Cooking up some DIY fun

NO CHILD CAN REsist an invitation to help in the kitchen, “cooking” just like a grown-up. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that most kids love the idea of having a child-size kitchen all to themselves. That’s where this do-it-yourself kiddy kitchen project comes in.

Safe, durable and easy-tobuild, the project includes four detailed pieces. The refrigerator features a freezer on top, and the oven has a window in the door (to keep an eye on what’s cooking).

The sink uses a plastic bowl for a basin, while the china cabinet has plenty of room for play dishes and tea sets.

Inexpensive to build, the kiddy kitchen calls for plywood, a small quantity of standard lumber, some common hardware and a few easyto-find “odds and ends” (like the plastic bowl for the sink). Simple construction and fullsize patterns make the project as easy as it is affordable.

The china cabinet (the largest piece) measures about 41

Beetle

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Mine happens to be a garden they used to avoid, although I could never pin their absence on anything that I did. I have always grown roses, apples, grapes, raspberries, and zinnias, all of which are delicacies to Japanese beetles. Perhaps my soil was replete with a tongue-twister like Neoplectana glaseri, a nematode which kills Japanese beetle grubs while they are still in the ground. (Commercially preparations of various species of nematodes have developed for Japanese beetle control.) Perhaps there were sufficient tachinid flies and tiphiid wasps also keeping Japanese beetle populations in check. Or moles and shrews, which relish the fat, white beetle grubs. Birds such as purple grackles, starlings, pheasants, catbirds, and meadowlarks also enjoy a meal of Japanese beetles. Where Japanese beetles are a problem, gardeners commonly spread milky spore disease (Bacillus poppilae) on the ground or set traps for the beetles. Both these measures are benign as far as human and environmental health; unfortunately, they also are of dubious value in controlling the pest. Milky spore is applied by dropping teaspoonfuls of the powder (marketed under such trade names ‘Doom’ or ‘Japademic’) on the ground, where it is supposed to wash in and infect the grubs. Current research suggests that some commercially available formulations of the disease do not perform satisfactorily in the field, and especially so in our cooler climate and soils.

Japanese beetle adults are adept fliers. Consequently, besides innate ineffectiveness of commercial milky spore disease powder, infecting grubs in your yard also is fruitless if healthy beetles fly in from surrounding, disease-free areas.

The beetles’ flying ability also makes Japanese beetle traps useless. These scented traps can lure beetles from all over a neighborhood, only some of which end up in the trap.

A tried-and-true method of Japanese beetle control is handpicking beetles off leaves into a can of soapy water. The best time to go mano a mano against the pest is in the cool of early morning, while beetles still are slug- gish from night’s chill. The sound of a half-dozen beetles plunking into the can at once can be enjoyed merely by tapping heavily infested leaves held over the can.

Excessive damage from the beetles or the grubs calls for discrete use of pesticides. Before getting out your sprayer though, note that beetle populations decline rapidly after midsummer, beetle populations usually are low following dry summers, and grub infestations on lawns are spotty (and require only spot treatments). No need to spray at the first sign of beetles; plants — and hopefully you — can tolerate some damage.

One could approach Japanese beetle control in yet another way: don’t grow the beetles’ favorite plants. This is easier said than done, since inches tall by 24 inches wide by 15 inches deep. the beetles feed on over 250 different flowers and deciduous trees and shrubs. Lawngrasses provide especially good fodder for the beetle grubs. The pest would have a harder time of it if we limited the areas devoted to lush, manicured lawns. Watering throughout the summer facilitates egg-laying, and broad spectrum pesticides wipe out the beetles’ natural predators.

The Kiddy Kitchen plan, No. 363, is $9.95 and includes step-by-step instructions with photos, traceable patterns, diagrams and a complete shopping list and cutting schedule. Please include $3.95 per order for postage and handling and allow about two weeks for delivery.

To order by mail, clip this article and send it with a check or money order to U-Bild Features, c/o The Republican, 741B Olive Ave., Vista CA 92083.

As testimonial to the effectiveness of natural controls against Japanese beetles, the insect is considered only a minor pest in Japan — in many areas there, it’s difficult even to find beetles!

Any gardening questions? Email them to me at garden@ leereich.com and I’ll try answering them directly or in this column. Come visit my garden at leereich.com/blog.