Insects and companion planting

I am not sure if you can see it but if you look close you can see a baby praying mantis. It wasn't even half an inch long. I just happened to be out watering or something and saw it and made Alan take a picture of it for me. These are very good insects to have around. One day on our way out somewhere, we saw one at least as long at your hand, from the heal to the tip of your fingers. HUGE!! It was just walking in the road. I had to reverse to see it better. Another insect that is a gardeners friend is the lady bug. I saw a nymph today and went to take a picture but it was gone when I got back. Too bad, they are freaky looking and you might think them something to avoid or destroy, unless you know what they are. They eat aphids that suck the life out of your plants. I don't necessarily care for insects but I have learned that they serve a purpose and I can tolerate them at least. Roaches and camel back crickets being the exceptions. I won't squash a camel back cricket but roaches need to watch out. EEEWWWW!


This is a picture of a Borage flower. It is a good little herb to have. It companion plants well with tomatoes. It deters tomato worm and improves the growth and flavor of tomatoes. Here is an excerpt from my herb book:
"The common thread running through historical descriptions of borage is its ability to make men and women glad and merry, to comfort the heart, dispel melancholy and give courage. The Celtic name borrach meant courage and the Welsh name Llawenlys translates as herb of gladness. According to Dioscorides and Pliny, borage was the famed nepenthe of Homer, a herb wine that brought absolute forgetfulness.
The noble qualities of borage may derive from its high content of calcium, potassium and mineral salts, and research suggests borage works on the adrenal gland, where courage begins."

Some of the culinary uses for the flower are to sprinkle the flowers in salads and crystallize them for cake decorations. You can add the young leaves to cold drinks for their cucumber flavor and cooling effect. Chop the leaves finely in salads, yogurt, soft cheese, pickles and sandwiches. You can also cook the leaves as spinach or with spinach and add to ravioli stuffing. You can also companion plant them with strawberries as it stimulates each others growth. And get this, you can burn it and the nitrate of potash content will emit sparks and slight explosive sounds like fireworks. What do you all think of that? Pretty interesting and seeing as how the 4th is so close, I may try that last one.

The hardest part of gardening...For me anyway

Actually there are 2 things that are hard for me. Very necessary things but hard none the less. First and the one that I can do is pruning. You have to prune things for health and growth. Sure things in nature really don't need to be pruned and do just fine, but I am talking about things man has domesticated. I have taken the long hard road of not pruning and then regretting it later. It actually took an accident to make me see that it really works. Once I accidentally broke off a rather large section of a petunia and the results were amazing. The plant bushed up and had so many flowers, I remembered that from then on. I told a friend about it once and they didn't believe me, didn't do what I said and they didn't have very many flowers on theirs, Oh, well.

The second thing that I really can't bring myself to do, although I have on very rare occasion, is pulling (or rather cutting because pulling can damage the roots of the others) the second or third plant that has sprouted from seeds I have planted. You should plant multiple seeds to guaranteed you get a plant from the seeds you want and then choose what you hope is the healthiest and cut the others out so that the healthy one can flourish. Like I said, I have done it, but on very rare occasions. I did some when I started borage from seed this year and low and behold the other ones that had sprouted with the one I cut off ended up dying. WHAT?!?!! See what I am saying? I have a couple of pots of cucumbers growing and I can't bring myself to pull 2 of them. If I had a place to put them I would dig them out and then replant them somewhere else. I just haven't made a place for them yet.

Sorry for the delay and not keeping up on here - broke arms and such kind of wear me out.

Basil and Mother's in law tongue

Here is the basil I am growing inside my house. 3 pots, and a little outside too. I don't believe there is such thing as too much basil. I once believed that about garlic and then gave myself garlic poisoning from eating too much - seriously!! Anyway, I am going to grow as much as I can, make pesto, and try to freeze some so that when basil is so hard to find I will be able to have some. The little plants are getting second sets of leaves and getting bigger. Just a little while longer. Too bad I don't have any Mediterranean Stone pine trees to grow my own pinenuts. I can grow garlic, but then I need cows to make my own Parmesan too. I think I need to laugh at myself now - hee hee!!


Now, the mother's in law tongue. I don't know the Latin name for it but it would appear I have a lot of it. I had one pot with several that multiplied and then I divided it and put each one in separate pots. So, anybody want one? They seem to be pretty hardy and would probably ship ok if they went overnight or something. You pay the shipping and I will send you one. I have 2 or 3 I would be willing to part with, just so long as I keep on I reckon. What is funny is you could probably find one in the local Wal-Mart for a lot cheaper than the shipping would be. I just need to get rid of a few and would rather they went to good homes. No offense Debi, but you can't have one, and you know why - HA!!

Ok, I have some projects to at least start - secret ones that don't involve gardening but I may clue you all in once I get them done, so I can show you pictures. Did I tell you all my favorite color is blue? HA!!

More planting area!!

On the left there you can see how I have been a busy little girl. Alan and I have a patio of some kind planned that will span the entire back of our house. The grassy strip you see is going to be a walkway. In the larger area is a redbud and I also planted delphinium and Bachelors buttons that will come back year to year. The tee-pee is for morning glory vines to climb. Alan asked me if that was going to be a permanent fixture cause he though the white was ugly. I agree but here in a month you won't see that. Blue and yellow are the colors of that spot. I planted baskets of gold Alyssum as well. I didn't know it came in that color. I love alyssum and Lobelia, they come back year after year from seed for me. Petunias will do that too - sorry I just had to brag there a bit. Under the window is more morning glories, red and blue, sunflowers, and plains coreopsis. Alan was outside the other day and got to see a humming bird - damnit!!, and I wanted to get some things growing that will bring them to my yard. I don't know where my humming bird feeder is or I would have that out now too. I just didn't' think they would be around here.

On the right here is a bigger view of the back of my house.
I really would like to do some kind of arbor or trellis around the lower windows to let a vine or rose or something climb up and give a beautiful up close view of something. And have gardenia along the bottom of the windows so that when you sit outside you have a wonderful smell. Oh, that time and money would allow it to hurry up and happen. I still have the sod I dug up laying out there that I need to do something with. I think today I will put it on the side of the driveway that just didn't take when they put the original sod down. We'll have to see what happens. My big tiller isn't working like it should and that sucks. I think there is a problem either in the fuel line or the carburetor. I reckon I am going to have to break down and take it to somebody because it started leaking gas after I was done with it doing this last project. It would run for about a pass and a half and then I would have to let it sit for about 10 minutes and then it would go again for a short bit. When I was done I just left it out beside the area I had been working. Late I smelled gas and didn't think too much about it until the next morning. I happened to go out to water or something and smelled it again and then saw gas dripping from the tiller - CRAP!! Since I had the water hose out I just took off the nozzle and let water flood the area and hopefully dilute what got in the soil. What is bad is that I did a lot by hand and could have done without the tiller, it would just have taken longer, and now I feel bad because I inadvertently polluted my own back yard. Anybody know the pollution factor of gasoline? Once again - damnit!!

Anyway, the compost is all mixed in and it is nice and fluffy right now. The soil will settle down a bit. If it is wet out there and you step where I worked all that in - you would sink up to your ankles. Good foundation. Next is a strawberry bed in the front yard so that neighbors can come and get some and another area for flowers and maybe a Mimosa, if I can find or transplant one!!

OOOO, so pretty

I am not one for froo froo kinds of things. However, I would be one to have some big elaborate country, French, manicured, lots of work kind of garden. That is my tendency naturally. I have learned through time and wisdom that that isn't the best thing for me as it would give me one more thing to worry, fret, and tense up about. So, now I do easy, simple, and by gosh it better grow or I am not going to mess with it kind of gardening. I personally think it makes for stronger plants and a prettier garden, of course that is my personally opinion.

I do have a problem that I don't know the answer to. My red dogwood is dying. It bloomed and seemed to be doing great and now it looks like it is just withering away. I have not done any research yet to try and figure it out. If there is anybody out there who knows much about trees and might want to offer some suggestions I would appreciate it. "Normally", everything I plant just grows and when it doesn't I am just flabbergasted. I haven't taken a picture, but if anyone knows trees and a picture might help, I could do that.

Not much wisdom to share today.