Thursday, October 8, 2009

How Does your Garden Grow...

At the moment, slowly.  We have almost everything in the ground now.  Our once prolific squash now seems to have some kind of disease on its leaves which I think I am controlling with a neem oil spray (organic of course).  We have already suffered from a bout of white flies, they are persistent little things and I am trying to combat them in a number of different ways.  I've ordered yellow sticky paper, some kind of attractant of beneficial bugs that will help eat the whiteflies, neem oil, insecticidal soap, and some homemade garlic, onion, and red pepper spray that made my kitchen quite smelly for a few days.  


I'm also collecting coffee ground and tea leaves to put in the garden and egg shells and egg boiling water, apparently a good source of calcium for vegetables.  In addition to all this madness, I've developed a sort of addiction to ordering seed!  I have these ground cherries that I have been dying to plant but we are trying to focus on everything else we have planted and it's still really hot down here so I don't know how that will affect some of the things we have planted like carrots and kale which really need a cold snap to have a good flavor.  We shall see...it's an ever growing science experiment in the back yard right now!


Photo: Candice

3 comments:

alicia said...

Hi there, Garlic Oil Spray also is a great, safe insect repellent. Simply put three to four cloves of minced garlic into two teaspoons of mineral oil. Let the mixture sit overnight, and then strain the garlic out of the oil. Add the oil to one pint of water, and add a teaspoon of biodegradable dish soap. Store in a bottle or jar, and dilute the mixture when you use it by adding two tablespoons of your garlic oil mixture to one pint of water.

Karen said...

We have a wonderful Flordia garden book you should get. Very helpful with many questions! Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Gardening-Florida-JAMES-STEPHENS/dp/0813016746/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255111905&sr=8-1

mmakis said...

Look into Ladybugs. Apparently they eat a bunch of other insects.