Kill 'em all.

One of my garden chores yesterday was getting some twine installed for my runner beans to climb up.  Yes...they are planted right near my chain link fence, but I'd rather they not actually climb the fence.  So, my original plan was putting in some kind of netting, but that proved to be an order of magnitude more expensive than just running some twine from anchors up to the top of the fence.

I've been rather impressed by the beans so far(I mean, as impressed as I can be without actually getting any beans to eat yet)...I have had almost an 80% sprout rate, and the plants all look healthy...but looks can be deceiving.  Upon closer inspection, my beans seem to fall into three categories:

Happy Beans

 

Slightly Chewed On Beans

 



 

Totally Destroyed Beans

 



 

Very Sad.  I'm not sure which particular beastie is doing this...just during the short time I was out there I saw ants, pill bugs, and ear wigs...all the type of bugs one would expect in a garden.  Now...I would prefer to blast them with chemicals, but since much of the green in my yard is going to end up getting fed to the chickens at some point, I try to avoid chemical pesticides.  I have a sprayer of homemade stuff(mostly diluted soap and some cinnamon oil), but I also have a bag of Diatomaceous Earth that I occasionally sprinkle into the chicken coop, and around my containers of veggies.

 

By the time I was done with my beans, it looked like the bathroom counter at Club 54(a 70's reference!)

 

 



That might be a bit overkill.  It also probably won't be as efficient as I hoped.  I skipped a watering cycle to give it more time to work...but, I'm potentially wasting my time, anyways.  Even the beans that we looking chewed on were growing skyward. 

Still, I'd feel lame if I didn't try something.