A few weeks ago I reported on the dreadful condition of the garden and how we started taming it. I can now say that even though we have been without any rain of consequence for several weeks and needed to water the plants at least twice a day, the garden is now making great progress.
Finally the rains came, a bit here and a bit there, in the last few days, but as of last night we have had a steady, soft, drenching rain and the garden looked very happy this morning!
As we stated in the begining of the Garden Journal, our garden beds are enclosed with recycled wood slats, layered inside with newspapers for weed control and then filled with mulch. We make pockets in the mulch where we fill with organic soil and then plant our herbs and veggies in the pockets.
Since the garden is organic, we are using lots of Marigolds all over to deter pests and we have been spraying a homemade organic weed control close to the beds and around the new stepping stones. See recipe below.
Laurel (bay leaf) in the rain... the laurel sits in the middle of the assorted parsley bed.
Pineapple Sage and Golden Marigolds in the back, Sweet Basil in front. I'm getting ready to trim the basil down so it can bush out and I will be making pesto with the cuttings.
Malabar Spinach, a type of vining spinach, these are almost ready to start climbing the wire frame. Mizuna greens, Rosemary and more Golden Marigolds.
Gold and Orange Marigolds, Roma Tomatoes and Lemon Basil - the little paper cups around the tomato stems are to discourage pests such as cutworms.
Overview of several beds, include Rosemaries, Orange and Golden Marigolds, Mizuna Greens, Red and Yellow Bell Pepper plants - you can also see a few of the Dwarf Banana plants in the background.
Baby Purple Japanese Eggplant growing in the lower branches and a cluster of blooms at the top of the plant. Both Purple Japanese Long Eggplants and both of the Japanese Round Green Eggplant plants are blooming.
A future project will be to fill in the paths with creeping Oregano and plant it all around the stepping stones. I have started the plugs of creeping Oregano in the beds as fillers and will be taking them from there.
Ripening Hawaiian Chile Peppers.
Recipe for the Organic Weed Spray
4 cups white vinegar
1/4 cup salt
2 teaspoons dish detergent
Mix all ingredients well and spray on weeds. Watch them go Bye Bye!....As the weeds die, I will be pulling them by the roots to make room for the creeping Oregano to take over.
.......and this is how my garden is growing at this moment
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Comments: 34
I was just admiring my bayleaf plant this afternoon. It was only an 8 inch plant when I bought it last year, brought it inside and left it in the sunroom all winter. I forgot to water it (since January) and it still survived, and about 15 inches tall now! It must like neglect! :-)
Cecile, I love to spend time out there....I was checking the garden during a slight lull in the rain - actually it was still drizzling a bit - and asked Anthony to bring me the camera, because everything looked so pretty in the rain! He stood over me with the umbrella so I could take the pics without getting the camera wet.
I know what you mean about missing one watering day!!!
Tonia, good to "see" you up and around. Hope you feel better!
We just bought an assortment of nasturtiium seeds and will be planting them soon. I love them. We are trying to plant only edible flowers in between the herbs and veggies and the nasturtium, marigolds and geraniums do very well here.
Thanks, Duckie! that is amazing about your bayleaf!
We had to move our bayleaf from the first area where we planted it two years ago. Nothing happened in the two years and the rest of the stuff around it grew like weeds, so we just moved it to this location about 3 weeks ago and already has new leaves on top.
You are one of the most productive people on Gather. Your knowledge of food, how to plant it and use it never ceases to amaze me.
Thank you for this beautiful and informative article. The pictures are wonderful and the information is excellent!
I've tried growing bayleaf numerous times in the past and this is the first time one survived the winter indoors. My past specimens would look good and healthy when brought in before the first freeze ...but by February, they were dying or dead! As I said earlier, I think they thrive better when neglected.
A few other plants survived the same treatment... my tuberoses, the climbing jasmine (southern Confederate variety, not the Sambac), the Blue Nile agapanthus, the pineapple (yup, I have one growing in a pot!) 2 hibiscus plants and the white Butterfy Ginger.
Unfortunately, my prized Patchouli did not make it. Patchouli plants are so hard to find, around here... none of the nurseries carry it and even on eBay, it is a matter of luck to find one! :-(
Deb, I live in Hawaii...the garden can keep going year 'round....LOL
Oh, Wow, Barbra....thank you! What a nice compliment to wake up to this beautiful rainy morning!
Diana, thank you.....yes, the homemade weed killer spray does work!
Duckie, rejoice then that your bay survived....I wonder how big it will get in the pot in which you have it growing? How wonderful that you can grow tuberoses and white butterfly ginger indoors in winter and then bring out in warmer weather....I do have the butterfly gingers growing in our yard - both white and a creamy yellow - but have never tried growing tuberoses. They are so pretty and smell so wonderful!!! Moggy is also growing pineapples in pots...She lives in NC! I used to grow Confederate jasmine when I lived in SC, but have never tried it here....we do have several jasmines that grow here though an done variety is coming up as a volunteer in the yard almost by the place where we park the car....I keep telling Anthony we need to dig it up and move somwshere else before it gets too big!
Scott, we are already enjoying the parsleys, rosemary, basils, chives, spearmint, Mexican tarragon and sage. We did find an eggplant on one of the older plants when we were taming back the garden a few weeks ago and ate it.... I hope the tomatoes will start producing soon - we have blooms!
On a bright note though, we ate our first 2 vine ripe homegrown tomatoes of the season just a couple of days ago! Can you say YUMMY!?
Thank you, Amy, it doesn't take long to get excited about growing new ones and finding out how to use them! Good luck!
Great article Sonia, great idea with the "pest spray".
Yes, all the layers of newspapers underneath all the mulch does help to keep the weeding down.....and the spraying around the perimeter of the beds is also helping control the grass that tries to sneak into the beds under the wooden slat borders....
The recipe above is for weeds......the recipe for pest spray, which I should have also given but forgot:
A handful of tiny Hawaiian Chile Peppers (Tabasco or other hot peppers will do)
A handful of peeled garlic cloves
2 teaspoons dishwashing liquid
Water
Put all in the blender and mix well making sure all peppers and garlic are processed.
Put through a sieve to get rid of any whole particles.
Add more water to fill a gallon jug and dilute it.
Put in sprayer and spray your plants with a light mist.
It is nice to expend learned Wisdom from Gardening...
I remember again my Gardening days with Greatgrand Mother....
Nice photographies...
Katrina, it is definitely a mixture of tropical and mainland garden....but not quite New England LOL ... You can grow the bay in pots if you ever find one in your area nurseries....as to the peppers, can you not grow them in New England?
Yes, the rosemary smells wonderful!
I had never planted pineapple sage before, but when I saw it at the nursery, I just had to buy some - so I got 3 plants.......Lovely!!! I cannot wait for them to bloom now. Thanks for telling me about the beautiful red blooms because I have a habit of "deblooming" stuff - like basil - so the plant will bush out more...
When looking for the viniv spinach, check and see if you can get both the green and the one with the red on it....tey taste the same, but the red one looks so striking...
I´m going to send this article to my mom, who grows her own herb garden in Southern California and also uses an organic weed killer. I think she will marvel at your eggplant plants--she tried growing them in the Mediterranean climate there but it didn´t work--as well as the simplicity of your weed spray. Many scientists are now convinced that the US bee epidemic has been caused by new pesticides that are human safe but kill bees and ants en masse, paralyzing their nervous systems.
The eggplants are now almost ready to harvest! I was so surprised when I walked out there yesterday how fast they are growing... I will be using them to make grilled eggplant with goat cheese salad..... Recipe and photos will be shared here.
We have been concerned with the bee problems here also. At one time, bee keepers around the world were ordering bees from Hawaii as we were so isolated our bees were healthy....but now it seems we too are having problems in some areas with our bees.
If you share the address for my blog with your mom, she can read about our garden from its inception last year.
www.soniatasteshawaii.com
and then click on the "How does my garden grow...?" link on the right hand side of the screen.
I worked out in my garden yesterday...clean-up after about three weeks of high winds and some steady-to-heavy rains. (Every joint and muscle on my body is like concrete this morning.)
I'm anxious for a three-day weekend to get caught up out there!
I don't want to replant until we can get rid of the wild pigs.... They are coming up from the gulch/stream below and have made paths up the steep incline to our garden. We cannot afford to put in a strng enough fence to keep them out as the land is not ours....
;-)