With everything going on this July with the 250 Anniversary and all, I forgot to mention over the past two weeks about our Japanese invaders. The Japanese beetles, which are out in full swing this year were ravaging my nectarines and apple trees until I finally got a Japanese beetle trap out.

Luckily when I went into Monticello Farm Home and Garden, they had just received another shipment of traps as they have been going quickly, and I was a little late to the party this year. You see, Japanese beetles come out like clockwork on or around the 4th of July weekend, so usually I have my traps up by late June so that I never have a problem. I forgot, with everything else going on, but the problem is fixed now. You can spray insecticides on your trees and shrubs to control beetles, but since I have honeybees nearby, I prefer to use traps. The bees are not attracted to the beetle traps at all.

Moving on to the real topic of this week, compost. Even in this heat that we are having, good compost can be put down at any time. If you have a compost pile in the back of your yard, the summer heat will get everything breaking down faster. Besides the weekly grass clippings and leaves from last fall, kitchen scraps, eggshells and even stale bread can add great benefits to your compost pile. Of course, no one wants rotting food near their house and if you put kitchen scraps out, they should be in a secure compost bin otherwise you're inviting the neighborhood racoons and skunks to dinner.

There are many styles of composters on the market today and I can't recommend any one over the other. They even have in home compost units that get kept right in the kitchen. I have seen these advertised for years and always thought about getting one, but I just can't help but think that the smell of the rotting food just can't be contained. But I guess since we have diaper genie's and litter genie's, anything is possible. Six years ago, I wrote about some indoor kitchen composters and since that time the market has exploded with options. I read a review of the five best kitchen composters from the 2025 Consumer Electronic Products show in Las Vegas and all five models were over four hundred dollars. In my mind that's nuts to spend that much to make compost, but I guess when you factor in that you are saving the planet by recycling and not sending waste to the landfill, you can justify the price.

One indoor composter that I thought was cute years ago is still available today and that is the Can-O-Worms composter. Not as odor free as the electronic models, but the price ranges from one twenty-nine to one hundred and thirty-nine dollars and you can put it outdoors as well. It has the added benefit of being a worm farm as well, so you won't have to buy bait next time you want to go fishing. The compost bin aside, the benefit of adding compost to your soil is just like us eating food. We absorb nutrients and vitamins from our food and likewise your plants absorb nutrients and vitamins from the compost. Just like we like to eat all the time, so do your plants and that is why there is no bad time to add compost.

Compost will not burn, it attracts and feeds earthworms, it feeds your plants and stimulates root development and generally enriches your soil. So start making some compost now, so you can add your garden and flowerbeds later this summer.