Garden Gab

I've been meaning to write a little bit about my garden, so I'm going to do it now. Dad and I have planted the following: strawberries, green onions, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, lots and lots of tomatoes, peas, pumpkins, zucchini, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, white onions, yellow onions, regular potatoes, broccoli, green beans, jalapenos, habaneros (only a few because dad is the only one who likes them), corn, and raspberries. Dad has a rototiller, so he has tilled a few gardens for members of the branch. One guy wanted to pull up his raspberry plants, so dad took them. He has wanted to grow raspberries for so long, and the plants he has bought in the past have all died. Sadly it doesn't look like many of these are going to survive, but at least one of them hasn't wilted yet. Maybe it will hang in there.
When we planted our garden I noticed lots of little white grubs in the soil. We had a serious problem with Japanese beetles last summer, and I did some research and indeed they are Japanese beetle grubs. Gross. The grubs eat the roots of plants, and the adults ravage everything. They obliterated our grape vines last year. Our vines do produce grapes, but we haven't worked to cultivate them so they don't taste that good. Grapvines are one of the beetles favorite foods, and we just don't want to have the problem we had last year so dad pulled out the vines. Unfortunately they also love strawberries. I will kill every last one of those little devils before I'll let them ruin my strawberries. Has anyone else had trouble with Japanese beetles, and if so how did you get rid of them?
I also planted some bee balm, butterfly bushes, and lemon balm. I want to attract good bugs. Have any of you heard about something called colony collapse disorder? Since 2006 many colonies of honey bees have abandoned their hives and no one really knows why. Many crops depend on bees for pollination, and without them our food supply could potentially be in trouble. There are quite a few bee keepers in this area, and the apple orchards need the bees! Some of the possible reasons for the problem are pollution, pesticides, dwindling food supply for the bees, and sickness. A couple of ideas for encouraging healthy bee populations in our areas are to plant native plant species that are well-suited for local bees and reducing the amount of pesticides we use in our gardens. Visit www.burtsbees.com or www.organicgardening.com to learn more.
Happy gardening!