1.20.10

Soil is to a garden as a foundation is to a home, or as the tires are to a car; it supports everything above but is understated and too often neglected. If you want a healthy garden you must never take your soil for granted.

The best start to maintaining a healthy soil is to learn about the soil in your gardens. Is it clay, sandy or loam? Is it acidic or alkaline? Is it lacking any vital nutrients?

You can figure out the first question yourself very easily. Pick up a handful of the soil when it is moist but not saturated and squeeze it. If it sticks together and doesn’t want to fall apart it is clay, if it sticks together but easily falls apart it is loam, and if it doesn’t stick together at all it is sandy. The ideal is loamy soil; if you have either of the other two you will need a great deal of amendments to get the soil to the best consistency for growing the most number of plants.

To find the pH of your soil, whether it is acidic or alkaline, you will need to purchase a test kit. You can find these at most garden centers. There is not an ideal pH, but you need to know what kind of soil you have to know what will do well in your gardens. If you have alkaline soil with a high pH, over 7.0, you probably should not bother with trying to grow blueberries or rhododendrons, as these are plants that need acidic soil to thrive. On the other hand, Clematis and asparagus like their soil to be on the alkaline end of the spectrum. And despite the claims of some products, it just is not feasible to completely change the pH of your soil. Now, if you have soil that is too extreme one way or another, you may be able to lower the pH some with sulphur or raise it with lime.

As for the last question, whether or not your soil is lacking nutrients, you’ll need to send away a sample of your soil to the labs at Cornell University. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, 203 North Hamilton St., Watertown,
(315) 788-8450, ext. 243, will be able to provide you with a sample kit. The fee is minimal and is well worth the information they will provide you with.

Now that you know all about your soil, how do you maintain it to keep it producing the best produce and the most beautiful flowers? You must continually amend it to replenish the minerals and nutrients used by the plant throughout the growing season.

I am a big believer in compost. I use a simple 2-pile method for composting. Kitchen scraps (with the exception of meat or dairy), yard leaves, grass clippings, saw dust, etc. all go onto a pile. When the pile is big enough (about 3x3x3) I start a new pile and let the first one sit and break down. If the pile is turned a couple times it will heat up and start to decompose. This process will only take a few months. You’ll know it is done when it looks like soil and smells like soil.

A tenacious gardener never has an overabundance of compost. Each fall after a few heavy frosts when most of my perennials have died back, I throw a nice layer of compost on the beds. In spring, compost is added to the vegetable beds before they are turned and planted. In summer, when I start new garden beds with the lasagna gardening method (another article topic), compost is always used as a layer.

Compost is the number one, best way to amend your soil. You’re also saving that material from going to a landfill.

Manure from grazing animals is another good source for a soil additive. If you have access to a pick-up truck and don’t mind a little labor, you can usually get all the free horse manure you want from a local farm. Just be sure that it is aged and well rotted before using it in the garden.

Products like Miracle Grow are not recommended for long-term fertilization of garden beds. These will cause salts to accumulate in the soil leading to a decrease in productivity. They do, however, have a place and help with a burst of growth in situations such as potted annuals. They’re like steroids for plants, useful for some situations and short-term use, but dangerous if over used.

So, remember, before you plant, pay attention to your soil.

In the last issue I mentioned a method I use for growing perennials from seed called “Winter Sowing.” As the name implies, now is the time to employ this technique.

Winter sowing works like a charm for most perennials that will reseed themselves naturally. At the same time it offers control that the gardener would not have if he were to simply throw seeds out into a garden bed. The basic idea is that the seeds of many cold hardy perennials need a period of cold in order to germinate (stratification.) Here you will be giving the seeds the conditions closest to how Mother Nature would do it all on her own, without risk of the seeds being lost to foraging animals or being washed away in a heavy rain.

To begin you need seeds. This time of year you almost have to order them through the mail. I have a couple favorite sources you can check out. Johnny’s Seeds (johnnyseeds.com) is my go-to company for anything gardening related, and perennial seeds are no exception. If they don’t have what I’m looking for, I will try Select Seeds (selectseeds.com), which has an awesome selection of unusual, and heirloom varieties. One very important factor that I look for when choosing a mail order source for plants is that the company is based in the Northeast. I’m really not interested in plants from California. Johnny’s is in Maine and Select Seeds is in Connecticut.

Next you need containers in which you’ll plant your seeds. Just about anything with a clear plastic cover will do. My favorites are those salad containers from McDonalds or Wendys with the black bottoms and the clear domed lid. You can also use milk jugs or soda bottles. For those you slice the jug in half horizontally, leaving just a hinge uncut, so that you have a 3-4 inch base to fill with soil. Then you can duct tape it back together later.

And finally, you need soil. This is easy; just about any bagged potting soil will suffice. You just don’t want regular garden soil as it will likely contain too much clay and will compact to a point that you will lose maximum germination.

Now you need to create drainage and ventilation in your containers. I have an old knife that I heat up on the stove to make nice slits in plastic containers. Slice drainage holes in the bottom of the container you are using, and a few holes in the top. If you are using milk or soda bottles the open mouth of the bottle is enough ventilation and you do not need to cut any additional holes.

Make sure you label your container with the name of the plant you intend to plant in it; Sharpie marker on duct tape on the bottom of the container holds up well. Then fill the container with soil and moisten it well. Let the excess water drain and plant your seeds. The seed packets should include instructions on how deep each seed variety should be planted. Regardless, a good rule of thumb is to plant the seed twice as deep as the size of the seed. Hence, a very large seed such as 4 O’clocks would need to be planted about ½ inch deep, whereas some very miniscule seeds may just need to lay on the surface.

All you do next is put your containers outside in a shady spot. Let the snow cover them and forget them for the next couple months. Once April comes around and the snow has receded you’ll want to start checking them to make sure they don’t get dry but it will be a surprisingly long time before you see any seedlings emerge.

Once you do see seedlings (likely not until late May and well into June) you will need to pay closer attention to the containers. Keep them in the shade or the sun will fry the tender seedlings. Take the lids off during warm days to prevent the mini-greenhouse from overheating and be sure to put the lid back on during cold nights and heavy rains.

When the seedlings have a set or two of true leaves (as opposed to the cotyledons which appear first) you should transplant them individually into a bigger pot. I like to use empty yogurt containers with drainage holes punched in the bottoms. This is the most tedious part of the process and should not be attempted on a day when you have little time or your patience is not at 100%. Often the seedlings will be close together and need to be delicately teased apart. If they are too thick to separate easily, take a spoon and plant a hunk of seedlings together in one pot. Later you can thin them down to just one in the pot.

After that you just let your new young plants reach a good size, start putting them out in more sun to harden off and plant in your garden beds. I have found that these plants are stronger and hardier than greenhouse grown plants. Some examples of plants that I have had fantastic luck with growing from seed in this way are Delphinium, Foxglove, Rudbeckia, Echinacea, Columbine, Rose Campion, Penstemon, Balloon Flower, Dianthus, Baptista, Heliotrope, and Monkshood.

For more information go to: forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/wtrsow/

The Winter Break - 1/6/10

Oh, how I love this time of year. Christmas is over and I’ve dragged the tree outside to sit under the bird feeders so the Chickadees have a place to hide, and I’ve swept up the swath of needles that fell off on the tree’s way out to be thrown on the compost pile. I’ve put away all the decorations and taken down the lights. Now I have the leisure to sit curled up in my favorite chair with my blanket and a cup of tea and study all the seed catalogues.

If you’re not a serious gardener you may think that this time of year is down time for gardeners. After all, not much digging can get done when the soil is frozen solid, with the obvious exception of digging your car out of the snow. Winter is down time in a way, but we gardeners spend the season dreaming, and dreaming is more important that you might suspect.

Personally, I grow most of my plants by seed. It’s very unusual for me to buy a perennial or vegetable plant at a nursery. I do at times, particularly when it comes to plants such as lavender, which I cannot live without and are very difficult to grow from seed. I learned to grow healthy plants from seed because I am frugal (nice word for “cheap”) and I simply could not afford to stock my garden every year with nursery grown plants.

Most of my perennials I winter sow, which is a method I will discuss next week. The vegetables that need a head start, such as tomatoes and peppers, I start inside in mid-March. For annuals I use a lot varieties that are easily grown from seed. Sunflowers, cosmos, poppies, morning glories, nasturtiums and alyssum are some very nice annuals that I use every year.

The math is easy. I can pay $2-3 for a packet of 100 seeds, or I can pay $5-10 for a single perennial. I’m a mother with young children. I have to stretch the budget to feed and clothe my family before I even get to feed my gardening habit. HGTV (although there’s really not much “G” on that channel I’ve found) will have you believing that you need thousands of dollars to buy large, nursery grown plants to make your landscaping beautiful.

When the seed catalogues come in the mail, I’m in heaven. I go through each one, comparing and contrasting, imagining what I want the gardens to look like, and thinking about what new plant varieties I’d like to try this year. Then I diagram out the vegetable garden and any new perennial gardens with paper and pencil.

People in the South think that our weather makes gardening difficult. I, however, can’t imagine never having the winter break in which to dream.

Wow, it's been awhile!

In my last entry I talked about possibly moving to a 9 acre farm. That deal fell through but we did move. We bought a 3.5 acre property with a gorgeous old house that needed little for repairs and renovations, unlike the 9 acre place.

Oh, wait, that's not our new home. This is our new home....

We are very happy but things have been very busy with the move. Then, just after getting somewhat settled, I took a new job, working for my new neighbor actually, at a small local newspaper just down the street. So, I've been very busy and not doing much gardening.

Then, at the beginning of the new year, I started writing a gardening article each week for the paper. My very own column! I figured if I was going to sit and write an article here on my computer I might as well start posting them here on my neglected blog.

So, coming soon. A Cracked Pot

Will my dream come true?

We have signed all the paperwork to sell this village house with little property and to buy a farmhouse with barns and 9 acres. I'm completely consumed with thoughts of this real estate deal. We have a few months of waiting for the paperwork and applications to go through. Right now we expect the move to take place in mid-July, if nothing goes wrong. Not good timing for a vegetable garden. I've decided that I will not put a garden in here at this house at all this year. Fortunately we will have the garden at our friend's house from which we will have a portion of the produce.

Imagine the possibilities! I have visions of an orchard, berry bushes, huge gardens, chickens and a stand at the farmer's market.

It's seedling mania around here!

Yesterday my husband and I sat down and started the tomato seeds. Spring must be here! In past years we had always run out, or were very close to running out, of tomato sauce by this time. I'm happy to say that we still have plenty of sauce still in the pantry. My hope is that it will last us until we have tomatoes and are starting to can this year's sauce. We canned 72 quarts of tomato sauce last season, which I used for spaghetti sauce and chili mostly, and that appears to be a year's supply for a family of five.

The types of tomatoes that we are planting this year are different from our normal choices. Since I am doing this little community garden I asked for some input about what the other people would like to grow. I'm really excited to grow some different varieties. My husband is resistant to change for change's sake. We planted San Marzanos, which we did plant last year and were very pleased with. I did insist on them because it is important for us to have a reliable sauce tomato. The big change is that we did NOT plant Big Mamas like we have for the past 3 years or so. They were disappointing last year and the San Marzanos outperformed them by far. The San Marzanos may be much smaller but they more than make up for it in production. We also chose a hybrid called Campbells as a back-up sauce tomato.

Of course we are keeping the standard Sun Gold cherry tomato. I don't think I'll every deviate from that choice. We picked a few different heirloom varieties. Old German, which looks a lot like Striped German that we planted the past 2 years, is one. Another is Black Sea Man. The name makes my husband and I snicker every time it is said. So I'm sure that will be a big joke once the tomatoes are on the vine. "Oh honey, this Black Sea Man is delicious!"

We also started a large hybrid called Watermelon Beefsteak. The other freebee from Totally Tomato is a hybrid called Jetsonic and we planted that as well. In all we should have 144 tomato plants, the majority of which we'll use ourselves. The difference will go to the Master Gardener plant sale. There are about 40 pepper plants growing now. And of course we can't forget the artichokes which are looking wonderful. They are scheduled to go out to the cold frame for the rest of spring this week. That's their 6 week portrait there at the top.

The pepper seeds were started on March 13th. They don't germinate or grow nearly as fast as the tomatoes and I've found that they need more time. They are all sprouted now and doing nicely. I planted 4 varieties; a bell called Fat & Sassy, Jalepenos, a mild chili called Mariachi, and a Hungarian type called Volcano which came free from Totally Tomato.

This year's challenge; artichokes

Every year I like to try a different plant that has a bit of a reputation as a challenge, or that no one else around here is growing. Last year I did eggplants which turned out to be very easy.

Artichokes are actually a tender perennial that cannot be over wintered this far north. They can be grown as annuals but they need to be tricked into thinking they are 2 years old to get them to set fruit. So, it's the old fooling mother nature routine, and she doesn't always fall for it. The way to do this is to start them early, let them grow for a few weeks, and then put them out in a cold frame for a few weeks. The hope is that they get enough cold temperatures that they think they've just experienced a mild southern winter. It's kind of like taking your toddler and dressing her up like a 20 year old show girl in Las Vegas in the hopes of winning a pageant. But this isn't nearly so freaky.

I started the artichoke seeds, a variety called Imperial Star, on Valentine's Day. They haven't germinated yet, but I expect they will have by the 21st.

Time to plan the vegetable garden

Now that Christmas is over the seed catalogues have started rolling in and I have time to think about Spring and start planning the garden. This year is special because I am doing my first community garden! This is something I have always wanted to do and although I'm am starting off on a very small scale, I'm so excited.

I'm going to put in a large garden at a friend's house and three families are going to share in the labor (hopefully equally) and share in the produce. I feel as though it is my mission in life to help people learn to grow their own food and I think this is a good way to teach, even if it is just a few people.

We'll keep our own garden at home, of course. But I need to order seeds pretty soon because I start the tomato and pepper seedlings in March. I love this time of year. It holds so much promise.

A Book Review

I just finished The Unlikely Lavender Queen: A Memoir of Unexpected Blossoming</a> by Jeannie Ralston.

This wasn't a book that I had heard of, or that was recommended to me. It simply caught my eye while I idly perused the stacks at the library. Lavender, hmm, my favorite flower, what's this book about? Normally I'm not interested in memoirs, particularly ones of people I never heard of before. I hope I can convey how this book affected me.

The author was an up and coming journalist in New York City when she met the love of her life, Robb Kendrick, a National Geographic photographer. For him she gives up her beloved metropolis and moves to Austin, Texas, and then moves again to a piece of property in very rural Texas. Inspired by the lavender fields in France, Robb decides to plant lavender on their property but his work requires him to travel extensively, leaving Jeannie to handle the business of the lavender alone. Meanwhile she is trying to get pregnant, trying to deal with her feelings of resentment towards her husband, and trying to cope in a place where she feels she doesn't fit in.

She believes it was the lavender that eventually taught her to let go and that her life with her husband, their life adventure, is more important than her idea of living a metropolitan lifestyle. Once she began to accept her new life she marketed the heck out of that lavender and turned her town and region into the lavender capital of Texas. Then Robb asked her to reinvent herself again, move again, accept him again.

This is a wonderful story, a fantastic manual on marriage, a terrific gardening journal. And in many ways I could relate to the author. I too moved from a large city, Philadelphia, to very rural New York for the love of my life. Gardening was the catalyst that has taught me to accept my life here. In short, I was very moved by this memoir and I'd recommend it to anyone, particularly married women.

A review of this year's veggie garden

Overall, I'd call it a great success. We had a wet and cool summer. I rarely had to water. So, the tomatoes had less flavor than I like, but they were profuse as the picture above illustrates. Granted, we planted more than twice the plants we ever did before. I canned 60 quarts of tomato sauce, along with a few quarts of stewed tomatoes and an attempt at my own ketchup. I was very pleased with the San Marzano paste tomatoes I tried for the first time this year. I felt they produced much better than the Big Mamas that were our standard for pastes, and they had a better flavor. The Heirlooms did very well also. We grew Striped Germans, which are my favorite and may not ever be kicked out of that position, and Roses, which were quite good too. And, of course, we included a few plants of Sungold cherry tomatoes.

Despite the low temperatures, though, the heat loving plants, like eggplant, did fine. I will likely plant eggplant again although three individual plants was quite enough. The peppers could have done better but it was my fault that I planted that tall cosmos between them which crowded and shaded them. I won't do that again. And I had a complete failure with the tomatillos. Again my fault, I didn't get them started soon enough and frost hit them before the fruit was ripe.

The beans did fantastic. But next year I'm going to abandon the purple beans and go with all green. The purple was pretty but not as prolific and I thought the green beans taste better. Besides, cooking turns the purple beans green anyway.

Planting the carrots and onions together in the same bed seemed to work quite well. And even though I historically have a terrible time with cucumbers, I did manage to get a few this year.

Of course the zucchini did very well. I really enjoyed the variety I planted this year, Eight Ball. They are round and had a good flavor.

The new asparagus plants I put in got a good start and hopefully we'll be able to harvest them in a couple years. And I planted some garlic before preparing the garden for winter.

Herb Pods

Yea, I need to come up with a new name for them, Herb Pods sounds both unappetizing and illegal. But since I'm not really marketing them it will work for now. This is my new favorite thing to do with all the basil I grow. I use basil a lot in cooking, doesn't everyone? And I'm a complete snob for fresh basil, dried, you might as well sprinkle grass clippings on your food. So, I wanted to find a way of preserving the basil before first frost.

Here's what I did; I picked all the basil that was left and de-stemmed it. I also pick a lot of oregano and de-stemmed that as well. I peeled a whole head of garlic. All of that went into the blender with about 1/3 cup olive oil and I pureed it into a thick liquid. It had a milkshake consistency. Then I poured it into ice cube trays and froze the mixture. When it was solid, I popped them out and put them into individual sandwich bags and back into the freezer.

Now, when making spaghetti sauce with my unseasoned tomato sauce, I just pop one of the herb pods into the sauce and it is all seasoned in one shot with the fresh basil flavor. I've also used them in a friend's recipe for a lentil rice casserole. It would work anywhere a recipe calls for fresh basil, oregano and garlic. Next year I intend to make more. Maybe with different mixtures; some that would be just basil for example.

I'd show you a picture but they really don't look like much.

Pre-Halloween snow

Oh, goodness, I can't believe I haven't written in here for 2 months.  Ridiculous!  I'm going to revamp how I do things here.  I think the blog must be about more than gardening because I have so much more going on.  I'm a mom, I like to cook, I have other hobbies.  

But in the vein of the title of this blog, I want to show you just how snowy it can be around here.  

We had big plans for Halloween this year.  A bunch of friends were coming over.  I decorated inside and outside the house.  My husband built a coffin and a crypt facade for a little Haunted House.  Since we live in a village and many of our friends live in the country they all came to our house to watch the trick n' treaters.  My husband dressed as a mummy and laid in his coffin to scare the kids when they came up our walk.  I bought lots of booze, made too much food and even got my hands on some dry ice.

But two days before Halloween, on the 29th, we got 18" of snow.

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In this area, snow is a way of life. No one bats an eye. You never see people at the grocery store before a predicted snow storm loading up on toilet paper and jugs of water like you did in my hometown of Philadelphia. People still go to work when it snows. Life goes on. And 18", that's nothing around here. But when the 18" is heavy wet snow and falls on trees that still have many of their leaves, that causes substantial damage. We lost our power for most of the day. School was cancelled. And it kind of put a damper on our Halloween plans. How would we put up the graveyard and crypt in a yard full of snow?

The next morning, the day before Halloween, my husband blew the snow out of the yard with the snowblower. When it broke down, as it is want to do, we shoveled snow out of the yard. Halloween day was warm and sunny and much of the piles melted and we had a great party.

Sunflower Mania

My garden was recently spotlighted in the small local newspaper here.  Much was said about all the sunflowers.  They are definitely the predominate feature out there right now.  It's not intentional.  They all grow on their own and I don't have the heart to pull them all out.  I do pull a lot of them, otherwise the yard would be a great big field of sunflowers.  I do love them, even if they make my yard look ridiculous.  When have I ever cared what other people think?  It's just a good thing that I don't live in a neighborhood nazi...uh... association area.  A few weeks ago we drove through a town that was having a sunflower contest.  I would have won, hands down.

Another Jungle

Every year my vegetable garden turns into a jungle.  Despite careful planning to maximize the small space and yet keep things neat, things always go wild.  I know it is my fault.  I cannot bring myself to pull all those self-seeded sunflower, dill, cilantro and borage plants.  That certainly adds to the issue.  The other problem is that I plant very closely.  As I said, the space is small and I want to get as much food out of it as I can.  But as a result, I now have to climb into the back of the tomato row on my hands and knees.

And then every year there is one huge sunflower that dominates the garden, like a sentinel.  I should dress it like a scarecrow the way it looms over the rest of the plants.  Someday, I swear that I will have a nice neat garden with wide rows that I can amble down with a basket on my hip. So here is the garden today.  Do you think there is any hope for me?

A wish for berries

One thing I do not grow is fruit, simply for a lack of space.  I feel confined by our corner village lot.  Apparently almost an acre is not enough room for me, especially when a rather large house consumes most of that acre.  I think I'd like 3 acres.  

On one acre I would have 4 vegetable garden beds each about 20x30 feet in size.  This would give me enough room to rotate the crops from year to year to reduce disease and pest problems.

A second acre would be dedicated to fruit crops.  I would have several apple trees, a large stand of raspberries bushes, a big strawberry patch, a few rows of grape vines and, if the soil is acidic enough, quite a few blueberry bushes.

Then, that third acre...  Well, here is my thought.  I'd like to do a u-pick flower farm.  I'd have rows and rows of cutting flowers, such as gladiolas, dahlias, sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, lavender, etc. that people could come in and cut their own bouquets to take home.

So, that is my ultimate dream and someday it will come true.  If I had all that fruit I could make more pies like that one up there. 

Ode to bugs

I am learning.  It may take me a little longer than some people to figure things out, but I think I'm a pretty smart cookie and I usually get there eventually.  

I used to hate aphids.  They are so gross looking, right?  And I used to battle them.  I'd spray them with hard bursts of water to get them off the affected plants and I'd try insecticidal soap.  None of it was very effective.  And once, as I hang my head in shame, I specifically remember spraying some lupines with Seven.  Then one day, I just gave up.  "Screw it, let the aphids have everything!" I said to myself. 

 This year I have a patch of yarrow that planted itself in the corner of the yard next to the neighbors fence.  I noticed it was completely infested with aphids, but I didn't care.  Then I noticed some lady beetles on it and thought they'd never eat all those aphids.  Then later I saw that there were a whole lot of lady beetle larvae climbing all over the patch and I started to pay close attention.  On looking today, there is not a single aphid on that yarrow to be found.  And when I say it was infested with them, I mean every stem was covered with them from top to bottom.  I've never seen anything like it.

So there is the moral of that story: Leave the bad bugs alone and the good ones will come.

More about bugs: It looks like we are back in the caterpillar raising business.  I did this last year; brought in butterfly eggs and cats and raised them into butterflies and then released them.  I wasn't going to do it this year.  It's a lot of work and someone has to be around all the time to keep them fed and to release them when they emerge from their cocoons.  We did have a few Black Swallowtail cats on the dill in the garden, but every single one has been eaten by an industrious bird.  So, I caved and we've now started collecting the Monarch cats.  They are fun to watch.  The kids love it.  And it feels good to be saving a few beautiful lives.

Reseeding Annuals

Some of my favorite plants in my flower gardens are reseeding annuals.  I don't put down mulch specifically for their benefit.  If I did mulch the perennial beds they wouldn't be able to sprout.  Here is a pictorial list of most of them.  Some aren't blooming yet, like the sunflowers, and aren't included.  Maybe I'll do a late summer list.

1. Peony poppies - Papaver somniferum

2. Shirley poppies - Papaver rhoeas

3. Love-in-a-Mist - Nigella damascena

Year of the Striped Cucumber Beetle

Seems like every year I get a new pest in my gardens that I must wage war upon.  There has been the Saw Fly larvae which have made me pretty much give up on columbine, the Japanese Beetles which love my poor roses, the Squash Bugs which try to consume my zucchini, and various other annoyances.  I suppose the more I garden, the more the bugs are going to be attracted to their favorite foods that I just lay out for them to feast upon.

The new one this year is the Cucumber Beetle.  Never saw one in the gardens before.  They did some serious damage to my tiny tomatillo plants.  Then I surrounded the tomatillos with marigolds and they moved to the zucchini.  Ah, the poor zucchini, if it isn't Squash Bugs, it's Cucumber Beetles.  So far this year, knock on wood, I've only seen one Squash Bug and it was promptly squashed.  Heehee, squash the Squash bug eating the squash.  So far the Cucumber Beetles haven't found the cucumbers, despite the ominous name.

It takes a lot of resolve to not break out the heavy chemicals when you watch a pernicious bug chow down on one of your favorite plants.  I do believe in companion planting as the most effective way to battle a great deal of the pest found in the garden.  Many plants are helpful not as food but as either a repellant or camouflage for the food plants.  Others may attract beneficial insects to the gardens.  So you will find in my garden, planted among the usual food crops, marigolds, cosmos, nasturtium, borage, sunflowers, tansy and calendula.  Aside from the nursery bought marigolds I bought the other day for the tomatillos, none of them are blooming yet.  But you'll be sure to see a picture of the garden when they are.

The veggie garden today

Again, I apologize for being such an infrequent blogger.  Perhaps with practice, and less to do in the garden, I will become better.

Yesterday I planted two tiny tomatillo plants so therefore my garden is now completely full.  Here are some recent pictures.

This is the left half of the garden facing North.  You can easily see the flush of self-seeded cilantro that I will allow to remain for now.  Eventually it will have to come up once in goes to seed, becomes coriander, and is no longer of any use to me.  In the front beds from the left are: 1st bed, spinach; second bed, onions and radishes and carrots; third bed, zucchini and nasturtiums and fourth bed, peppers and tomatillos.

In the background you can see the self-seeded dill which I will also allow to remain.  I expect to have black swallowtail caterpillars on it at some point as I did last year.  The beans are just beginning to show their heads, as are the cucumbers and lettuce.  To the right in the back is the asparagus bed.  Behind all that is the self-seeded borage and sunflowers which will stay.  I love the borage for the simple fact that the honey bees love the borage.  The more honey bees I can get in there, the better everything grows.  The sunflowers are just really pretty.

This is the right side of the garden that is dedicated to the tomatoes.  Originally I planted 59 plants but one succumbed to the foot of the child who was helping me put on the straw mulch.  I also have a few basil plants stuck in there among the tomatoes.  The patch of red is the plastic red mulch that the Master Gardeners were asked to trial.  Supposedly red plastic helps the tomatoes grow better.

A close-up of one of the tomato plants; I believe this is a Rose heirloom.


And here is the new herb garden which is looking pretty good considering everything was moved this spring. Seems I made it quite a bit too small.

Kids and Gardening

I know why many people wait to become empty nesters before they take up a gardening hobby.  Kids just plain make gardening difficult.  First, babies leave no time for gardening at all.  You can try to bring the baby out into the garden with you but they get hot or cold, or bugs bite them.  So your only option is to have Daddy watch him while you sneak a few hours out pulling the weeds that are threatening to overtake everything.

Then the babies become toddlers and you think that finally you'll be able to really spend some time in your neglected perennial beds but you find yourself chasing the kid around the house or fixing this or that toy.  And they still demand food, drinks and a change of clothes after playing with your garden hose.

And with older kids you are picking baseballs out of your tomato plants, lamenting the crushing of a prized columbine from a wayward soccer ball and finding bike tracks crossing the border of daffodils.

But the kids love to help plant seeds and pick tomatoes and they bring you bouquets of dandelions.  So, I guess they're worth it.