Check with your municipality's public library, no matter how big or small. They might like to host some permaculture classes.

I’ve been trying to convince my wife to let me raise crickets for consumption (chapulines) for several months now. Due to our climate, they’d need to be inside, which would inevitably mean escapees. This is her limit. Now if I could get a greenhouse going outside of our living space and install them in a corner, that might be a different story…

I think you’re seeing the absolute noisiest (read most obnoxious and toxic) sector of the dating pool on TikTok. The sensational stuff will get the most clicks, so the algorithm will like it best.

My wife and I met on OKCupid ten years ago. Even back then, 70% of LGBTQ couples were meeting online if only because finding a mutual match was like looking for a needle in a haystack and then once you found it determining if it had the right gauge and whatnot. It can really be a great tool.