Herb Garden Plants

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If there’s one thing that makes gardeners gnash their teeth with frustration, it’s watching their favourite plants being eaten by pests. We’ve moved on from the ‘any bug is a bad bug’ mentality, and many chemical controls are being removed from sale amid safety fears, but this doesn’t mean that we have to abandon hope of an attractive and productive garden.

The organic approach to pest control is a holistic one. It begins (as with everything in organic gardening) with the soil. Keeping your soil in good health allows an extensive ecosystem to develop, and many soil microorganisms are beneficial to plant health. Pesticides and chemical fertilizers disrupt this ecosystem and prevent it from functioning properly, which is why they have no place in an organic garden. Feed the soil with compost and manure and the ecosystem, and your plants, will thrive.

Gardens have a huge advantage over farms in terms of pest control because they don’t, as a rule, have large areas of the same plant. Mixed planting helps to prevent some pests finding a home in your garden and adding flowers to your vegetable plot will attract beneficial insects.

Making your garden more attractive to wildlife draws in birds and animals that eat garden pests. Nooks and crannies for spiders and beetles, damp places for frogs and toads and food and nesting sites for birds are all easily achievable even in small gardens. If you can add trees, a source of water and some untidy areas your garden will be a wildlife haven.

Even so, a garden is not a natural ecosystem and a balance between pests and their predators is hard to build and maintain. There will be times when the gardener needs to intervene – not to wipe out the pests, but to reduce their population and help restore the natural balance.

The simplest chemical-free option for controlling pests is removing them by hand. This is easy enough to do for large pests, such as slugs and snails, but more difficult for aphids – a jet of water from the hosepipe will dislodge larger populations without harming plants. Yellow sticky traps are ideal in greenhouses and conservatories. They may not look attractive, but they catch many flying insects and will give you advance warning of which creatures are trying to attack your plants.

Traps and barriers are more often seen in the vegetable garden than flowerbeds. Everyone is familiar with the use of ‘slug pubs’, but a ring of bran around vulnerable plants may also offer some protection. Insect netting is perfect for preventing moths and butterflies from laying eggs that develop into caterpillars, but you need to check regularly that none have found a way inside and also that birds and other wildlife haven’t become entangled.

As a last resort, there are organic products available for controlling pest attacks. Biological controls introduce more predators (usually microscopic) into your environment to help restore the balance. Biological controls are targeted to specific pests, such as red spider mite or slugs. More general insect sprays will deal with aphids and other flying insects, but need to be applied carefully to avoid killing beneficial insects at the same time. And if slugs are your nemesis then you can even buy environmentally friendly slug pellets that aren’t harmful to other wildlife, pets or children.

Chemical-free slug control

• Slugs and snails won’t cross copper barriers. Copper rings are ideal for protecting individual plants, copper tape can be applied to the rims of containers, or you can stand pots on copper mats.
• Cloches made from clear plastic drinks bottles will shelter seedlings from bad weather and protect them from slug and snail attacks.
• Rings of coffee grounds and other gritty substances encourage slugs to look elsewhere for a meal.
• Collecting slugs by hand is not everyone’s idea of fun but can be very successful. Looks for slugs hiding under stones or leave grapefruit peel out for them to congregate underneath. Planting a row of sacrificial lettuces will ensure you know exactly where your slugs are, but you will then have to find a way to dispose of them. If your compost heap has a lid then try confining them inside, where they can help decompose your plant wastes.

This article first appeared in Country Gardener in April 2008. See how I deal with pest problems in my garden on my blog.

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Halfway through the second series of the Good Life, Jerry comes up with a way to help the Goods get some free stuff. When a journalist wants to interview them and write an article on their alternative lifestyle, Jerry persuades them to endorse local businesses in return for things they can use (or things that Jerry can use!).

The whole plan backfires when it turns out that the article is going to appear in a small local newspaper rather than the national press, as Jerry has envisaged, but now that we have the internet, social networking and a media clamouring for articles on people who are going green, it should be much easier to cash in.

It’s certainly true if you have a blog or website of any standing (i.e. one which has been around a while, had good content and a regular supply of visitors) – companies may come knocking at your door to offer you goods to review, or want to rent advertising space from you. It pays to be clear with your readership what form of deals you have accepted, though, as nothing turns people off quicker than obvious advertorials that don’t offer honest opinions or are off-topic. You should also be careful which advertisers you get into bed with – spammy adverts for things like fake degrees are disturbing, and off-topic adverts just annoying. It has to be said, though, that unless your website is about high revenue items like insurance or gadgets it’s hard to make money from advertising unless your site is extremely popular. Many website owners go for Google Adsense, which is highly respected, easy to use and provides context-sensitive adverts.

If you want to be in the mainstream media then you’ll need to keep an eye out for (usually unpaid) opportunities. BBC Countryfile Magazine currently has a ‘blog of the month’ featuring blogs on suitable topics, and a mention there could get you a lot of readers. Established gardening bloggers regularly contribute to the Guardian Gardening Blog in return for a high-profile link to their site.

If you have a self-sufficiency story to tell (especially if you gave good photos) then pitch it to Home Farmer magazine. Permaculture Magazine accepts articles on a wide range of permaculture-related topics, and barters for magazine copies or books.

To really make it into the big media leagues, though, it pays to be ancient. 2008 was the year of the Green Granny – with everyone from Oxfam, the Daily Mail and The Evening Standard running features on various eco-friendly OAPs.

Articles in the ‘Recreating the Good Life series’:
Recreating the Good Life: Cash Crops
Recreating the Good Life: Energy
Recreating the Good Life: Food Waste and Chickens
Recreating the Good Life: Pigs and Barter
Recreating the Good Life: Press

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This week’s movie review: Last night I went to see Crazy Heart. Either Jeff Bridges was a complete alcoholic while filming that movie or he is a really great actor. He was so believable in the part that now I’m interested in finding out more about him to see what his life is really like. A very good movie.

I was reading the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter and it talked about dandelions. Apparently dandelion plants contain lots of vitamins and minerals. They wrote, “Half a cup of leaves contains more calcium than a cup of milk, and they boast even more iron than spinach.” If you are picking them in the wild, there are no similar poisonous plants to worry about. Young dandelion leaves wilt quickly so if you are growing the plant pick the leaves right before you use them in a salad. They can be boiled and eaten like spinach, or sauteed and eaten with pasta. Even the root is edible. And the roots can be brewed like coffee. It supposedly tastes much the same as regular coffee. For instructions on how to do this go to mountainroseherbs.com.

Seedlings
Photo © Kerry Michaels

I’m sitting here in a total heart-pounding sweat. It is getting really late to order seeds, even for me, with my late and microscopic growing season to say nothing of my tendency towards procrastination and sloth.

While I can buy most seeds at my local nurseries, which carry my favorite brands, Botanical Interests, Renee’s Garden, Johnny’s Seeds and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, there are some seeds that I want to try that I will probably have to mail order. I am dying to try Riesentraube and Stupice tomatoes and Tom thumb eggplant. I don’t know if anyone around here carries the tomatillo seeds I want to grow, or Tonda di Parigi carrots, which seem like they would be perfect for container gardening.

I guess it’s time to stop behaving like an ostrich with my head in the mud, and pull the virtual trigger.

Annual Container Gardening Seed Panic originally appeared on About.com Container Gardening on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 08:03:03.

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Passion Flower Collection
Photo © Spring Hill Nurseries

I’m a huge fan of passion flowers. Last year was disappointing because I planted mine too late in the season. They grew like weeds (which they are in some places), but never flowered, and while I do love the foliage of passion flowers, growing them really is all about the bling of their outrageous blossoms.

This year I was uncharacteristically organized and ordered a collection of passion flowers from Spring Hill Nurseries. They’re on sale until March 18.

Container Gardening Ecstasy – Passion Flowers originally appeared on About.com Container Gardening on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 08:00:33.

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I am taking a break from the Academy Awards to write this blog. I love to criticize a few dresses and then rave over the ones I love. I like almost everybody and Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin are so funny. Overall, it’s a wonderful event and I’m glad I’m watching it on tv because I don’t think I could wear my wedding ring and still clap all evening. My hand would be so sore.

Last night we had company so I decided to do a wine tasting. I bought 5 bottles of red wine (that’s what they like, I’m a Chardonnay person myself), two merlot, a cabernet, a zinfandel and a petite syrah. We all acted like experts, tasting everything, then took our single glass of wine and had a great conversation and dinner (lasagna, my husband’s specialty). Not the most wild party I’ve ever been to but a lot of fun.

The weather is acting up all over the place and it’s easy to get the flu. If you do get the flu, here is a remedy to help. Make a tea of 2 parts boneset, 1 part elder flower and 1 part peppermint. This should relieve some of the aches that come with being sick. If it’s too bitter, honey is always a solution.

Tomorrow I put on my business hat and figure out how to knock Warren Buffet out of the top spot. Wish me luck!

The other day I was reading a pamphlet called Blending Herbal Teas put out by The Essential Herbal and one person had an interesting thing she did. Over the course of time she took herbs from her garden, dried them and put them into a gallon jar. Just threw in whatever was available. Then she took out enough herbs for a cup of tea and each cup was different. When her friends came over they looked forward to finding out what their tea tasted like and every time it was a new experience. I think that’s a great idea.

I am revisiting why many people can’t grow lavender. I live in a zone 9 area so it’s not too cold (rarely below freezing) and not too humid, but pretty hot in summer. Lavender loves to grow in my backyard but even here I meet people who have trouble keeping it alive. But I’m reading that lavender really hates humidity and wet foliage. And if plants are planted too close together the foliage can’t get dry enough. It’s best to space the plants out and get them as much sun as possible, especially if you live in a humid area. Lavender doesn’t take a lot of care but it does need well-drained soil. It grows very well in pots so sometimes it could be brought indoors into air conditioning and dried out (that’s my idea, I’ve never tried it). Also, there are many kinds of lavender and if one kind doesn’t grow for you another kind might. You might check your local nursery for different varieties. The gal who was sharing this information is Michele Brown at PossumCreekHerb.com and she lives in Tennessee. So many things to learn!

Well, I went to the gym yesterday. After walking uphill to Wild Animal Park and being exhausted I decided I needed to get some exercise. I almost never go to the gym. It costs $25 a month and my husband says that going once every two months costs us $50 a visit. The last time I went my sister called me while I was in the parking lot and asked where I was. I told her I was at the gym. Her response? “Not the gym! You? The real gym? Are you seeing somebody named Jim?” I will show them all and be healthy enough to live forever.

As I was planning my garden today I started to think about feverfew. One thing that has done very well with almost no attention is the feverfew. It reseeds itself so I now have three times as much as I started with. It’s a pretty plant with little flowers that have a yellow center with white petals. I think the flowers look a little like chamomile. Feverfew is good for migraines and arthritis pain. It can be drunk as a tea or the leaves can be eaten. I’ve heard the leaves are bitter and it was suggested to put honey on them. (As I was writing this I decided to go out and pick a leaf to taste for myself and it is bitter. It also tastes kind of green, whatever that means.) It likes sun but can live with some shade. I wouldn’t put it in the full sun where I live because it regularly gets into the upper 90’s here but certainly a fair amount of sun works. Feverfew is susceptible to aphids and root rot when the soil is not well drained. Pick it in the morning as soon as it’s dry. It is so charming that I would plant it in my garden just for show. It’s one of my favorites.

Yesterday I went to the Wild Animal Park in Escondido, CA with my son and grandchildren. It is a wonderful place. Among other things, we saw a lion and heard him roar. It immediately brings to mind images of being out somewhere facing a predator alone and, I can tell you, there’s not much hope that I’d come out on top. My money’s on the lion. We also fed lorikeets, which are birds that will drink nectar out of a paper cup that you hold in your hand. As it happened, all the birds seemed pretty full when we were there but one of them felt free to poop right above me as he flew by and my sleeve had to be Spray-n-Washed that night.

I was reminded how out of shape I am when I had to park in a space far below the front entrance. I made it up the hill to the front gate, but I was practically ready for a stretcher when I got there, so I am now committed  to going to the gym more often. I was afraid that after I walked around I wouldn’t be able to push the pedal on my car to get home but it all turned out fine.

The Wild Animal Park has an extrememly large botanical presence. Many species of plants reside there, more than animals by far. But I recognized rosemary as I walked past a row of spiky plants with blue flowers. It made me feel right at home.

Rosemary has a reputation for helping people remember things. Rosemary assists in the breakdown of acetylcholorine. A deficiency of this chemical may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. Rosemary contains antioxidants and helps improve circulation throughout the body, which includes the brain. It is a digestive tonic and a headache remedy. And it seems to stimulate hair follicles, so it really is good for your head in every way! Rosemary loves sun and grows well in pots. It’s pretty hardy but in a fight for space between rosemary and rose geranium, I can tell you the rose geranium wins. Rosemary has been used as protection against evil and a symbol of fidelity. There is a Christian story that when Mary was on the trip to Egypt, she stopped to rest and threw her robe over a bush of rosemary with white flowers, and the flowers turned blue to honor her.