Wireworms LOVE turfgrass, and you’ll most often find them in lawns. If given the opportunity, however, they will seek yummier grub and make a mess of your potatoes and carrots – particularly if your vegetable garden is nestled up against a patch of grass or if your veggie garden was converted from a former lawn.

What to do? Crop rotation is key in the veggie garden. Move your carrots and potatoes around on a regular basis and keep them away from the larvae that are lingering in the soil. Keep your garden meticulously weeded, paying particular attention to keeping your lawn from straying into your veggie beds. There are also some species of nematodes that will dispatch wireworms, so if your infestation is pervasive, do your research and see if it is worth employing these natural predators.

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I’m going to try (“try” is the operative word here) to post a weekly garden tip. Some of these, like the one I am posting today, are drawn from my content creation for The Gardener for Canadian Climates’ Facebook page, but others I will specifically generate for Flowery Prose. Let me know if you want me to focus on a gardening problem or question you have! My schedule is kinda sorta bananas, but I will answer as I can. And, as always, please check out the Q&A-style work my co-author Janet Melrose and I have been producing with The Guides for the Prairie Gardener. All ten books in the series may be ordered via our publisher TouchWood Editions’ website, or through your favourite indie bookstore, garden centre, or online.