My wife has an amazing ability to buy me great books. I read a lot of different things and she’s found a way to match my bizarre interests in science and history to the perfect book choice. Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries… she’s very thoughtful about it.
She usually includes a gardening book or two in the selections and for vacation she ordered Good Bug, Bad Bug by Jessica Walliser. (Her blog is worth reading too. She’s got a cool wire frame potato bin thing happening there that is likely to be the way I do potatoes next year.)
When I was a kid I had these cool animal cards. The company sent out a set of 5 or so each month for a while and it came with a green, plastic container. I loved organizing it, alphabetizing, and reviewing each animal. I can still see the cool, freaky picture of the aye aye in my head! And when I decided that the armadillo was my favorite animal in sixth grade, that card started me on the road to know-it-all armadilloness.
Good Bug, Bad Bug reminds me of those cards! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve searched for pictures of my garden pests. And this book is simply set up with great pictures of all of them, descriptions, organic treatments (if they exist) and how to spot the damage. She’s also got a section on beneficial bugs with the same info and she describes how to attract them.
The book is small and easy to flip through. Check it out… no more searching online for me..
Filed under: pests, reviews , good bug bad bug, jessica walliser
Sounds like a must-get! And, of course, gotta love “armadilloness”!!!
And naturally, I remain a know it all about armadillos! Did you know that they usually give birth to quintuplets? I could go on. Hmmm…. maybe I’ll write an armadillo blog. I’d call it “Roadkillings”.
How about just posting an armadillo true-n-false quiz on Compostings? I want to know more! (Like, why didn’t the armadillo cross the road, and just sat on it instead?)
Ha!
That’s a fine idea. I wonder if the poor little armadillos just think that their armor can handle a hit from a moving car?
Here’s a poem I remember from a report I did in 6th grade. I don’t know who wrote it, but as I recall it was done for some armadillo celebration in Texas.:
Armadillos, armadillos
They’re too soft for pillows
And too hard for rocks
And they can’t dance a jig
Because their feet are too big
So why do we have armadillos?
Sounds like a must-have book for a gardener. I know I have spent more than my fair share of time searching online for critters.