RE: Food Forest Update - Late May, Early June 2019
It's just my husband and myself who takes care of this food forest. It can be hard work, but this year with all the rain, we have had a lot of free time on our hands, lol.
My husband is the one who built all the trellises in our food forest. We use a lot of bamboo for support. They are strong and will last a long time. We use cattle panels for the tunnel. I love resting in the shade under the tunnel after working hard in the food forest.
I have always wanted to see those rosemary "trees" in person. They look so cool. The natural soil around our area is full of clay. Water does not drain well. I pulled the dying rosemary and saw the root rot, so I guess rocks around the root zone should help with drainage and prevent root rot. The ones I planted with rocks at the bottom are still doing great despite all the rain.
Another thing to remember 😉
It's a bit of a shame that our rosemary bushes are being destroyed by the rosemary beetle. They are an exotic species and have no natural enemies here. So I check the bushes twice a day to take them all off. 10 minutes later, it seems like they're back again... Sad to watch ...
Learn something every day. I have never heard of rosemary beetle. Will they kill the rosemary bushes if you don't pick them off by hand?
I hadn't heard from them up until 2 years ago. They seem to be pretty 'new' - the first ones were spotted in the UK in 1994. So that means they've spread at warp speed.
They indeed kill the plants (rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme) because they eat the tender leaves.
You can see out plants have been nibbled on... and some stems have just dies. Such a shame...
I found a good artivle about them on Gardening Know How
Wow, this is so interesting! I really thought not much would bother these aromatic herbs. The strong smell of these plants are supposed to deter pests and that's why it is suggested to plant these kind of aromatic herbs around fruit trees. No known natural enemies is definitely one of the reason why they can spread so fast. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I am glad I have included the dying rosemary plant in my garden journal. I might have ever learned about the rosemary beetle if not for you.