Comments on: Garden, Part II

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:38:13 +0000

So, Lindsey; have you got your seeds going yet? I wish you the best of luck! I did want to point out, however, if you’re going the organic route do not water your plants with dishwater unless you use an organic dish soap. Like antibiotics, regular dish soap water will kill the beneficial nematodes and bacteria in the soil as well as the bad ones. The bacteria is needed for things like green beans to set nitrogen-fixing nodes on their roots, and the nematodes eat things like japanese beetle larvae that can do a lot of damage to garden plants. Also, newspaper does make a good weed barrier (and protects tomato transplants from cutworms), but again if you are going organic, make sure the paper uses soy ink and not regular or lots of colored ink, which is toxic. Use unprinted paper if you can – bet you got a source for that, too! For us, we have chickens so I ‘manually’ remove bugs (yes, the icky way) and feed them to the chickens. Nothing goes to waste if possible. The other thing you can do is collect bugs in a tupperware or ziplock, freeze them to kill them, and add to your compost. Sorry to be so long-winded, but I truly believe going organic is worth the extra effort. We saved more than $600. from our gardening efforts last year, and I know exactly what did (and didn’t) go into our food!! Keep us posted on your gardening progress, please!

By: Tami

Tami — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:09:24 +0000

I have never experimented with growing herbs before or really using them fresh. My rosemary is doing very well also – lasted all winter. I kept cutting it and putting it in a flower vase because I couldn’t use it fast enough. The AeroGarden has a set of Italian herbs (basil,dill,cilantro, etc). That is what I am going to attempt.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:37:59 +0000

Gosh, Henry, I’ve never heard that about herbs diminishing in flavor as they grow older, but it makes sense. What a great tip! Thanks.

By: Henry

Henry — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:07:15 +0000

My experience has been that herbs are annuals. The longer they grow, the dimmer the taste. Tarragon is really bad about this. It will come back next year but have very little taste.

I love small leaf basil. It has the best taste. We plant a lot of herbs because the deer don’t like them.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:30:03 +0000

Amy — recipe?

Tami, I’m going to try and start a small outside herb garden this year, too. I’ve seen lavender and rosemary thrive outdoors all year long, but I don’t know about the rest. We’ll have to compare notes!

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 16:34:42 +0000

Good luck Tami! I’ve tried for the past 2 years to do the opposite – start them outside in the spring/summer and bring indoors at the first frost. I’ve killed them each time. My mother has had better luck, though I think her marjoram and basil have died. Her rosemary, however, is thriving.

By: Tami

Tami — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:01:50 +0000

In addition to my usual tomatoes this year I am experimenting with herbs. I got an indoor herb garden for Christmas. The herbs are growing nicely. Going to experiment with taking the pods outside and planting in the yard when it gets warm. Will keep you advised.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 19:14:41 +0000

When staking, I suggest using a metal wire and tie them up with nylons. When the wind blows, this combo creates static electricity, which attracts nitrogen.

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:50:58 +0000

I went online this weekend and bought seeds for rainbow chard, radishes, zucchini and yellow crookneck squash. Now all I need are some Better Boys.

By: Marion

Marion — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 01:19:21 +0000

Ooops…the Swiss Chard I told you about is actually called Bright Lights Swiss Chard. It is a beautiful plant, and has a mellow flavor, unlike other greens. I found a seed pack at Wallie World and it is coming up nicely.Some people grow it just because it is so pretty.