Totally buggin'

Something's eating the eggplant's leaves. Munching them into leafy lace. And I'm mad. Infuriated, actually. I had visions of homemade baba ganoush dancing in my head when I planted these nifty "ghostbuster" eggplants, whose fruit is strikingly white.

I consulted Gayla Trail's You Grow Girl gardening book (which I love, by the way) for some help in identifying these little buggers. No luck. She does advise, however, that I should plant things like Yarrow around my garden, as yarrow attracts the good bugs like ladybugs and lacewings that prey on the not-so-good bugs. Duly noted.

A good bit of reading later on the good ol' interweb I discovered the name of my newest nemesis: the flea beetle. Oh, jerky and resilient flea beetle, what am I going to do about you???

Back to You Grow Girl for further guidance. I found a recipe for an organic DIY insecticide/repellent. Gayla calls it an "herbal buzz spray." And this is how it goes: Take two tablespoons of used coffee grounds (never ending supply of that 'round here!) and a cup of fresh thyme or mint (we have both in our garden) and a cup of water and let them perc together for 24hrs. After 24 hours, strain out the grounds and herbs, funnel this oddly delicious smelling concoction into a spray bottle and get to work spraying both the tops and bottoms of the leaves. Apparently caffeine is an insecticide--didn't know that!

After a week of this, the flea beetles continued to plunder the eggplant, so I began to feel a bit more desperate. I checked in with one of the nursery workers at Roxbury, who explained that diatomaceous earth is an earth-friendly way to address this little sitch. From what he explained, diatomaceous earth is ground-up fossils of diatoms, sort of like ground up shells. These tiny, powdery particles, when examined under a microscope, look like razor sharp snowflakes. The bugs crawl over the stuff, it nicks them here, there, and everywhere, and they die a dehydrated death. Of course I bought some.

We have been using it, but with all of the rain we've gotten (totally not complaining), it seems like it just washes away, much to the beetles delight. Oh well. After several batches of the homebrewed buzz spray, I gave up on it. Same for the diatomaceous earth. Feeling frustrated.This afternoon I was peeking around the garden after work, hunting for subtle, but always exciting growth and changes. And lo, one of the eggplants has bloomed! An adorable purple bloom with a yolky yellow center! So maybe there is hope afterall, and maybe the bugs aren't so bad after all? I'm still undecided, but hopeful for some baba ganoush.

-R.