Aphids, ladybugs and refuse ... oh my!

Elle sez in the comments here:

Yeah, but I'll have to weed the hell out of mine, water it constantly and wonder why. the. heck. the aphids. keep attacking. my plants! Oh wait... what were you saying.

Funny you'd talk about aphids and their destructive sticky goo that falls on my cars, ruins my deck, and generally ruins wine, beer and other open beverages with their sacrificial aphidic virgins jumping to their death.

Yes. I dislike aphids. They are good for feeding to ladybugs. (Don't let the name confuse you, as I learned watching "A Bug's Life", some are crabby men who chomp on cigars.)

Three weeks ago, chickadee decided to trim a bit of our plum tree (a good move, as I'm trying thin some of the overabundance of plums on branches so the sunshiney-good energy and sugars go into the remaining fruits), and put the limbs into the brown bin.

I believe we then went on vacation, and came back.

The bin was placed in the back along our new alley (more in the future).

The spot gets tons of sun throughout the day, so it became a wonderful incubator. It was crawling with cute little lady bug larvae. I mean PACKED.

Our fairy gardenmother exclaimed, "that's where they went!"

I mentioned that we have a new alley. Well, when it went in earlier this spring, I contacted the city to see if they could pick up our yard waste with recycling in the alley. The last I left them, they were going to do some research, and see if it would be feasible.

So, we get back, bin crawling with larvae that will incubate for the next week or two, and then, we'd lift the lid. I thoughts were the ladybugs would be like sharks in a chum frenzy.

Come Monday afternoon, I get a funny feeling that something is wrong. I shlepped across the yard to the alley. The brown bin was a bit askew.

Sure enough, all those dreams of an aphid massacare by the ladybug minions are gone.

I am happy that my request went through with the city, though.