Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Everyone has them right? The kind of day you would never wish on anyone. There is a book from my childhood that I always think of when I have these kinds of days Alexander and the Terrible Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. Today I had one of those unfortunate days. I went to the greenhouse to plant some more seeds and check on my plants. I had noticed last week that I had some yellow leaves on the bottom of my ashwaganda so I was keeping an eye on it. I decided to do some further inspection and when I checked the underside of the leaves they were covered in bugs. I wanted to run out and forgot what I had seen but unfortunately bugs do not go away in the greenhouse. It is a confined space and it makes it easy for pests to take over. With some help from the greenhouse staff I was able to identify the pests as mealybug and whitefly. Unfortunately they had completely taken over the ashwaganda and I had to remove it from the greenhouse. So on a day of new life and planting it turned into a day of death. I was so sad to kill my plants but in a communal space you have to work towards to greater good for everyone. I am very passionate about raising my plants organically but in this setting I realized I would do more harm if I did not quickly address the problem. So I gave into a ‘soft’ treatment for the white fly what was infesting almost the whole bench. I am working this week on the mealy bugs that will be hard to eliminate but I hope to control until I can bring them outside.

 The good news is that not everyday is all horrible. I was able to see the Echinacea and milk thistle in full bloom. The first group of poppies has all dropped their leaves and the second set is starting to bloom. I can think of nothing more enjoyable then entering the greenhouse in the middle of winter to see rows of green and flowers blooming. A few of my plantings from earlier this week have started to sprout!