Grubs

Eeeeuw! As I was turning over the soil in one of my raised beds to prepare it for planting cool season crops, I came across a fat white caterpillar type grub, with a red butt! My soil was full of the wriggling pests. After a little research, I discovered they were the larvae of the Japanese beetle – not a friend to my kitchen garden. I found them in three of my 14 raised beds. The same three that I had amended in early fall with compost purchased from a new source. They must have been in the compost. To rid my soil of these grubs, I mixed one part Ivory dish soap to 10 parts boiling hot water and poured it over the soil of the beds. The culprits squirmed up to the surface and I scooped them up and threw them away. Those that didn’t make it to the top, died in the soil. As I turned over my soil, I discarded the remaining grubs. I am so glad to be rid of them.