Posted on 05/19/2012 4:44:53 PM PDT by djf
Dang, that made me hungry for a breakfast burrito. It's almost bedtime, and I just ate tres leches cake..but a breakfast burrito sounds good.
Although our growing season is fairly long, I’m afraid a good rain every couple of days would be a pipe dream in the next month or so. As crazy as this is, although I live on a lake, we have had severe watering restrictions for several years...even when there was no drought.
I think I’ll look for seed, get some plants started and shoot for next spring.
Thanks for posting that. I always keep DE on hand. All the simple stuff is getting forgotten lately: vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, soap, salt, honey...I’m far from a back-to-nature nut, but the old standbys do work! DE is the best bug killer by far.
My kitchen has always been a battlefield against little critters coming in from the adjacent porch. DE has worked against clover mites, ants, and the carpenter bees that keep trying to eat the porch itself. For pill bugs (which aren’t really insects) I let a few strategically situated spiders live, as long as they stay out of sight; they act as border agents against mites and pillies that get around the DE lines. Anything flies in, I go modern: spray bottle of Lysol or any similar kitchen antibacterial spray cleaner will bring down a fly instantly, and like a shotgun, it never misses.
Problems outside, you need to be wise to nature: find the “good” bugs that counteract the “bad” bugs, and employ them. Likewise the plants that will encourage your “good” bugs and repulse your “bad” bugs.
I put those quote marks there so you understand, I don’t REALLY like any bugs. (Except honeybees!)
Just got back from Arkansas and the fireflies were out. They fascinate me and are simply breathtaking. I live in California so no fireflies here. But I did order 2 sets of led fireflies after I got home for the back yard. Lol
I know people who grow tobacco in their potted patio gardens, not that that would be enough to warrant harvesting. More of a sentimental thing, connection to the past, tobacco planter families like mine who got out.
They're actually sort of pretty, big dark green leaves, six feet or even more in height depending upon variety, gummy to the touch like a petunia or Nicotania. Pinkish white blooms along the top of the stalk that you'll need to top in order to keep the plant growing. As you've discovered with petunias, they get leggy and stop growing if you fail to dead head them, pinching the faded blooms off. Once they go to seed, they figure their mission in life is accomplished, lol.
chemtrails
chemtrails
I’m in central WA. Aphids destroyed my lupines last year, even with soapy spray. This year, I have yet to see any aphids and the lupes are doing well.
I’m wondering if a different species hasn’t moved in, these almost light up in a wave rolling down the treeline and there are just so many. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen them like this, even in late summer.
“...vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, soap, salt, honey,,,”
We keep 35 or 50% food grade hydrogen peroxided handy. We make our own soap...use it for bathing, washing hair, laundry. We use Redmond RealSalt in the kitchen, local non pasteurized honey, Real Milk and naturally raised stuff from our own garden and/or from a neighbors. We read labels. No polyunsaturated fats, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial sweeteners, good Amish free range eggs, etc, but we are not fanatics. Organic sugar is still sugar...to be minimized or avoided. And we use coconut oil for all our cooking.
Did you have any yard treatments for ants? Ants pick up aphids and place them on plants in order to harvest whatever the byproducts are of aphid digestion. Perhaps ant extinction led to the lack of aphids.
Being a fan of them as you are, you might enjoy going to Elkmont in the Great Smokies to watch the fireflies in the first few weeks of June. They put on quite a show there, one of the very few examples of synchronous fireflies in the world. They light up simultaneously, flash several times in unison, go dark for eight or so seconds and repeat. It’s very striking in person, difficult to capture with video. It draws a lot of people up there to watch.
Here’s a YouTube that’s more of a slideshow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqaIjkJ6b6I
Sounds so cool. Thanks for the info on the Smokies.
What’s the word on diatomaceous earth and honey bees?
I would not use DE where honey bees are most likely to collect their pollen. Now, the upside of using it on your garden is that when wetted by dew it has no effect on insects, and will wash off in a rain. It needs to be reapplied if you see insect infestation attacking your garden.
One other comment about DE...we use it in our barn and it keeps flies down. Much nicer for the horses. We have one horse seemingly more sensitive to flies and when we see them bothering her we bring her into the barn.
it's about a christian farmer who has a no till way to garden...just click on the watch video and you can view it free......
basically he shred trees branches etc into a very fine
mulch and that is his base for a garden..when he has to he just adds more fine mulch...I live on 106 acres and have over 200 dead trees so I'm gonna try this......
it's about a christian farmer who has a no till way to garden...just click on the watch video and you can view it free......
basically he shred trees branches etc into a very fine
mulch and that is his base for a garden..when he has to he just adds more fine mulch...I live on 106 acres and have over 200 dead trees so I'm gonna try this......
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