24/06/2025
Tuesday Tutorial: A Different Kind of Harvest
It’s June. So you know what it’s time for: Japanese Beetles 🙄 Those pesky little bugs that sit on everything you don’t want them to and nibble away at your roses, grape leaves and hibiscus.
So let’s talk about what to do about them. There are several effective methods of managing these invasive bugs, including setting traps (might be inviting the neighbor’s bugs into your garden to party with yours) decoys (who really wants to offer up a sacrificial lamb plant for the cause?) and hand-picking (my preferred method). I steer clear of all things chemical in my garden so pesticides are out.
My advice: get an old cereal bowl that you never really liked anyway (since you’ll never want to eat from it again after gathering this particular harvest ), add 1” of water and a little sq**rt of dish detergent (I like to swish it around a bit to give them the illusion of a luxurious (albeit last) bubble bath).
Armed with bowl in hand I walk the garden first thing in the morning, looking to harvest some Japanese beetles. They seem to be more sluggish in the mornings than midday so it’s easier to handpick them.
Once you’ve found some move quickly to hold the bowl right underneath them with one hand as you brush them into the foamy suds with the other. Note: when they are by themselves they are quicker to notice the danger and fly away - great disappointment. So seek out clusters of those who are, shall we say, “otherwise preoccupied”. They won’t even notice you’re coming for them and I figure that way they die happy.
A good morning harvest is 30 bugs or more and that’s 30 less to eat my roses!
🌸🌸Happy Bug Harvest🌸🌸
