What’s eating my Basil??

I love my basil because it smells and tastes so yummy.  It seems that something else in the world is show its love for my basil too.  Not nice little insect, so please stop lunching on my plant.

I have been doing a bunch of research this morning on what causing this damage.  It could be a multitude of insects:

1)   Aphids:  I didn’t find any of these little white bugs on my plant

2)   Caterpillars:  Haven’t seen these around either

3)   Grasshoppers:  Definite option

4)   Slugs:  Nope

5)   Birds:  The edges that have been eaten do not have the shape of a bird beak

6) Flea Beetle:  Definite option

7) Brown Beetle:  Definite option

Also, I am going to head out tonight with a flashlight to see if the culprit is nocturnal.   

I will let you know what I find and what I am going to do to remedy the problem.

Welcome

Hello everyone,

Growing up on the plains of Colorado I was lucky enough to be part of a family that valued gardening and farming.  Surrounding the farm were miles of wheat and corn… in our backyard a huge veggie garden.  At the time, I didn’t love having to plant or weed this garden because of its size.  To top off the fun we were punished to pulling weeds after my mom hit her limit due to our bickering.   Basically, I took having this luxury of a food producing back yard for granted. 

After a 15 year break from the garden and a move to downtown Denver I was craving dirt amongst the big buildings.  It isn’t hard to have a place here that has a small backyard, but at this time we wanted live with as little outdoor maintenance as possible.   After living in a condo for many years we are now living in a townhome with a roof top deck.   Both of our living situations did not follow the traditional gardening format so I stalled at only planting flowers in containers until a moment of inspiration thanks to Easy Container Combos by Paula Crawford.

“I can plant more then just tomatoes in a container?? Really!!??”.  Yes, you can!  There are now becoming more sources on the internet, in magazines and in books that focus on container farming and gardening.   It has definitely blossomed over the last few years due to the urban gardening lifestyle shift.

This blog will focus on my trials and successes of container farming on my balcony and roof top patio living in a Zone 5-6 location.  I am not an expert, so you will be watching me learn, swear, and dance a jig.  I want to explore having my patio look great year round, not just beautiful in the summer.  In the future I envision that this blog will create a space where we can collaborate on what has worked best for you and celebrate container farming successes for our region.   

Happy planting!!