Cutworms
I grew some lovely pink zinnias from seed and planted one out in the garden before the rain. A few days ago, I noticed it was “cut” and lying limp on the ground. With a little careful digging, I found the culprit – a cutworm. The adult cutworm moths lay eggs in August and September. A hot, dry August gives the moths a chance to feed and lay eggs in loose, dry soil surfaces. The eggs hatch in the following May, and also do really well in dry and warm, rather than cool, wet soil.
So if you find a plant with the stem cut off at ground level, gently dig around the stub of the plant and you may find the greyish, caterpillar-like cutworm larva (I squish it). Some pretty good lifecycle info and photos can be found here.
How to Deal with Cutworms
Cut plants can’t be saved, but it’s a good idea to check around your other plants that have not been cut (yet), and install a plastic, cardboard or plastic collar (toilet paper roll, paper cups with bottom cut off, small pop bottle, etc) around the stem, pushing the collar about 2 cm into the ground so that the cutworm can’t get to the stem. Other methods can be found online, such as sprinkling crushed eggshells or diatomaceous earth around the plant. Two nails or toothpicks inserted very closely to the plant stem are also supposed to prevent the cutworm from wrapping around the stem and cutting it. I tend to favour the most direct barrier, a paper collar to be safe.
Cutworms have natural enemies, such as parasitic wasps and ground beetles. It is therefore important to avoid using herbicides or pesticides in the garden and include brush piles, logs and mulch to provide shelter for these beneficial species, as well as native wildflowers as a food source.
 
Slugs
Yes, I found one, just after the rain. It was going after my newly planted Butterfly Salvia. In a dry year, slugs are not that much of a problem, but we had some wet summers that allowed them to lay eggs and stick around.
When slugs make an appearance, spending a few minutes picking every day works best for me:
I pour about 1 litre of water in a plastic container, add approx. 1 Tbsp of salt and a few drops of dish soap. Then I gently stir the mixture. I put a latex glove on my dominant hand and go out. I gently coax each slug into my cupped hand, then quickly plop it into the salt-water mix. I flush the mix in the toilet.
I have also read that gardeners are having success with corn meal or bran as a slug bait. Apparently, the corn meal or bran kills the slugs because once consumed it swells up in their body. Put some in a jar and lay the jar on its side so the slugs can get in. They’ll eat some, leave, and die. I am planning to try it this year.
 
Flea Beetles
These critters love the mustard family and other plants. I mostly see them feeding on radish, arugula, bok choi, spinach, and potatoes. They are very fast and there are many varieties, therefore control is tricky. Last year, I decided to plant arugula in early August in part shade, and that worked well because the flea beetles are no longer very active. This spring, I planted a cover crop of mustard, and sure enough, the beetles are happy feeding on it. The spinach and early potatoes next to the cover crop have minor damage. I plan on composting the cover crop and lightly tilling the soil to expose any flea beetle eggs, once I plant a zucchini in the bed in the next few days. The most effective way to protect plants from flea beetles is to cover them with floating row cover, available at a local garden centre. My radishes are never wormy under the cover. The attached photo shows bok choi nice and cozy under row cover stapled all around a wooden planter.

We crave fresh greens in early spring but around here, not much grows until May. At the other end, our season generally finishes in late October. While that’s a 6-month growing season, most of us find the winter long and the local, seasonal produce quite limited after our gardens go to sleep.
So what can you do to get some quick greens in spring, and again after the summer heat into fall? Here are 3 ideas for fall, spring and summer.

1. Spring Greens – make plans in the fall
In early spring, dandelions and stinging nettle cut from an area that is not sprayed will add some great nutrition to a salad, and if you have enough space, asparagus can do very well in Alberta. A very early perennial green is Sorrel, a clumping plant that produces slightly sour leaves resembling spinach. I have seen Sorrel poke out around April 15. While it’s too sour in a salad by itself, you can add it to your store-bought salad mix. Asparagus and Sorrel are available for purchase and planting in early spring.
 
The best way to have some early spinach and lettuce is to seed these crops in the fall before snow falls. Once the weather warms up in May, spinach grows very quickly, followed by the lettuce. If you plant lettuce and other greens in a cold frame in the fall or very early spring, you may be able to harvest a little bit earlier yet.

2. Early Summer Veggie Planter – plant in early May
Spring is a tricky time for transplanting vegetable seedlings or flowers outside because we can get some very chilly nights almost until the end of May. I also find that pesky flea beetles love young arugula, mustards, radish and bok choi or any of the Asian salad mixes. So here is a way to produce bok choi, napa cabbage, kale or other greens quickly and fairly safe from flea beetles.
In late April or early May, some garden centres or hardware stores (i.e. Rona, Home Depot) bring in 6-packs of these vegetables. I prefer to support locally owned garden centres, but sometimes the hardware stores have veggies shipped a bit early – if you spot them before they look awful due to neglect, they will do very well. Choose a container or planter that is easy to move into the garage or house, should the weather turn ugly. Fill it with potting mix, and add compost and an organic fertilizer for nutrition.
Transplant the seedlings (i.e., bok choi) into your container and cover them with floating row cover. This will protect the seedlings from pests and create some extra warmth. In early to mid-June, you will have some fresh greens from your container garden.

3. Greens until November in a Cold Frame – plant in mid- to late August
This past summer, my garlic was ready for harvest at the end of August. After I had pulled the garlic, I placed a cold frame on that open ground, added a little bit of organic fertilizer and seeded a mix of arugula, lettuce and kale inside the cold frame on Aug 28. The cooler weather allowed the arugula to grow very quickly. I did not see much of the lettuce, and the kale was also sparse for a while. While temperatures started dipping toward the freezing mark in early October, the greens continued to grow and we enjoyed some fresh salads in mid-October. In the cold frame, the arugula did not seem to be affected by –5 degrees C overnight in early November, but on November 14, we picked the last bowl of lovely arugula. It was great to have the greens so late into the season!