Tag: gardening (Page 7 of 14)

Make a Bug Bath!

May 16, 2012 / Lindsey / 5 Comments

If you’re an organic vegetable gardener, or just a lazy cheapskate-type gardener (or both like me), then beneficial insects are at the top of your list. They’re easy, they’re free, they do the work for you. For example, I’ve never found a better way of controlling aphids than relaxing in the shade with a cup of tea and letting the wasps eat them off one by one.

All you need to do is lure the beneficials in by making your garden as irresistible as possible. One good way is to make sure you have a variety of flowers blooming amongst your vegetables. I’ve noticed they especially like herb flowers and wildflowers.

Another good way is to provide a reliable source of fresh water — just like a bird bath, only for bugs.

To make a bug bath:

1. Find a dish and some rocks; the rocks will stick up above the water and provide islands for bugs to land on.

2. Locate the bug bath somewhere in your garden. Feel free to have multiple bug baths throughout your garden.

3. Keep the water fresh; I dump it and re-fill when I water the garden.

4. It may take a bit for the bugs to discover their new bath; have patience — they’ll find it!

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Garden walk, first week of May~

May 8, 2012 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

Let’s go see what the garden’s doing!

And you’re barefoot, right? Ok good! ‘Cause garden walks are so much better when your feet are on that cool grass, touching the earth directly…

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Mulching the beds… I know, I should’ve gotten to this task while the plants were smaller. Because when they’re already this big, you’re having to delicately thread your mulching material in amongst those maddeningly fragile stems!

Broad bean flowers

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A broken toe slows ya down… but moving more slowly has turned out to be a good thing.

Try it sometime (moving slowly I mean).

Raised bed vegetable garden, (c) The Herbangardener

Potato patch

Onion patch

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Peaches YAY!!

May 3, 2012 / Lindsey / 16 Comments

Remember I was telling you how excited I was that my own three-year-old grown-from-seed peach tree had ONE blossom on it? These photos were taken March 25th:

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Well now, one month later, look! The ONE blossom has been replaced by ONE peach!!!

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And one of my other peach trees (still in its pot) also had blossoms, and now also has peaches! I can’t wait to see how this all turns out…

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Garden action this week~

April 20, 2012 / Lindsey / 8 Comments

Stormy sky. (The tall things are garlic.)

Ohh it’s been another full week! I haven’t felt too terribly inspired to spend much extra time at the computer this week; I’ve been pounding out the moneymaking work and then happily slamming the laptop lid when I’m through for the day!

The week slipped by so quickly, I hardly remember the details of it, but I did get a wonderful day of work done in the garden. It was the perfect day; the weather (upper 70s) was even better than summertime because in summer you can’t reasonably work straight through the midday and still be comfortable. And I gardened to the scent of lilacs the entire day — oh my! What a fabulous treat that was. And the yards are getting so green and beautiful, the trees all leafing out, the tulips still blooming, the lilacs, the sound of lawnmowers, the smell of grills barbecuing delicious food! This is truly one of my favorite times of year. Spring and fall, I just love ’em.

So onto some pictures for you. Things are going very nicely in the garden — with this warm weather and some rain, stuff is growing fast. We’re eating chives, arugula, and masses of beautiful fresh oregano, which is such a treat in Greek salads — I pile it on. It’s the more mild variety, by the way, which I like a lot better than that really pungent Oregano which is strong enough to burn a hole through your salad.

Oregano

Baby radish plants, (c) The Herbangardener

Baby radishes

Lettuce

I uncovered one of the lasagna beds and planted it this week.

Potato sprouts

Arugula

The onion sets grow so fast!

Peas

Wheat (planted last fall as an experiment)

'Black Kabouli' garbanzo bean plant

Playing with my rotting leaf compost

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This week in the garden

April 7, 2012 / Lindsey / 1 Comment

It was another million dollar week of weather! The trees are in full bloom, as are all the tulips. The neighborhoods are absolutely gorgeous right now! And the redbuds are spectacular this year. We even got some snow this week, but it doesn’t seem to have bothered the blossoms very much. The moisture was very much appreciated after a month with not so much as a drop. Things are greening up beautifully.

I planted the potatoes, and got my tomatoes into their Walls-o-Water. The chives are at their peak right now; have you ever had cottage cheese with fresh chives and avocado chunks? Add a sprinkle of pepper and maybe some Tabasco too. It’s a staple for F, and it’s so yummy!

Here are some pictures from the past week:

The apple tree is blooming…

And all my tomatoes got to go on a trip! They got packed into a box, then into a bag for carrying on the handlebars of my bike, then they went with me to my Friday morning meeting, and then finally to my parents’ house after the meeting… and into the ground, each in their own Wall-o-Water.