One day I had the start of a very lovely patch of mixed lettuce plants. The next morning, I had a few stems of lettuce and one lonely leaf covered by a few small green caterpillar type creatures. Then my Swiss chard got attacked by the little buggers. And now the peas have some weird white spots on the leaves. Sigh. I feel like I am losing the war here.

I thought container plants were supposed to be more pest-resistant, but I guess I was wrong. I really want to avoid using chemical pesticides, but I don’t know what the best alternative is. Some natural pesticides seem like they’d be the perfect solution, but I want to do a little more research before I start spraying anything on plants I eventually want to eat. I also like the idea of companion planting as a natural alternative but I don’t have much space to introduce a lot of new plants at this point.

The other alternative is to let go of the dream of growing my own veggies in the heart of the city and get some great outdoor furniture so that we can enjoy the space and the cool air outside the apartment. I have gone back and forth on this many times, but I just can’t seem to commit to anything. There are hammocks and chaise lounges and cool double chairs that have a little umbrella table in the middle, and they all seem they’d be awesome for different reasons. I am just having such a hard time of letting go of that utopic vision of actual edible plants in my backyard.

I will most likely debate this more tonight as I plant some mint seedlings where the lettuce plants used to be, because I can’t bear the site of that big empty container. Sad days in the garden indeed.