"What dreadful hot weather we have!

It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance."

- Jane Austen

When you reap more than you can eat, share, can, or freeze...

When your green thumb garners more produce than you can handle, bring it here to Woodbridge Greenhouses. We are inspired by a public service program called "Plant a Row for the Hungry". Woodbridge Greenhouse will collect donations of extra produce and deliver it to the Trinity Episcopal Church Food Closet*.

"Plant a Row for the Hungry" was created in 1995 by the Garden Writers Association and the GWA Foundation. Garden writers are asked to encourage their readers and/or listeners to plant an extra row of produce each year and donate their surplus to local food banks, soup kitchens and service organizations to help feed America's hungry.

*The Trinity Food Closet is open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 11am and is located at 251 Danielson Pike in Scituate. This pantry provides food to between 30 and 70 families each month. With the economic situation stagnant, and school lunch programs unavailable until September, the need for food is great.

Woodbridge is open every day from 9 to 5 to accept donations. We hope you will share your bounty with those in need.

"If you saw a heat wave,

would you wave back?"

- Steven Wright, Comedian

August Garden Pest: Japanese Beetles are back...again!

August Garden Pest:

Japanese Beetles are back...again!

We all understand that the cyclical nature of gardening reeps fresh deliciousness: greens and asparagus each spring, summer herbs and vegetables, followed by autumn squash and cool-weather crops. Unfortunately, the rhythym of seasons also reeps a rotating bounty of pests. A few months ago my nemesis was the Red Lily Beetle, followed by powdery mildew, and now, it's Japanese beetles...again.

If you don't dislike Japanese beetles, it's probably because you haven't had to battle them in your garden. At first glance they are like bling in your garden with their irridescent golden-green coloring. Unlike beneficial insects that pollinate plants, Japanese beetles have three purposes in my garden: eat, mate, and turn my family into pernicious pest pluckers (...and accidental voyeurs since Patrick also likes to point out each time he finds them "mating". Looks like I may have to have "that talk" with him a LOT sooner than I ever imagined!)

Last August I compiled information on our blog about these ravenous imported beetles and a variety of ways to deal with them. This year, in addition to Neem Oil and sacrificial marigolds, my garden is defended by a 5 -year-old boy who loves to stomp on as many beetles as I can pull off our plants. As gross as it is to see the mass grave in our garden, their corpses supposedly warn other Japanese Beetles to skeedaddle.

For more information and other options, click here to read the full article.

"When summer opens, I see how fast it matures,

and fear it will be short;

but after the heats of July and August,
I am reconciled, like one who has had his swing,
to the cool of autumn."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson