Lovage Garden Co

06/08/2026

You've created an ecosystem that knows itself better than you. Let it do its work. Put the neem oil away. Observe.

Stop what you're doing and think about that for a second.

Fifty eggs. Laid deliberately, strategically, and almost invisibly on the underside of a single leaf in your garden. The mother ladybug didn't place them there randomly. She walked your plants first. She found your aphid colonies. She chose that exact spot because she knew — instinctively, without a gardening book or a YouTube tutorial — that her babies would hatch hungry and need to eat immediately.

Within 3 to 5 days those eggs become larvae. Within days of hatching those larvae begin consuming aphids at a rate that would make the most aggressive pesticide manufacturer quietly jealous. Up to 400 aphids per larva. Multiply that by fifty eggs on a single leaf cluster. That is 20,000 aphids eliminated by the contents of one tiny cluster you could cover with your thumbnail.

And it happens silently. Invisibly. On the underside of a leaf you probably never thought to flip over.

This is what your garden is doing without you. This is what has always been happening in healthy gardens since long before pesticides existed. Nature built a system so elegant, so precise, and so effective that our greatest mistake has been assuming we could improve on it with a spray bottle.

Flip your leaves over this week. Learn what these eggs look like. And when you find them — because you will — do the most powerful thing a gardener can do.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

Have you ever found ladybug eggs in your garden?

06/02/2026

Plant the plants that attract the good bugs that destroy the bad bugs. Also known as, Understanding Your Ecosystem.

Want an army of these little aphid-destroyers in your garden? Here's how to roll out the welcome mat for ladybugs and their larvae:

Plant dill, fennel, yarrow, marigolds, and flat-headed flowers - ladybugs are drawn to them like a magnet. Leave a small shallow dish of water in the garden - they need to drink too. Stop using broad pesticides - they kill ladybug eggs and larvae before they ever get started. Let a small patch of your garden grow a little wild -ladybugs overwinter in leaf litter and debris.

Do those four things and you won't need to buy a single bottle of aphid spray ever again. Nature already built the solution. We just have to stop getting in the way of it.

Oh - and there's one more important thing in the comments...

05/03/2026

Plant the things that attract these beautiful and useful bugs. Pretty much anything in the carrot family.

Most American gardeners recognize one or two ladybug species. There are actually dozens across the continent — and they vary more than most people realize. Here are 13 you may encounter in or near US gardens. 🌿

Seven-spotted ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata) — the most common ladybug in American gardens. Introduced from Europe, now widespread. Classic red with seven black spots.

Asian lady beetle (Harmonia axyridis) — highly variable: red, orange, or yellow, zero to 21 spots. The one most likely to cluster on your house in fall. Effective aphid predator despite its reputation.

Two-spotted ladybug (Adalia bipunctata) — red with two bold black spots. Native to North America, common on roses and fruit trees where aphid colonies form.

Convergent ladybug (Hippodamia convergens) — the species sold commercially for aphid control. Recognizable by two converging white lines on the pronotum. North American native.

Fifteen-spotted ladybug (Anatis labiculata) — large, pale gray to lavender with fifteen dark spots. One of the biggest ladybugs in North America. Found in trees and shrubs.

Spotted cucumber beetle look-alike caution — yellow-green with black spots, often confused with ladybugs. It is a pest, not a beneficial. Worth learning to distinguish.

Twenty-spotted lady beetle (Psyllobora vigintimaculata) — cream with many small dark spots. Tiny and easy to overlook. Feeds on mildew rather than aphids — a specialist, not a generalist predator.

Eyed ladybug (Anatis ocellata) — large, red, with black spots ringed in pale yellow giving an "eyed" appearance. Found in conifers and mixed woodland edges.

Ash gray ladybug (Olla v-nigrum) — pale gray with black spots, or occasionally black with red spots. Found in warmer regions, especially on aphid-infested trees.

Orange ladybug (Halyzia sedecimguttata equivalent — US species: Halyzia) — warm orange with pale spots. Less common in gardens but present in deciduous woodland edges.

Twelve-spotted ladybug (Coleomegilla maculata) — distinctively elongated and pink-red with twelve spots. One of the few ladybugs that also eats pollen, making it an unusually versatile beneficial.

Black ladybug (Epilachna varivestis — caution) — fully black or black with red markings can indicate the Mexican bean beetle, which is a pest that eats foliage. Not all dark ladybugs are beneficial.

Pink-spotted lady beetle (Coleophora inaequalis) — pale pink to cream with black spots. Southeastern US, feeds on aphids and soft-bodied insects on low-growing plants. 🌱

The rule across all species: if it has the rounded shield shape and is eating something on your plants, watch before acting. Most are working for you. 🪴

04/27/2026

A good visual explanation of the different soil needs of commonly grown herbs.

The same soil that's feeding your basil is rotting your rosemary.

Mediterranean herbs — rosemary, lavender, thyme, oregano, sage — evolved on rocky hillsides where roots dry within hours.

Rich, moist potting mix pushes fast foliage that dilutes their oils. Leaves that look healthy but taste like nothing.

Basil, cilantro, parsley, chives, and mint need the opposite. Fertile soil. Consistent moisture. Shallow roots built for wet ground.

One pot. Two mixes.

Mediterranean mix:
- Three parts coarse sand or perlite, one part potting soil, one part fine gravel
- No compost. No moisture crystals
- Terracotta pot — dries through the walls

Moisture mix:
- Two parts potting soil, one part compost, one part vermiculite
- Glazed or plastic pot — holds moisture steady

The herb that tastes the strongest grew in the soil that stressed it most.

04/20/2026

There are some very exciting things happening for Lovage Garden in the next few weeks. Community is key! Hint:

10/25/2025

Fall planting. Best time of the year!

08/17/2025

A lot of life, and death, got in between me and my garden this year.

I had plans drawn up, seeds at the ready, and somehow I didn't make it out to plant my beds this spring.

I didn't make it out to w**d or water. At all.

I am embarrassed by the state of my garden and wonder what the neighbors must think and if I will get a letter from the city soon to address my mess. I even taught gardening classes all summer at my local libraries! I am NOT being a good example!

But today my garden surprised me. I harvested a bucket of sweet cherry tomatoes that grew from the "bad" tomatoes that dropped last fall. I discovered a watermelon plant and harvested a glorious melon. I found a prolific butternut squash plant winding its way through the grasses that I planted too close to my garden boxes. Parsley, mustard and poppy plants are producing beautifully from seeds that fell last fall.

I saw braconid wasps, hundreds of bees, ladybugs and so many monarch butterflies. I saw monarch and swallowtail caterpillars. I saw no sign of hornworms or Japanese beetles, probably because of the bugs mentioned above.

My garden is not Instagram pretty. It is just doing what it knows how to do without my intervention. It's taking care of me when I need it most.

07/30/2025

Answers to a common question.

07/13/2025

My number one piece of gardening advice. Water well weekly versus not enough daily.

07/01/2025

Smells divine, makes a nice tea, enhances a cold fruit salad and the pollinators adore it. What's not to like?

THIS is the most underrated plant in the world. I don't know why more gardeners don't grow it. Here's why >>>