Lately, I have been getting little done in my apartment. Seems I have no interest in dusting all the pictures, furniture here. But I did just tear my bed down, doing what I call BEDBUG PREVENTION. Since bedbugs live in this complex, diligence is necessary to keep the little suckers OUT of my apartment. So, every 60-90 days, I pull my bedding off, examine the mattress for any signs of bugs, remove all the sealed totes from under the bed, vacuum under the bed, the totes, the mattress and mattress cover and look for signs of any bugs. I spray the carpet under the bed with Zodiac flea & tick spray for upholstery. Clean sheets and pillowcases finish the job. I spray my doorway, door door trim and outside my door with Zodiac. It takes several hours to do this job.
After I moved into this apartment, I had several bug bites and discovered a bedbug on my bedding. The "bug man" came to my apartment to examine my bedding. When I moved in, I was NOT going to buy a new mattress till I was sure there weren't any bugs in my place. Well, it seems the policy is not spraying between tenants...and the last tenant probably had bedbugs. The bug man pronounced my bedding clean (same mattress I had been sleeping on for four years in the camper)...but wanted to spray my apartment. I am chemically sensitive and declined. The bug man was wearing boots, gloves and a mask. I should live in the pesticide? And my little dog, so close to the carpet should have to be in that bad stuff? I didn't think so!
I went on a vengeful attack in my apartment, taking off the outlet and light switch covers, vacuuming inside them and spraying with DEET. I had some outlet and light switch insulating additions and sprayed them and installed them with the switch plate covers. I then laid down a narrow layer of diatomaceous earth along every baseboard and on each threshold of every room. The bug man gave me some sticky traps for scouting for any invaders. Since then, I have had no signs of bugs. But diligence is the answer!
One gal has had bedbugs twice, been sprayed twice. I did tell her about diatomaceous earth, she bought some and followed my procedure. But foolishly, she vacuumed up the DE in a month or two. Then she got more bugs! How foolish can you be!
My order for crab meal came yesterday. I will work in the garden and turn the soil and apply the crab meal. I hope this will effect the root aphids that infected many of my plants last summer. I have some snap pea seeds coming also and hope to put them in on St. Patrick's day. Last late fall, I harvested my kale but left the roots in hopes that springtime would bring kale from last season's plants. But I did have some plant aphids (not to be confused with root aphids) on several plants. If the aphids have survived the winter, I shall pull the plants and put in new seeds.
The apartment complex did NOT schedule me for a gardening class in March, even tho' I requested that at January's residents meeting. I have requested to be scheduled on April 1 or 2. Possibly my pea seeds will have emerged by then. I hope some of the residents will attend this class, but I feel most of the gardeners here think they know all there is to know about gardening. We shall see if the April schedule includes my class. And how many bother to attend.
Today, I will walk BB at the bike path. We love
to walk there! A lot of p-mail to read, many replies...to the point that
BB has no pee left! And he is tired and well-exercised as am I.
Today, it feels like March...warmer and sunny. So we will enjoy this day for I am sure rain will come soon.