Gardening Tips
Busy Bee's Garden Club
Never throw away raw vegetable scraps; start a compost pile with them.
When cleaning up winter beds for spring, add twigs, leaves, etc., to your compost. Waste nothing and replenish your garden soil.
Plant garlic with your roses. Insects don't like the smell.
Plant parsley in and about your flowers and veggies. Insects will eat it first.
Sprinkle crushed eggshells around plants that slugs are eating. The slugs will leave.
Winter is a good time to clean your garden tools. Bleach and sharpen them for use. Wipe down wooden handles with linseed oil.
Don't throw away expired vitamins; turn them under in your garden soil. They will put trace minerals into the soil.
Roses need at least 6 hours of sun a day to flourish.
Tear old newspaper into shreds and add to compost pile.
Don't throw away old containers or even shoes!! They make great planter boxes.
Planting marigolds with your tomato plants helps keep bugs off of your tomatoes.
How to Propagate African Violets:
Choose a small pot with drainage holes and fill it with moistened rooting medium. (For instance, half vermiculite and half potting mix.) then follow these steps for a mature plant in 6 to 9 months:
1) Remove a healthy mature leaf and stem by moving the stem from side to side until it is free of the center stalk.
2) Make a hole in the center of the moistened rooting medium and cut the stem at a slight slant about 1 inch from the leaf.
3) Insert the leaf and stem into the rooting mix, up to the base of the leaf.
Place the leaf in bright, indirect light and keep the rooting medium damp, but not wet. The cutting will develop roots in about a month and leaves in about two months. When you see new leaves, pot your African violet in soil.
HOW TO MAKE A MINIATURE FOREST:
Use large terracotta saucer. Fill saucer with potting mix. Mound potting mix in the center. Plant maple tree seeds by starting in the middle and arrange it in the saucer with any pattern you choose. Gather some soft green moss that grows around trees and arrange it around where the seeds are planted with space enough for plant to come up. Keep the soil damp for the first few days and check once a week thereafter to keep soil damp. Once a year take your plants up by loosening the dirt. Trim the bottom of the tree and the top of the tree and replant every tree to keep in miniature state. Enjoy!
COMPANION PLANTING
Many herbs are extremely beneficial to the garden itself, improving the soil and environment, as well as attracting the beneficial insects to preserve your precious plants. Over thousands of years of trial and observation, gardeners all over the world noticed improvements in size, health, and yields when certain plants were cultivated close together. By observing nature, seeing what worked, and copying what they saw, they found that these effects could be reproduced.
One famous example is the fact that garlic plants under rose bushes really do deter aphids and other predatory insects. Certain types of calendula (marigold), called tagetes, actually give out secretions from their roots, which help keep weeds at bay, which is particularly good near vegetables. Farmers in past times would plant nasturtiums under their apple trees; not only would these keep away aphids, but they would then be plowed back into the soil as a "green manure" to enrich the earth with nutrients and feed the growing tree. Aromatic herbs give out such strong aromas they attract bees, so growing them near your orchard would improve the pollination of your fruit trees.
Below are listed some common herbs that can help other plants to grow when they are planted nearby:
Basil - Helps apples, asparagus, grapevines, and tomatoes and works well planted close to parsley and summer savory.
Borage - Helps fava beans, cucumbers, grapevines, large zucchini/squash, tomatoes, and strawberries.
Calendula - Helps artichokes, all beans, peas, and potatoes.
Camomile - [Roman or German] Helps broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, kohlrabi, peas, and tomatoes.
Chives - Helps apples, cabbage, carrots, grapevines, leeks, roses, and tomatoes.
Clover - Helps apples, brussel sprouts, cabbage, and pears.
Coriander - Helps radishes and spinach.
Dill - Helps brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, kohlrabi, and leeks.
Fennel - Helps cabbage, squash, leeks, and large zucchini.
Garlic - Helps apples, string beans, lettuce, peaches, pears, plums, and roses.
SPECIAL COMPANION HERBS
Borage, with its lovely blue flowers, encourages the growth of strawberries so the fruit is healthy and tasty, and the leaves resist fungi and other diseases. The camomiles are such all-rounders that they are considered to be the "plant physicians" and can be planted anywhere to encourage healthy growth.
Hyssop - Helps broccoli, cabbage, grapevines, and kohlrabi.
Lavender - Helps cabbage, citrus fruit, and tomatoes.
Lemon Balm - Helps potatoes and tomatoes.
Sweet Marjoram - Helps beans, broccoli, cabbage and potatoes.
Mint - Helps broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, peas, and tomatoes.
Nasturtium - Helps apples, apricots, cucumbers, and zucchini.
Parsley - Helps artichokes, asparagus, lettuce, and potatoes.
Rosemary - Helps beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, and tomatoes.
Sage - Helps carrots, cauliflower, grapevines, kohlrabi, and tomatoes.
Summer Savory - Helps all beans, onions and potatoes.
Thyme - Helps beans, cauliflower, eggplants, and lettuce.
Yarrow - Helps corn and raspberries.
Using herbs like this is a totally organic way to enhance your whole garden, as well as providing you with herbs for cooking and medicine. The more you work with plants, the more you may discover relationships between them that are unique to your particular garden and climate.
