tilling time

So have you cleaned up your garden, or at least some of it? If so, till or turn over the soil with a shovel for next year's planting of peas, carrots and spinach. After tilling, put up fencing where the peas will be. Next year you can plant peas on both sides of the fence, right up close to the fence. I plant my carrots, lettuce, beets and spinach in wide rows, but you can plant them in single rows. I leave space around the area I will plant the peas so that I can plant cucumbers on each side of the fence, and when the peas are finished producing, then I train the cucumber plants up the same fencing. Double duty fencing, course I have removed the used pea plants and bag them for the dump. Try not to plan planting the crops where you planted them last year, rotate your plantings each year.

Squash treasures

Taking up all the tomato plants and the squash plants is always a nice surprise, as underneath them are some winter squash that I had previously missed. Just that much more to store for winter! I still have kolrabi, brocolli, turnips, beets and carrots growing, but they too will soon have to come in. The weeds still need some more pulling but soon even they will succumb to the frosts. I could cover my carrots with bales of hay and harvest them all winter (if I want to walk through snow that is). All in all the garden is 3/4 cleaned up and soon will be tilled and fences put in for next year's peas! With the ground previously tilled I could plant the peas during a January thaw, however I will wait until early April when I will also plant my spinach. Already looking forward to next year's peas and spinach!

Frosty arrived

And frosty will be back tonight, so any squash, cucumbers or tomato plants that survived, will die tonight. However it is October! I've experienced frosty at the full moon in August a few times. Now, most of the pollen that gives us hayfever will go away too! So, get out your wheelbarrow, pull up your plants, harvest your pumpkins, squash etc. and protect them from the frost tonight. I know that you see alot of vegetable stands leave them exposed, but I like to cover them. Why take a chance? Your pumpkins can be cut up for pies or you could just make faces on them and display them. Don't you just love this time of the year, beautiful colorful trees, cool nights, warm days, and especially right now, warm sun in the days. Course, frosty will be here for probably one or two more nights, just long enough to end most of the garden, then leave till the new moon or next full moon. (I put a frightened black cat on one of my pumpkins!)

Technical Gardening

My son said the other day that I don't give enough technical information. He's right, but I am not a technical gardner. I grew up walking through my grandfather's garden and seeing all the wonderful and plentiful vegetables growing in his garden. My mother and father had a few gardens when they had a place to plant them, and my mother and her sister canned up at least 300 jars of produce each year. If they didn't grow it they bought it from those who did. My fondest memory is going down (the creepy) cellar to retrieve a jar of pears she had canned in pineapple juice! Anyway, my gardening has 30 years of untechnical experience, hit or miss you might say, but with advise from anyone who was serious about gardening. The years have been productive! Much has landed on my shelves in jars and much has been given away to neighbors and friends. This winter I will take you through my process of deciding what to plant, what to prepare for, what to start as plants on my windowsills, plus my personal favorites (and my neighbor's) for vegetables, the brands and the types. I don't really care if this blog is terribly popular, if I can help one or two people start to grow their own vegetables, I am a winner!

Flower girl

Mostly I am a vegetable Northern gardner, however I inherited a flower garden. I'm in the process of changing it to all easy to manage perinnials, with longer lasting blooms, and some re-bloomers. I like all kinds of lilies, shasta daisies, hosta's, iris, phlox, balloon flowers, foxglove to name a few. I am in the process of "learning" about each plant, and being fall there is work to do to them. What I learned this year is some need to be cut half way down, some need to be left to die without cutting down, some need to be pruned, and some need to be cut right down. If you don't want them to spread more than the amount you planted, you need to deadhead those flowers. Lilies need to be left alone, except to take the seed pods off until they turn brown. Shasta dasies will reseed, but if you want merely to have a second flowering, deadhead them. My second flowering was shorter and smaller, but still pretty. Hosta's, if they have gotten too large, need to be split. There are two ways to do this, one you could cut through the roots with a bulb planter on the roots that have eyes, or I just slice down through the plant with a sharp shovel and plant that section of hosta in another area, mainly my neighbors yard! Iris I let the tall leaves turn brown and then cut off. Check for diseased or rotten areas on the bulbs, and remove any bulbs that are infected. Phlox you merely cut off the spent flowers if you don't want more phlox, and when it is dead, cut to the ground. Baloon flowers will reseed too so if you have enough, cut off the seed pods and they will rebloom. Foxglove will also rebloom if you deadhead the flower stems, then remove the stems completely to ground level. One additional flower I have is purple coneflower. They rebloom with or without deadheading, but they also reseed. If you leave the seed pods for the winter birds, they'll be happy! Soooo much work, soooo little time. Make sure you take out weeds from the bed! Remember if you have small children, they need to be warned about certain plants like foxglove and delphinium, as they are posionous (so are the leaves of rhubarb). Check your local nursery for more information on posionous plants.

Water without additives

No one really likes to look out the window and see rain. Snow bothers some people but not as much as rain. However, for fall clean up, rain can be an asset. First of all, wait until it stops raining, go outside and pull out all the garden you want to remove, including weeds! They come out much easier after a rain, the roots get softened in the soil making pulling out a cynch. Also, bulbs and plants settle in much better and are healthier to withstand the winter months,so plant them now. Also, it is a natural water, not water laced with chlorine, like most drinking water is. Happy fall planting

We missed frosty

Yes, the full moon has come and gone and down by the lake frosty by-passed us, however 5 miles away from the lake frosty hit with a vengenance, all is gone! So if you did get frosty, it may be time to remove your carrots, they should be sweetened by the frost. It is also time to pull all dead items from the garden, course it takes much more for weeds to succumb to frost, but pull them also. Bag these items and take them to the dump. If you have a tiller, you can till the garden area that didn't survive, and if you like garlic, plant them now for next year. In the Spring you will see the new growth, make sure there are not weeds around them, and put some compost or fertilizer around them. It is also time if you love flowers to do your planting or transplanting. From here on out there should be enough natural water to sustain them, but if we do get a dry spell, use the sprinkler. Happy fall gardening!

Frosty full moon

In the north country a full moon in September can mean a hard frost. That will mean most of your garden will not continue on, unless you cover the items you want to save. Carrots, brocolli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower and hardier items will survive for a bit longer, but not tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, summer squash, zuchinni and other tender plants. They will die with a hard frost, some like tomatoes might survive a light frost, one or two degrees below 32.
If you do have a frost and awake before daylight, turn the water on the items, otherwise cover them.

If you find that your garden is full of green Tomatoes, and a frost is imminent, pick them and throw them in a bag with an apple to ripen. Apples release ethylene, a ripening agent that will speed up the process. However, once picked, the Tomatoes will no longer produce sugars, so even when they ripen off the vine, they will not taste as good as fresh picked vine ripened Tomatoes.

Frost does not help the flavor of squashes contrary to popular belief. Frost does however improve the flavour of Kale. You can 'over-winter' your Kale and harvest it when the snow has it covered by a foot or so. It will taste just as good. Brussel sprouts are another crop you can leave and eat and enjoy all winter right from the garden. You may need to use snow shoes to harvest them though, but the rewards will be worth it.

Beans

I am on my third picking of beans, mainly because I pick them clean and keep them picked. If the plants don't get sick then you can keep getting another batch of beans until you let them go to seed. I can do this with peas too, just keep the vines well picked and they will come back unless the vines get sick! It beats replanting because it's cheaper!

Corn Stalks

Now is the time to eat and freeze all that corn. But when you have finished with the corn, take the stalks out of the garden, it will prevent any corn bugs from burrowing in the ground and spoiling next year's plants. You can do at least 3 things with the stalks, give them to cows, horses or pigs is one idea. Second you can gather them in a pile, tie them and use them for a fall decoration, or third, you can take them to the dump, but please do not compost them. I like to use mine for decorations in my yard. Remember where you planted them this year and do not plant next year's crop in the same place. I know milk cow farmers do, but they also treat the soil for the bugs, I don't, as I farm organically. This year I planted Vision F1 from Johnny"s Seeds and everyone I shared corn with loved it!

Tomato Bonanza

Big, round and red (or orange or yellow) and juicy. They are now ready for harvest. Do you can them, freeze them (that is after you've eaten all your mouth can take)? Some people swear that freezing them is the way to go. However, I believe canning is the way to go. They retain their sweetness longer and taste as though they've come straight from the vine. If I freeze them for more than a month they seem to develop a tart taste to them. Canning certainly takes more effort, but come November, when the only tomatoes that you'll be able to get are ones from the store, you'll appreciate the sweetness of your canned tomatoes just that much more. Canned tomatoes make a much better spaghetti sauce in my opinion than commercially canned tomatoes.

After harvest, when cleaning the refuse from your garden, pull the plants, bag them and remove them from your area. Do not compost them as they have probably got disease on them and will ruin the compost.

Reaping time rethinking

Now is the time, while you are bringing in your harvest, to think about next year some. You now know what you have liked, what was too little harvest, and what you didn't like so much, so write down your thoughts! It will help when you have to order or buy your seeds for next year. I, for one, like to try at least one new veggie a year. Also you have to decide from what you saw in your garden, what grows best and what just barely grows. Every year is different as the conditions change from year to year, but some things just don't do well in the northern climate. Some of these items might be helped by starting them in the house to give them added growing time, however that is alot of work and fuss you might not want to try. I love seeing things green when there is still frost outside, but it is work you have to love. Buying plants is much easier, but that too can be risky if they aren't properly cared for. Just know that each year you garden, things get better and better, as you find out how and when to start your garden.

Fall cleaning

As crops mature and leave the garden, pull all the weeds that are left, bag them and dispose of them. At this time of the year they will have alot of weed seeds and shouldn't make it back into the garden. Some plants will remain until frost, and might need to be weeded again. This is a hot and dry time of the year, you may want to look at the soil, and if it is dry (stick your finger in the soil and see if it's more than an inch dried out) water it. Corn is still growing and loves this weather. Enjoy

Saving for a rainy day

Saving for a rainy day!
Cottshop

Think about freezing or canning. Of course freezing is the easiest and the least steamy. Vegetable only have to be put into boiling water and then cooked for about 2 minutes, and then put in freezer baggies. I put them in with their own cooking water and it seems to keep them from drying out. They last longer. Beans are great this way, peas I put in raw and they last the year, course they do lose some of their vitamins, but not more than purchased cans or frozen, and they taste better. Corn I cook in boiling water for 2 minutes, then run under cold water or put in an ice bath, then I take the kernels off with a sharp knife. The corn is then put in freezer baggies, frozen, and I have kept them for 2 years this way, that is if I have an abundant crop. This way it tastes just like eating it fresh off the cob. Freezing on the cob doesn't work as well for me and doesn't last as long, though it's good that way if you only keep them for 2-4 months. Do not store the vegetables in the freezer on top of each other, they won't completely freeze if they happen to stick together. Beans can be put into freezer bags raw if you use them up quickly. Carrots last for about 3-6 months in the refridgerator, just be sure to look at them and take out excess moisture every now and then, and one hint I learned over the years, carrots are sweeter if you let them go in the garden until after a frost! If I preserve carrots, I prefer them canned, they keep their flavor and texture better than frozen. Course they're sweet anyway straight from the garden if you don't want to wait for a frost. Beets I like canned or pickled best, Ball canning books explains how to do this. Tomatoes canned are delicious, far above store bought cans, and can be canned plain, as juice or sauces. I love to can them plain mostly and make my own tomato soup all winter (One jar of tomatoes, boiled with 1 meat bullion cube, a little worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste, and optional, a little rice) Beats all the store brands. Having your own vegetables in the winter is the way to go.

7/21/2006
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Keep pickin

Check the garden every day and pick all the vegetables as they mature to the size you want them. All plants and flowers when the fruit or flower is over mature, it tells the plant to stop growing. Therefor it is good to pick every day. I like my vegetables smallish, my grandfather liked them huge, just a matter of choice. Don't let the cucumbers get to the yellow stage, if they do, pick them as you see them and compost them unless you want to make ripe cucumber pickles or relish. Cherry tomatoes will split when over ripe, carrots and beets can be left until they are large, but summer squash and zuchinni do best if kept picked. Over ripe zuchinni can be used on the grill, scoop out the seeds, and fill the zuchinni with diced tomatoes, onions, summer squash and smaller zuchinni, and maybe some cheese, cook covered in foil that completely covers and seals the squash, prick some holes in the top of the foil for venting, and cook until tender. This is also the season for stealing some potatoes from the plant. Dig down beside the plant, then push your hand in towards the plant til you feel potatoes, and remove them. Refill the dirt around the plant, water and add some fertilizer or compost around the plant, and let it mature in late fall! These potatoes are the best you will ever eat, and no need to skin them. Happy eating!

Nature's in control

Tonight we are supposed to get golf ball sized hail with thunder and lightening. How to prepare! You can't totally prepare, but I have my tomatoes in cages and tied. The cucumbers run up the tomato cages, carrots and beets should survive. My corn is hilled on both sides to help protect against the wind. This is the third such storm this year, and so far I mainly got bruising on the spinach, tomatoes and beans. Gardening can be hit or miss at best some years, so grin and pray!

Fine dining for WoodChucks

The other day I was working in the garden and a movement caught my attention. When I looked up I thought I was seeing rabbits, my eyeglasses were in the house, when I realized that I was actually seeing woodchucks, two of them! They were very cute but also very hungry. At first they were eating some of my flowers, in fact poisonous ones, so I thought, well that will take care of them. However, later that day they were eating my peas, all of them! One tip we learned from the internet was that woodchucks can't resist apples. So, we set a havahart trap, put sliced apples in it and in front of it, and soon there was a woodchuck in the trap. We removed it from our area, however the other one did not come around again. Guess (he) didn't like being there without his (sister). We are keeping our eyes out for repeat visits from him. They are soooo cute but soooo destructive. Better they be in an area where they won't get into trouble.

Bugged!

Oh tis the season for all kinds of bugs in the garden. Personally I have many and usually, because I organic garden, I pick alot off the plants and put them in water with a little dishsoap added to it. I'm full into picking right now. I also put a little soapy water on my cabages to discourage the moths, and if they get through, then I put a little hot pepper spray on them. You can buy BT also, and that works good until the first rain. Bean plants need to be checked for their hosts, the striped cucumber beetle and the bean bug, and sometimes you need to check the tomatoes for the worm [You won't miss them as they're so big, a little hard to see as they are the very same color as the limbs], when it moves grab it and dispose of it. Companion planting helps discourage alot of hosts, but that's another subject. I have dill all through the garden.

rain rain go away

So what to do when the weather is cold and rainy like this Spring and you've already planted? Hope for dry weather and sun first, if that doesn't happen cover the more sensitive plants with plastic, i.e. tomatoes, peppers, beans and corn. I use plastic bags on tomatoes and peppers, and a sheet of plastic on others. This way, the actual crop isn't getting pelted by rain and cold. It doesn't always solve all the problems, but it's a good try. Some items like cucumbers will have to be replanted, and maybe replanted! However, a good fungus spray on the tomato plants helps. Most of my garden has survived this horrible attack, even the hail we got! Hope this helps for next year as the last 3 years have been similar. Looks like a trend to me.

eggshells

Are you watching the green grow on your windowsill? If so, you may want to dry out your eggshells, crush them and add them to water, then instead of plain watering of your plants, you can use this water after it has set for a couple of days. Save all the water you boil eggs in for the same purpose. When you start seedling next month, you can use the eggshells that you've soaked in water a couple of times and add them to the bottom of your pots that will contain the seeds you start.

Black tea 2

Forgot to say that adding coffee grounds and spent tea bags to the compost is good, helps keep the soil from packing compactly.

Diseases in the Garden

Is your garden suffering year after year from sick soil? Do your plants just seem like they could be healthier? It might be infected soil, and not individual plants. Certain blights and virus' can be present in the soil, but there are some things you can do to cut down on, or eliminate the problems entirely.
--A cold and wet period at the beginning of transplanting will open the plants up to many diseases, especially tomatoes. Check the weather and hold off transplanting until you see a warming trend of at least a week to insure the roots will catch on. It is better to wait than to subject them to all the stress.
--Don't plant your plants in the same space as the year before. Don't plant same family plants in the same places as they are open to the same diseases. Tomato plants are open to tobacco virus so if you smoke, do it away from the garden.
--Carrot and root crops are subject to weevils that stunt their growth, rotate them in the garden also and treat any area that has been invaded by them.
--Keep the weeds down, insects love weeds too and move from weeds to plants.
--Stay away from the garden after or during a rain, especially at the early stage of the garden. Some plants do not weather your wet touch, beans, cucumbers and squash plants are especially susceptible.
-- When you go to the nursery to buy your plants, check the undersides of the leaves to insure that they don't have any bugs or bug seeds on them. If you see white flies or black flies skitting from plant to plant, leave them right there, don't purchase them.
--Make sure you toughen the plants up by exposing them to more and more outside time before you actually plant them. Going straight from the house or hot house will stress them, a sure sign they will be more open to any bugs Most gardeners suggest to water your plants in the morning, not at night where dampness can cause disease.
--If you see weak and infected plants in your garden, don't leave them there, take them away, put them in your trash. If you return to the garden, wash your hands or gloves. Do not recycle any weak or infected plants in your compost pile.
--If you use plant material in your garden to keep weeds down, don't put it down until the plant is off to a great growing start. Plant material around your plant will lower the soil temperature and you will want to have the greatest amount of heat for new transplants.
--Happy Gardening

Planting now?

Yes, it is time to get your soil out and your pots and water. Onions, flowers, herbs and long developing seeds need to be started for for garden transplanting this Spring/Summer. Prepare the soil in the pots, put the seeds in and water. Then cover with a plastic wrap of some kind, put on a window sill if that's what you have (some people have plant tables with lights over them), sit back and watch the action! There are many kinds of soil you can use from many different companies, I use Gardner's gold from Garden's alive or a planting mixture from Johnny"s Seeds in Maine. While you are at it you could start a cucumber plant, stake it so that it can grow upright, and you may be able to get a few winter cucumbers, I have. So sweet, fresh cucumbers in winter. (Winters are long here, they don't end til almost April, then we have early Spring which is usually wet and cold.) If you have children, they love to plant! For some reason it's as exciting to them as it is to me to watch their plants grow! Most of the time the plants emerge in a few days, but some take 2 weeks or more, so be patient.

Potting soils

Who needs it? Why not just start the seeds directly soil from the garden and save some money? In a word, fungus. Garden soil contains various fungi that can kill the seed before it even gets a chance to start to sprout, often within hours.
Ok, so potting soil is a necessary step, so what should you look for in potting soil? Find potting soils that have both fine and course particles mixed in because this will give the soil the proper air/moisture balance that is needed for seeds to mature properly. When the soil is put in a small pot and watered, the soil should hold the water fro about 10 seconds or so before the water begins to drain out the holes in the bottom of the pot. You want the soil to remain solid, not soupy. If it turns to a mushy mess, then it's probably not the potting soil you want.
You should also only buy potting soils from reputable companies in or very near your home state, and look for companies that specialize in potting soil mixtures indigenous to your area. Call the company if in doubt. This may seem like a waste of time and money, but I think you will soon find that it will most definitely pay dividends in the end with nice healthy seedlings, and even healthier, stronger transplants. You put a lot of time into your garden, get your seeds off to a great start.
http://syracuseblog.com/syracuseblog/page/Nazareth

Yellow to green quick tip

Have your tomato and pepper leaves turned a sickly shade of yellow? Don't call the plant doctor just yet, instead, give this trick a try. Take a tablespoon of epsoms salt, add it to the soil near the plants, and water. Before you know it, you'll have bright green, healthy looking leaves once again.

Natural pesticides

One sure fire way to rid cabbage worms and many other bad bugs from plants is to get red hot pepper powder and spread on the plants, and around the root areas of some plants. It's not fool proof as it has to be re-applied after each rain storm and after watering the garden. It does not make cabbage taste "creole style" . You don't notice any difference when you harvest it after a few rain storms. For other plants you can liquify pepper powder in water and let set. After the water is hot, spicy hot that is, strain it and put it into a spray bottle and apply to the underleaves of plants that are being invaded. Rabbits, moles, mice , etc, hate the taste as do many bugs. These treatments will not affect streams, rivers or lakes as do other "organic pesticides".

Experience helps

When I lived in ME with our rich loam and clay soil, I was able to just till the land, plant, and harvest in the fall. A wonderful garden emerged. However when I moved to the Adirondacks in NY and tried the same thing, we had corn that grew maybe 10" tall and the only produce we got were a very few beans. Then I looked at the soil and found no topsoil to speak of, mostly sand. No wonder the first settlers here starved to death over the winter. So I found a couple gardeners who had successful gardens, read all kinds of books, and fed my garden the nutrients it needed to thrive. Compost and composted horse manure, ten truckloads of it and hence a successful garden. Since I believe in organic gardens I have faithfully composted and every other year supplemented with 2 yr. old manure. Cow manure and chicken manure are hard to get here, so I went against the norm and used the horse manure. Everyone told me it wouldn't work, but it did.
My composting isn't complicated, everything that grows, like vegetable discards, grass clippings, early weeds without seeds, leftover vegetables, and I add all liquid I cook my vegatables in. Things I do not inclued are dog or cat feces, oak leaves, meat or bones (dogs are too interested in them.) I also add a compost starter with a little lime to keep down any odor that might pop up, not that I notice it, but in the neighborhood I live I don't want to take a chance of complaining neighbors.

The virtues of mulching

Not into heavy pesticides and chemicals to get your garden in tip top shape? Me neither. In this article I'd like to discuss why mulching and natural fertilizing are the way to go. With the advent of the health craze came terms like 'organic' 'all natural' and 'free range', and for good reason. More and more people are developing serious health problems that may or may not be related to diet/living conditions. Did you know that industrialized nations lead the world in insidious diseases like Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, gastric problems of varying degrees? There is a theory that due to the reduction of family farms, and all the germs that go with it, came an increase in such diseases. There's even mention of pig whipworms as a preventative to bowel problems. Crazy, I know, but it may hold some merrit.
With that in mind, I think that it's probably a good thing to 'go natural' and to get back to the basics. Now, before you go out and buy the blue stuff to fertilize your gardens with, realize that these water soluble nitrogens, while good in themselves, contribute to actual pollution in that they contribute too much fuel to the ground. Run off after rains is a leading cause of over nitrogenation. Mulching solves this problem by introducing nitrogen in a solid form rather than liquid, and it introduces it at a steady, even rate as compared to liquid that gets dumped all at once, and then leaches out during rains before the plants can really benefit. Sure, it takes a bit longer, but it also provides the needed cooling to the soil that your plants need, keeps erosion from happening so quickly, and benefits all the way around. Tumbled compost is a good mulch, but the problem is that weeds love compost. Next in line is bark or wood-shavings. They take longer to break down, but will leave your garden with a rich topsoil. Steer clear of hardwood chips though as it will actually compete with your plants for fuel as it breaks down. Bark mulch is better, but softwoods like pine and spruce break down more easily and add nitrogen instead of taking it from the soil.
Steer well clear of so called 'cedar mulch'. First off, it isn't cedar, second, it is what is called heartwood that will compete for nitrogen as it breaks down, and third, it contains dye which I'm guessing you'd rather not consume.
You will see some mulch advertised as being 'anti-fungal'. Not a good thing. Your soil needs certain fungus' in order to thrive, and these mulches tend to kill off all fungus' indiscriminately. Snub your noses at rubber, rock or even plastic mulches for obvious reasons.
Mulching is tedious work, but the benefits will outweigh the negatives in the long run, and your garden will thank you by producing healthier plants.

Inviting Bugs

Huh? Invite bugs into your garden? You betcha. Now, you might be thinking, "Well yeah, I guess there are some 'good' bugs that can help" But I say this, "Don't just invite the good ones, be all inclusive and invite bad bugs as well".
Don't worry, I haven't lost it. There is a reason for doing so. To keep predatory insects coming to your garden, you will need to have a good enough supply of destructive bugs for the predatory bugs to thrive on. You might be thinking that if you don't have destructive bugs, then there would be no need for predatory bugs. However, you will always have a certain amount of destructive bugs, and you'll always be fighting with them for control of your garden, so, with that in mind, it's time to become proactive and create a safe harbor for predatory species. How do you do that? Plant complimentary plants that attract them. Mints (Catnip, Peppermint, spearmint) and flowers such as Daisy and chamomile, will attract predatory insects such as wasps, hover flies and robber flies that love nothing more than to munch on aphids, mealybugs, and such. Fennel, coriander, Angelica, wild carrot and dill, all attract parasitic wasps that love to dine on moth, beetle and fly larvae. Allowing a couple of your cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, bok choy to flower will attract predatory insects.
Following is a small incomplete list of beneficial insects and the destructive bugs that they help to control:
1: Aphidius, Aphidoletes, and lacewing help to control aphids- plant Achillea filipendulina, sunflower and lupine to attract them
2: Beneficial mites help to control thripes, spider mites and fungus gnats- plant Shasta daisy.
3: Ground beetles help control Slugs, small caterpillars and grubs- plant amaranthus to attract them. They need low to the ground cover plants like thyme, rosemary, or mint to shield them during the day.
4: Tachinid flies help control Caterpillars; beetle and fly larvae- plant lemon balm and parsley to attract them.
5: Lady bugs and lacewing feed on mites, aphids, scale and other soft bodied insects- plant Achillea filipendulina, Dill, Angelica gigas, Convolvulus minor, Cosmos bipinnatus, Queen Anne's lace, fennel and tansy.
6: Damsel bugs (Nabidae) are a good bug to attract as they eat many soft eggs of destructive bugs- plant fennel.
7: Pirate bugs love Thrips, aphids, mites, scales, whiteflies- plant sunflower, Shasta Daisies, and Helianthus annulus.
That about wraps it up. Remember, introduce plenty of Nematodes, plant small islands of the above plants to attract beneficial bugs, and use super-lightweight plant covers and you'll be well on your way to a much healthier garden.

More Bugs

Blister Beetles: distinctive for their black stripes over a yellow-ish body and long antennae. Handle with care as this tiny 1/2 inch bug can cause blisters if you crush them with your hands. They aren't fussy about what they eat.
Help: Spray with Pyola or liquid Rotenone/Pyrethrin
Corn Earworm: prefer sweet corn, but will eat all corns. You'll find the larvae on the silk of the corn. Larvae emerge to feast on the cob.
Help: Nematodes applied to the inner husks will feast on the emerging Earworms. Bulls Eye Spray applied to the silk will help prevent eggs from developing.
Cabbage Maggot: During cool moist periods, cabbage maggots feed on the roots of Cabbage plants. Take a look at your plant. If it appears unhealthy, wilted etc, then you probably have Cabbage Maggots.
Help: Nematodes applied when transplanting will happily feed on the emerging maggots. Apply liberally to the base of the cabbage plants.
Carrot Weevil: Brown headed burrowing larvae. Characteristic brown "tunnels" will appear on the carrots- usually at the top.
Help: Again, Nematodes provide effective relief. Also consider getting a Super Light Insect Barrier to cover the plants with. These barriers can be used to good effect on most plants as well.
Cutworms: If you see plants suddenly toppling over, check their stems. If it appears that the plants have been 'logged' or sawn asunder, then you most likely have cutworms. These caterpillars will ball up when handled, and are a brown, gray color, and just generally ugly looking.
Help: Again, Nematodes are your source of salvation. Apply when transplants are first transferred to your garden.
Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

FeedBack

Feedback or suggestions would be welcomed- if there is anything you would like to see posted as far as advice articles, or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll try my best to post on the topic as soon as possible.
Thank you

Natures Pesticides

Quick Article discussing some common pests and the best ways to handle them naturally.
Aphids: Tiny hard to spot bugs that can range in color from black, green, yellow, orange or almost white. The largest will be about 1/16" and the smallest will be barely visible. You'll find htem on leaves in clusters usually, and resemble living caviar. They love a cold spring, and multiply faster than natural enemies unfortunately.
Help: Lacewings love aphids as do lady bettles. You can set out yellow sticky traps to control their numbers as well. Pyola is great for knocking the wind out of them as well. Check with the links I've provided in my articles for more methods of control, as they have plenty of suggestions and products. Bean leaf beetles: Red, green or orange with black head and black spots. Larvae feed in the ground on roots. Adults take their toll on the grown leaves of plants.
Help: Grub Away nematodes, apply shortly after planting time. Pyola again can be used to control the adults. Keep applying every 2-3 weeks if you see more bettles.
Cucumber beetles: A menace to say the least.Body is about 1/4" long, they have a distinctive 12 spots on their wings. The Striped Cucumber Beetle is about the same size, but has yellow and black striped wings instead of spots. They lay their eggs at the base of plants where the largae can munch on roots.
Help: For the adults, spray Rotenone/Pyrethrine. For the larvae, use "Grub-Away nematodes. Also consider covering your plants with lightweight insect barriers which you'll find at the link above.
I'll post more insect help later tonight to break up the articles for easier reading.

Wow!

Not sure what happened last night- I had all my links nicely rowed, all my advertisements finally symetrical, everything was looking nice after hours of work, and wham! Something went horribly wrong. I logged back in, and text was all over the place, half of one article was missing, and the ads were scattered left and right- some even duplicated. Bah! The internet!
Please bear with me as I get this straightened out and repost everything correctly.

Dating Frosty

Just a quick article today. I thought that I'd list the average 'last frost dates' for the different climate

zones throughout the U.S. Generally, the seed packets that you buy will have instructuctions for when

to start particular varieties depending on the frost dates, but If you're not sure that the frost dates are,

here's a handy general chart for you to go by. However, keep in mind, times can and do vary each

year, so keep an eye on the weather forcasts as well.
Zone 1: June1 - June 30
Zone 2: May 1 - May 31
Zone 3: May 1 - May31
Zone 4: May 1 - May31
Zone 5: March 30 - April30
Zone 6: March 30 - April30
Zone 7: March 30 - April30
Zone 8: February 28 - March 30
Zone 9: January 30 - February 28
Zone 10: January 1 - January 31
Zone 11: Frost Free Year Round

Slugs and Such

Yuck! Nothing worse than walking through the garden barefoot and suddenly you feel something wet, slimy, and disgusting on your sole. You reel back in horrow only to discover that you're outnumbered on all fronts. What's a gardener to do? Fear not, there are several things you can try, some of which actually work.
1: Barrier plants- Huh? Yup, barrier plants. Slugs, it would seem, are fussy eaters. Planting things like red luttuce, chives, garlic, and mint will turn a slugs nose skyward faster than ... well, pretty fast. Another benifit is that other critters tend to shy away from these plants as well.
2: Beer traps (Editors note: Don't drink the beer) An old folk remedy is to set a pie tin near your affected plants, sink the tin into the soil (however, leave the rim just above the ground so as not to kill benificial insects as well), fill the tin with beer, and watch as the slugs die by the 1000's every night ... no, really. However, it isn't hte beer itself that kills, Drowning is what does the trick. The slugs are attracted to the yeast in the beer, climb down to get a snoot-full, and drown.
3: Water your garden only in the early hours. Slugs prefere wet areas to wile away the day and wait for nightfall. If you allow your soil to dry out early, you deprive slugs of a constantly moist area to wallow in. This can greatly reduce slug populations.
4: Along the lines of dampness, make sure you use mulch that doesn't provide good, comfortable hiding places for the nasty slugs. A good suggestion is to salt your mulch, but be careful not to oversalt, we wouldn't want the slugs to develope high blood pressure.
5: In the same line as mulch, we can ring the plants with egg shells beleive it or not. crush them to create nice sharp edges which the slugs find irritating.
6: Copper- A slugs worst nightmare. Buy small copper strips to ring your plants with. Slugs find copper irritating to the touch.
7: While slugs like a good cup of coffee like the rest of us, they always drink Decafe, why? Caffiene is toxic to them. Spreading coffee grounds around a plant will ward off slugs pretty effectivelty.
8: Diatomaceous earth is a product you can buy from your gardening supply store, and is a fairly good deterrent to slugs. The product is a mix of jagged microscopic seafloor creatures which slugs can't tolorate crawling over. Read the instructions though, you must wear a mask and preferably saftey glasses as well as this fine powder can get in the eyes and throat causing you the irritationinstead of your slug friends.
9: Wood Ash is also good as long as it remains dry. A slug will dehydrate while trying to crawl over it. Be careful about how much you use though as it can change your soil's pH level.
10: Slug Wrangling. Placing objects that will remain moist underneath during the day will attract slugs from miles around ... well, ok, maybe not miles in human terms, but in slug terms perhaps. In the morning, simply go out, turn the pieces of wet cardboard over, and you should see a nice assortment of slugs shivering in fear
That about does it for this edition of "SlugFest", tune in tomorrow for more great news on various other infamous creatures that invade our paradise.

Spring Break

It's been a long hard winter, the days are finally starting to lengthen, and the sun is feeling just a bit

warmer. You can sense the plot of ground you garden calling out to you. Where to begin?

Well, Something happened to this article, I'll have to rewrite it-

Starter plant initiation

Yes, it's true, even the plant kingdom has to endure initiation, especially if you live in colder climate regions. What do I mean? I'm talking of course, about slowly introducing the young plants that you've started indoors to the daily grind of variable weather that they will eventually be exposed to in the garden once they've been planted.
If you want your plants to stand the greatest chance of survival and hardiness, you'll want to expose them to longer and longer times to the outdoors. Pick the milder days to do so, and choose a spot that isn't exposed to direct sunlight for the majority of the day. A good practice is to pick days that are slightly overcast, but still mild.
After a couple of 'outings' such as this, gradually move them into direct sunlight for longer and longer periods. Do this procedure for about a week or so, until you feel the plants look healthy enough move to their new permanent home, in the garden.
With a little tender loving care at the beginning, you'll soon notice that taking this extra action produces healthier, more robust plants, and your increased bounty come mid summer will be your reward for the little bit of extra work you put in now.

Stay tuned for more hints and tricks, and remember, a healthy garden is a happy garden. In the meantime, flip through the pages over at Gurney's for some great new ideas, and be prepared for that day when the frost finally succumbs to the sun.