Gardener’s Wisdom

Bumblebee on the Bee Balm

The garden looks wonderful and there are surprises to be found everyday. We have a lot of birds that come to the pond to drink. We have swallows every afternoon and little tiny yellow finches in the evening. Every once in a while I’ll see a wood pecker or a crow visit but not very often.

Yesterday’s surprise was really a surprise … a bunny. Yes, little Peter Cottontail found his way to my cabbage plants. We have fences all around our acre property but he found a hole (or made one). Last week’s visitor was a little hummingbird. It was attracted to the red gladiolas and has come back to feed almost every day.

We also have hundreds of bumblebees that visit everyday. Some of them are HUGE! Here is a video of a bumblebee visiting the Bee Balm plants.

Be sure to spend time every day in your garden and look for those little visitors that let us know we are making the world a better place (even if they eat everything you are growing to feed your family).

“Time is nature’s way to keep everything from happening at once.”
~ J. A. Wheeler

photo credit: wit

This time of year while our plants are thriving so are some common garden pests. Aphids can decimate your plants in a matter of days and sometimes you don’t notice it until it is too late. One way to get rid of aphids naturally is to introduce ladybugs to the mix. Most garden centers sell little containers of live ladybugs that you release into your garden to do their work. This works great as long as the ladybugs don’t fly away which always seems to happen to me after a day or so.

Another way to get rid of aphids is to mix up some common kitchen ingredients and spray to infested plants. One mixture that has worked for me in the past is to grate or chop up an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Put it in the blender with two cups of water. Liquify in the blender then mix in one tablespoon of baby shampoo and put in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning strain the solids out of the mixture using a fine sieve or cheesecloth and put the liquid in a spray bottle. Let the mixture come to room temperature before using it. Spray the mixture liberally on the aphid infested plant. This should take care of the little bugs.

Spray the plants every couple of days with the mixture. Your aphids problem should be greatly reduced if not eliminated in a few days. Store any unused mixture in the refrigerator and throw any unused spray away after a week.

“To garden is to let optimism get the better of judgment.
~ Eleanor Perenyi

photo credit: tillwe

Right now my garden is full of the best fruits and vegetables of the season. We get a bit of a slow start here since our last frost is the last week of May so my tomato plants have just started putting on fruit. This year I am prepared but last year as my tomatoes were just starting to turn red I noticed a problem.

The bottoms of the tomatoes had large sunken spots that looked like big sores. As they ripened more, the lower half of the tomatoes looked rotten. I found out I had blossom end rot and it is caused by a lack of calcium. When the fruit doesn’t get enough calcium it starts to break down. There are lots of ways to help avoid this like managing the soil pH, making sure you are watering consistently and not over using fertilizers.

I told my mom about the problem I was having and she told me what my grandma used to cure blossom end rot. Are you ready for this? She used TUMS® tablets. You know, the antacid tablets that have calcium in them. She crushed up a couple of tablets and sprinkled them around each plant every other day and watered them in. I guess it worked because of the calcium in the TUMS® would soak into the soil then be taken up by the plants.

I haven’t seen any sign of blossom end rot this year but I purchased a bottle of antacids, just in case.

“I’d rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck.”
~ Emma Goldman

photo credit: cygnus921

You woke up early, got dressed, grabbed a bowl and headed off to the berry patch only to find that the birds had been there first. Nothing left on the vine except a stub where your luscious blackberries once hung. Before you grab netting to cover your berries try this simple solution. I have found that it works pretty good.

Mix 1 tablespoon baby shampoo, 1 tablespoon ammonia and 1 gallon of water together. Pour it into spray bottles or a sprayer that hasn’t had pesticides in it and spray all of your fruit plants and trees after they have fruit. The stuff tastes terrible to the birds and keeps them from ravaging your crop. Rinse the berries well before eating.

You may need to repeat this process as more fruit forms or after it rains.

“That beautiful season the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

photo credit: girl_named_fred

Have you ever had a brick patio or cobblestone driveway that weeds have managed to make their home between the cracks? Pulling the weeds usually results in the tops coming off and roots remaining under the bricks. As the plant regrows from the roots it begins to push the pavers up thus creating an uneven surface.

You can spray commercial weed killer on the plants but you may find that some of the herbicide gets on the bricks or pavers. This can leave them permanently stained or discolored. So what do you do?

I have found the best and safest way to kill weeds that aren’t near any other plants or grass is with water. Hot water! Boil a large pot of water on the stove then take it out and douse the offending weeds. This usually works after only one treatment. Don’t get the hot water on any plants that you do want because it will kill them too.

Hot water … it’s simple, it’s cheap and it’s safe.