Plants can be like people…both require food, water, light, and air. Also, plants have likes and dislikes of their neighbors and companions.
Some plants can provide special nutrients needed by neighboring plants, or even the root system of a certain plant helps to loosen the soil.
Some plants like, marigolds, are bug repellents while other plants, like parsley and yarrow, attract beneficial insects.
Being knowledgeable about of this natural interaction gives gardeners a head start in combating pests in the garden naturally.
Here’s a rundown on some of the plants that do and don’t grow together well.
Roses like garlic, but dislike boxwood: tomatoes like basil; dislikes rue; cucumbers dislike sage; carrots dislike dill; most plants dislike fennel.
Alliums are good with most any plant because it deters insects, but peas and beans are inhibited by them. Naturstiums are good bug repellents and are benefical to radishes and apple trees.
Yarrow attracts lady bugs and is beneficial to surrounding plants, but wormwood inhibits plant neighbors with toxic root system.
This info and more is in my favorite herbal gardening book
The easiest and quickest way to find the seeds you want to plant this year is through online catalogs. Seed companies like Select Seeds, Gurneys, Henry Fields and more make it fun and easy to select the best varieties for your area. They even group them together so that if you want to find seeds for a fragrance garden, cottage garden, edible garden, perennials, foliage or container plants, you’ll find great pictures and growing information.
One caution though. Be sure not to get too carried away with your choices especially when ordering vegetable packets. Only grow what you and your family can reasonably eat.
It’s December 28th here and I hope all of you are pouring over your seeds catalogs just as I am. Right now is the perfect time to order seeds before the Feb through March rush. Ordering now will allow you to have the best selection and you’ll be able to start your seeds indoors and have them ready to plant come April 18th (frost free date for zone 6).
If you can’t wait to have fresh herbs for your cooking pleasure, be sure and start some indoors with your own culinary herb garden kit. These kits make it easy to grow culinary herbs.
Assortment of 12 Culinary Herb Seeds Each packet of seed contains much more seed than is needed for the kit. Experiment inside with Parsley, Thyme, Cilantro/Coriander, Basil, Dill, Oregano, Sweet Marjoram, Chives, Savory, Garlic Chives, Mustard, Sage.
The convenient, no-mess way to start seeds. Just add water – pellets expand to form pot and soil in one. Canadian sphagnum peat moss provides a rich, high quality growing environment. Transplant directly into the ground or larger containers-minimizes transplant shock and root damage.
What better way to add zest to your foods without salt!
Echinacea is one of the best herbs to use to stimulate your immune system because it stimulates antibody production. Recent research has found that it also promotes rapid healing of wounds and has antiviral and antibacterial properties.
It’s very easy to grow. The narrow-leaf variety, such as the Tennessee coneflower, is the best variety to use in making tinctures.
Tinctures are simply made from alcohol and powdered herbs. The alcohol extracts the herbs’ active ingredients. Mix 1/2 cup powdered dried herbs with 2 cups (500 ml) brandy, vodka, or gin. Mix ingredients together in a glass bottle and allow to steep in a warm place for several weeks, shaking occasionally. Strain, then store in a cool, dark place. Use about 9 drops either straight or mixed in 1 cup (250 ml) of hot water. These keep a long time because of their alcohol content. (Encyclopedia of Herb Gardening)
Plant in zones 3-8 in full sun. Echinacea is drought tolerant once it’s established. Add it to your potager garden or your perennial border.
Grab a free download of our newest book Herbs For Your Health: How to grow and use them by visiting our website at Mid South Gardening Advice.com
If you know someone who loves to garden but has a hard time getting up and down, the garden kneeler from Gardner’s Supply is a perfect gift.
These sturdy metal framed benches make gardening easier because you can use your arm strength to lower yourself up and down when planting and weeding.
Once you’re ready to sit for awhile, simply flip it over and it becomes a nice bench with a cushioned seat. You can even by a pouch separately that hangs on the side to store your tools, gloves, and seeds.
I love the fact that this garden bench is made of steel rather than plastic. Less likely to break that way and much more handsome, I think. Being metal does make it a little heavier to tote, but the extra sturdiness this gives the product makes this a good trade-off. You can fold it up for easier handling. I suggest not leaving it outside in bad weather in order to keep it in tip-top shape.
I’ve certainly got this at the top of my wish. Be sure and check out the garden kneeler for yourself or a loved one. They even have a deep-seat edition with a seat that’s 30% deeper front to back for added comfort and more support.
I don’t talk about it much, but as I reflect on all the things I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving like my health, family, friends, and a wonderful body of believers to worship with, I have to also be thankful that I found a way of being able to work from home using SBI (Site Build It).
I love spending time at home with my family, pursuing my passion of gardening and crafting from the garden. Making money from it at the same time is definitely an added bonus. I have to admit I didn’t know much more than how to check my emails and do a little research on the internet but SBI gave me all the tools I needed to have a successful website. Our website www.MidSouthGardeningAdvice.com is number one on Google…that’s very exciting for us.
See how I’ve used SBI to stay at home with my family. I’m very thankful I stumbled upon SBI a couple of years ago. It’s really not so bad becoming a computer nerd! I even know more than my college aged boys!
Whether you are retired, a student, a webmaster, a stay-at-home mom, or someone who is looking for a way to make some extra money, you owe it to yourself to check SBI out.
The cool thing is, with this program, they will take you step-by-step in deciding if your niche is a good one that will monetize well. I am continually blown away by the amount of information this system gives you and how easy they make it to add a store to your site, an e-book, videos, social networking…the works are right at your fingertips
If you have ever thought about working from home and pursuing your passion now is the time with SBI’s Thanksgiving special (click on the banner at the top of this page to find out more)
This past summer, we were so excited with our first attempt at growing cabbage. The whole row was looking great and then one day we went out to discover that the cabbage worms had attacked.
Simply place large pots of mint among the cabbages to help discourage the the moths from laying their eggs in the plant. I suspect this works much like the moth chaser sachets I make to keep moths from smelling the wool in the closet. If you can keep the moths from smelling the food source, they won’t lay their eggs there. They are just trying to be good parents and lay their eggs where the babies will have food to eat.
If you decide to try this, remember, you need to put the mint in pots in order to keep it from spreading like a weed. It sure beats going out each day and picking them off!
Fall is the perfect time to make flower arrangements using the flowers you have been drying all summer like hydrangeas, as well as the seed pods of red gum trees, magnolias, irises, and purple cone flower that are in abundance right now.
This morning, just a simple walk to the mailbox was all I needed to come back with an armload of possibilities. I found pieces of sticks with lichen on them, acorns, pretty red leaves with red berries on a honeysuckle bush and pine cones.
Add to this all types of ornamental grasses with their nice plooms and you’ve got all you need for a dried flower arrangement just in time for Thanksgiving.
Making your own dried floral centerpiece for the holidays is sure to impress your friends and relatives and make them feel truly special that you went to such effort for them.
Grasses, sedum and solidago make great dried arrangements
The 2010 Spring issue of Mother Earth News has great info about growing potatoes, organic pest control, how to enjoy fresh tomatoes all year round, and organic pest control. The following vegetables are not recommended for indoor seed storing:asparagus, carrots, corn, endive, Lima beans, parsnips, radishes, snap beans, spinach soybeans, Swiss chard and turni […]
I never knew you could grow lettuce in the dead of winter, but apparently you can. Check out this blog post by Barbara Pleasant from my friends at www.growveg.com While you're at the site, take a look at the innovative online garden planning tool which allows you to create plans easily, get growing info, learn crop rotation, spacing, and even get a pers […]
The original edition of Square Foot Gardening was the most popular gardening book in America ever, with more than one million copies sold! In this timely sequel to his original book, Mel reveals ten major improvements to the SFG system that make it even easier to get an abundant harvest of fresh and delicious, home-grown veggies. […]
If you enjoy gardening, you will eventually be faced with the task of making a new bed. Raised flower beds are great if you have drainage problems or very bad soil. […]
In the twelfth-century, knights used to carry a pouch of fresh yarrow leaves with them as a first-aid kit. Today, in the twentieth century, gardeners love it as a decorative border around their garden. Learn how to grow and harvest yarrow with the link below. […]
If your hellebores got zapped by single digit temperatures like ours did, you may need to do a little maintenance. Simply cut back to the ground any damaged leaves...soon they will be good as new. […]
Freezing herbs like chives, chervil, basil, lemon balm, parsley, rosemary and mints is a great way to preserve their freshness. Learn four easy methods to preserve your harvest. […]
Making a basil pesto recipe is on of the many advantages to growing basil. It doesn't get much fresher than going out 30 minutes before you eat and picking a handful of fresh basil leaves for this […]
I hope you are busy ordering seeds from catalogs right now. If you're like us, your mailbox is full of them. If not, there are lots of online catalogs to choose from. Go ahead and order what you want now. If you wait until March, you'll have a longer wait since the catalog companies get busy with orders during that time. […]
Bulbs give you a rainbow of of dazzling colors with very little work. You can find bulbs for every garden situation including borders, bedding displays, rock gardens, and raised beds. […]
Everyone knows something about something. Maybe your passionate about gardening like we are, or you know everything there is to know about scrap booking or dog grooming. Whatever your passion, right now you can have the chance to start your own profitable website for less than $1 a day with SBI! Buy-one-get-one free holiday special. All you need is (1) knowl […]
Organic gardening just got easier for the masses. Lately I've learned a lot about using Mel Bartholemew's method of square foot gardening. With his new revised book called All New Square Foot Gardening, he's made lots of improvements to the old system. One thing that's especially nice is the fact that you no longer have to till. You just […]
, and saw that it has a great idea for using mint in the vegetable garden to discourage cabbage moths.
