A few weeks ago I was walking the garden with a friend. My friend happens to be from Kenya and I’ve learned so much from her over the few years she and her family have been in the US. My large kale plant had an aphid infestation and I don’t know about you, but aphids are hard for me to get rid of. Partly because I’m not as diligent as I should be and partly because I’m scared to use anything on my plants that *might* hurt the bees. So, I usually do nothing.
I asked my friend what they do in her country for aphids and she said they sprinkle wood ash on the plants. Really??? Using wood ash in the home garden was new to me. So the next evening, I got some ash from the smoke belly of our smoker and sprinkled some on the kale and the green beans that were next to them. I noticed that the pill bugs – we have an infestation right now – didn’t like the ash and were running from it. The next day, there was a noticeable reduction in aphids on the kale and green beans. I don’t know if they just left and took up residence somewhere else or if they died but my interest has been piqued.
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