Lean mean killing machines... I think not!

Hello All!!!

I know it has been a while since Ive posted anything so get ready because there is much to tell so get ready for many posts this upcoming week!

     Well two posts ago I told you all about the vicious attack on our fair garden from those demonic bugs from hell (also known as aphids) and our acquiring of 1,500 hard core killing machines (known to the common man as ladybugs). If you don't remember go back and read it... Ill wait.We ended up waiting for about a week for the assassins to arrive via mail, praying that the little creatures didn't die in the heat. They arrived at the house alive... well most of them anyway. On the way back to Rowan I dreamed about the wrath that these little bugs would bring to the unwanted garden dwellers. I could see it before my eyes. Ladybugs storming out by the hundreds blood thirsty and ready for battle. The little beetles opening up their wings and flying over to the tomato plants spotting their targets. I couldn't help but grin at the thought of hundreds of the little red and black spotted bugs diving down and consuming the nuisance that has bothered me for so long.

What played out in my mind and what actually happened though are two very different stories.

      That evening after we have watered the garden, right as the sun was setting we opened the container for the ladybugs to have their freedom... First all the bugs had crawled to the top and then they just sat there. Maybe ten of them flew off into the garden but the rest just sat there. I tried everything to get them to fly out or even to crawl onto the leaves of the plants but they wanted to stay in the container. After deciding that it couldn't hurt them to just pour the bugs onto the plants I went around the tomato beds sprinkling ladybugs and the wood shavings they came with like a waiter shakes out parmesan cheese on your spaghetti. Once finished, I crouched down to take a look at the battle that was sure to unfold as the hungry ladybugs found their food. Instead I watched the dumpy little bugs walk right around the aphids as if they were tiny pebbles in their way!!!! So much for my vicious killing machines! I had thought that I had hired skilled assassins to do my dirty work, but from the looks of it I hired dumpy little twits who didn't even know that the thousands of roadblocks were their main source of food!

     It has been two weeks now since the release of my epic fail and there are about ten to fifteen ladybugs that are visible in the garden. The aphids are still there, and I have resorted to power washing my tomato plants every day to spray off the pests. I didn't want to resort to spraying anything on the plants but it looks like that's our next step.