Posted on 03/16/2012 7:55:02 AM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
Good morning FRiends and gardeners! During the rain this past week, I've had a chance to do some reading and found some articles that may be of interest to you. So this week I am sharing links, and I hope you enjoy them and find some useful information. I also hope that you'll check in and let us know how your garden/garden planning is coming along.
In Kitchen Garden Creation, you'll learn about growing culinary and visual delights in the same place.
The following links are for those interested in improving the structure of their soil. If you have rocks or clay, or otherwise good soil that has been compacted, you will find excellent information on planting cover crops and the benefits of no-till planting.
Improve Your Soil With Cover Crops
Cover crops: blanket your idle vegetable plot this winter with a soil-building cover crop
Plant Cover Crops is an entire website dedicated to improving your soil through cover cropping and drawing earthworms. Second column from the right is an extensive list of categories covered. This is a must bookmark for any gardener.
Grow Spectacular Spuds is a great guide to growing taters. Seems that lots of folks on our garden list are interested in growing potatoes.
Plant Pollination: A Bounty to Buzz About explains the art of attracting nature’s best pollinators to your garden.
And, speaking of pollinators, I found some of my girls working over the holly hedge that runs along my front sidewalk, but oddly enough they won't touch the wisteria, that is loaded with an assortment of large bees, including carpenters and bumblebees:
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread ... there is no telling where it will go and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us!
If you want to make it high-protein, you can sprinkle chopped eggs and ham, turkey, swiss, cheddar and some parmesan ranch for a forkless chef’s salad.
Or you could make a forkless Cobb, BLT, Crab Louis, or bacon bits, cheddar and ranch for the kids.
It’s YOUR romaine :)
We had some weird ants at work a couple of years ago. They were much faster than any other ant and were hard to kill with the stuff our “pest contractor” used. We were not allowed to treat pests. I sneaked some Boric acid and spread it in our infected area and they were gone.
I got a book (on the sale rack) summer before last called “Simple But Perfect Salads - the tase of summer all year round”. It’s worth having it just for the pictures of the salads, but there are some really, really good ones in there. Lots of ideas for fresh summer produce and some of the recipes are super simple. I made a couple of the salads with what I was growing in the garden and they were just fabulous. Some are classic like fresh tomato slices with red onion, chopped herbs & an oil/vinegar dressing. Others, like prosciutto, melon & asparagus salad are a bit more on the ‘elegant’ end of the spectrum. They don’t have a ‘stuffed romaine’ salad, but this looks like something that easily could have been included. It all looks SO good ... can’t wait for fresh greens/veggies from my garden. If you every run across that book, it’s a “buy” (put out by Love Food, Parragon books Ltd.)
I’ve never seen these things. They’re regular fire-ant length, but have fat black butts with a little stinger on the end which they carry high. They’re slow and go single-file and not too organized.
My neighbor is a Vietnamese electrical engineer mega-gardener who imports lots of exotics so these ants probably ain’t from around here......
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that here. I also use Ortho fire ant powder in the yard. Kills them in less than one hour, but stinks like heck. We’ve had hardly any wood ants the past two years.
Ahh, my favorite thread! Such a relief from the politics and doomsday headlines I get hammered with all week.
I keep poking seeds in the ground, even though I know they’ll most likely freeze in April. It’s t-shirt weather outside, and all that bare ground is just too tempting to resist. I’ve got peas, beets, radishes, and sunflowers planted so far. I’m thinking of being daring and planting cucumbers, tomatoes, and watermelons tomorow if the weather holds. Like I said, I know they’ll probably freeze out, but maybe I can cover them in time?
I realized yesterday that I may have gotten myself into a bit of a pickle with the trees I ordered. Me and the family are going to be out of town for a week, about the time those trees are due to arrive!!! So, we’re looking for a cat-sitter who is also willing to pack the trees in damp sand when they arrive. That way they should ok until they’re planted, right?
I should get a picture of my cat supervising my planting. She likes to go outside and just lay in my shadow. We keep her on a leash and harness so she doesn’t get in trouble.
Today’s task - start seeds.
This is about 5 weeks early, but when I see nothing but 70’s for the next 2 weeks I’m goin’ for it!
You know what can work well against all that?
Diatomaceous earth.
It's completely harmless to mammals etc, but will kill any bug it contacts. The diatoms cut up their shells and they dehydrate to death. IIRC, it's what's used in flea powder.
It's cheap enough and can be bought at a pool supply place and sprinkle it around the base of the plants and on them. It does need to be refreshed after it rains.
Another thing that works well is sugar and borax. I was having trouble with carpenter ants in the house from the tree outside, so I mixed a 50/50 mixture of sugar and 20 Mule team borax and spread it out along where they were traveling. They got to it and I NEVER saw another carpenter ant around after that.
That too needs to be replenished occasionally as the sugar tends to absorb moisture and if it's really humid out will get funny, but even that level of borax mixed in doesn't deter them from going after the sugar and then they get the borax as well and it kills them.
Just store it in a really airtight container.
That’s a great idea.....
Uhhhm..
Your cat gets in that much trouble?
Can I put Borax on my actual plants? I live in a 100% (I mean 100%) wood cabin with extensive wood decks that I guess these ants are chewing on and I never noticed.
After last year’s Centex drought, I decided (so far, that may change) to container garden on the decks, safe from the deer, rabbits and such.
Everything was great until a week ago when I started noticing these ants sneaking around and a week later all the tops of my plants have aphids all over the fruiting shoots.
I don’t know if you can actually put the borax on the plants. The DE you can.
I sprinkled the borax/sugar near where they traveled and they went after that.
I have seen a large blank ant with a large pointed stinger in Alabama, and here in Piney Woods region of Texas. That stinger means business, but it doesn’t leave the large, longlasting red whelps that fire ants do. It stings and gets better in a little while. It may or may not be what you have.
I pray that your knees will feel better soon!
One other thing while on the subject of pest critters. This place sells professional pest control products and will ship most products to most states. I have done business with them for years. It’s a good site to bookmark for future reference.
Would you like me to add you to the ping list?
Thanks :)
What a fantastic idea! Thank you muchly.
The trees should be packed in some wet material such as sawdust or newspaper strips, and they should be okay so long as they are not left out in the sun. They will steam in the box. I once put a box of trees in the garage and forgot all about them for 10 days. They were perfectly fine and are still growing today.
My cat loves to play under the stool I use when I'm planting. An unexpected grab at my leg is always good for a giggle on her part.
Sounds wonderful!
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