Nature's Way

Nature has Superheroes and Villians. The Villians are the insects that munch on your plants, ruining all your hard work. The Superheroes are the insects that help the plants grow, and help keep the Villians away.

On the left is a picture of our great-grandmother, Alice Rose's, Peonies. Peonies are a big double-petal flower that smells really great. Prior to the buds opening we have noticed that ants are busy crawling all over them. You can see them better in the picture below:

We thought at first that the ants were hurting the Peonies, but we have since learned that they're not Villians. They are Superheroes. Their job is to collect the sweet juice on the buds, perhaps helping them to open. Once the buds bloom most of the ants will go away.

What does this have to do with corn? We'll be using Superhero insects to help keep our garden organic. Once we know how much space our corn garden will take up we'll do some more math to figure out how many ladybugs we'll need. And no, not all ladybugs are girl bugs.