Garden Medley

Just for fun (actually because it began to rot so soon), my husband took our uncut Halloween pumpkin to the back yard and cut the top off. He gave our daughter a choice – fill the top with a few seeds and some dirt or plant the seeds in the ground.

Of course she chose both. What did you expect? She’s 4! (more…)

Many insects are just a pain in your garden. They damage your plants and don’t provide a benefit. But you don’t want to go spray a bunch of chemicals on foods you’re planning on eating.

All is not lost. There are natural ways to control the pests in your garden.

Garlic and onions can be quite effective. Liquify these and spray them onto soft body insects to kill them. It can also paralyze flies. A garlic or onion spray can work as a fungicide too.

You can include hot peppers with your garlic or onion spray to make it stronger if you like. Hot peppers can also be effective on it’s own, but the garlic really can help. Sprinkle it about to discourage rabbits and other small animals. (more…)

When you grow an herb garden, your cooking can reap the rewards. Dried herbs really can’t compare to fresh in most uses.

The challenge can be keeping your herb plants producing. If you don’t treat them right, they die.

It’s not too hard to keep herbs producing once you know how to treat the plants. This includes watering, pruning and harvesting.

Be aware of the amount of water your herbs need. If the leaves are drooping, the plants need water now! How often you water will depend on the time of year, whether you keep them indoors or out and the overall climate. (more…)

I was watching my local news the other day when the went into the garden segment. Many of the tips are more for my area, but this one should be pretty universal.

If you grow lettuce and other vegetables, rabbits and other such critters can be a major problem. I’ve gone over some tactics in the past on how to keep them out without poisons. This one I hadn’t heard yet.

Get some plastic snakes and put them in your garden around the plants you want to protect. Rabbits and other small animals are very afraid of snakes, and won’t realize these are fakes, especially if you move them around regularly. (more…)