Insect Repellent

Hi, I'm here to destroy all of your hard work

This is for the garden, not to spray on yourself to repel insects.  That would be interesting. 

Here are a couple tricks I found browsing the web years ago on keeping your garden virtually pest free.  I had wandered out the the garden one day to see if any new seedlings had popped up and to my dismay I discovered they had, but were eaten by something.  I was determined to figure out how to save my new garden from destruction.

First thing I learned was that my beautiful wooden, makeshift walkway was going to have to go.  My feet were going to have to get dirty to water the garden.  While it's tempting to want to add flourishes to the garden, it's not always wise.  Slugs and other plant eating bugs love to hide under anything that gets moisture.  When you aren't looking they come in and plow through seedlings without thought about how hard you worked to make this seedling grow.  They think it's their own personal buffet and unless you realize what to do they'll do it again and again. 

As much debris as possible needs to be removed from your garden space.  Any boards or stones on the ground as walkways should just go if they are close to your beds.  While you want the space to be esthetically pleasing the real point to a vegetable garden is to grow good food.  If your seedlings are disappearing as fast as they pop up you obviously need to do something.  To keep my walkways from getting muddy I lay a layer of brown paper bags and straw between and around the beds.  It keeps the weeds out too!

The next step I take when battling insects is my magic spray.  I didn't make it up, so I can't really claim it's mine, but I do have a unique way of making it.  It's basically onion, garlic, a drop of liquid dish soap and cayenne pepper.  I leave the soap out of it.  They cayenne mixed with the onion and garlic do the trick.

I take two onions and several cloves of garlic, skin and all, and place them in the food processor.  If you don't have a food processor you can chop them yourself.  I like them to be pulverized.  I take the onion mixture and place it in a large bowl.  I mix in 4-5 tablespoons of cayenne pepper.  I then add the hottest water from the tap, about a gallon.  I let all of it mingle together until the liquid is cooled.  I then strain it through a fine mesh (I use a pillowcase) in a colander into a large bowl.  Fill up a spray bottle and you're ready to go.  You can store the excess on the counter for a few days, but I recommend storing it in the refrigerator or even the freezer if you have a lot and plan to store it for long periods of time.  It will spoil. 

I spray the solution on my seedlings after watering.  If I water everyday, they get sprayed everyday.  Once the plants are a reasonable size you can reduce the number of applications.  You want the beneficial insects to move in once the plants begin to flower.  This also helps to keep cats out of the garden if you have a problem with them.  Cayenne pepper is pretty nasty stuff to them and they stay clear of it.  

Coop sweet coop

Chickens!! 
If you can keep chickens, do it!  We have ours in a large coop.  It has a house with nesting boxes and a large yard for them to run around in.  They eat bugs!  Any bug that crosses their path, they'll eat it.  Even though they don't roam around the entire yard, they do a splendid job of keeping our garden virtually pest free! 




 There you have it!  My tricks to keeping my garden from being ravaged by pests. 




Until next time, happy gardening! 

Beginning Again

It's been a while since I've posted here, mostly because I haven't been gardening through the winter like I had planned.  We are gearing up for our spring/summer garden for this year and I think we have learned so much from the previous years that this could be our best garden yet! 

Today the hubby tilled the entire space breaking up some ground we haven't used to garden in before.  He covered it all in compost and it will get worked in as I hand dig the actual beds for all of our seeds and starts.

All of the seeds I need to get stared indoors are cozy in their recycled containers and staying warm inside the house by a window where they can get sun.

As I look at the space where all of these wonderful plants will go, I silently hope it's big enough.  I'm sure my husband thinks it's plenty big after tilling it all day. 

I'm considering using some space in the front yard for some herbs, so they aren't taking up space in the main garden.  I have a bed out front that I have tried to make beautiful for years with no success.  Every year my neighbors tease me when I pull out the shovels to start digging.  The biggest issue with the space is it's overrun with this grass that has a bulb at it's root.  Those bulbs are plentiful and it's impossible to sift through them all.  My plan for this year is to literally replace this soil.  I am going to remove the current grass and soil and distribute it all over my front lawn (I use lawn loosely) and bring good soil from the back.  I'm going to compost it and see how that helps.

I always look forward to the time when we can get the spring/summer garden.  It's like a time of renewed hope and the anticipation of an abundance of my favorite foods.  Don't get me wrong, I've been introduced to some awesome winter fare this year thanks to our CSA from Farm Fresh To You, but nothing compares to a fresh, homegrown tomato, or cutting herbs for recipes from my own yard.

Since the moment we began to plan this year's garden I have found so many forms of inspiration.  My friend, Savannah, in Ireland is posting on her facebook almost daily about the tasks she is accomplishing around her homestead.  I love seeing her pictures and hearing about the ins and outs of her garden.  I read tons of blogs, research all different ways of gardening, and pretty much notice my time is split between being in the garden and wanting to be in the garden. 

I've recently met a gentleman here in our town, through a mutual friend, who seems to see my vision for gardening, sustainability, local and organic eating in the same way I do.  Reading through his blogs, one here and the other here has been a great inspiration to me.  He has started a business helping people design edible landscapes and I think it's a brilliant concept, one I have considered myself from time to time.  I know there are more people out there like us and I am finding them slowly, but surely.  I still get looks from people, as if I'm crazy, because I own chickens and my back yard is basically a food producing garden and not the typical manicured grass and roses most people have these days.  It's funny I say that because my front yard is basically lawn and roses. 

I'm so excited to share our experience with anyone willing to read my ramblings.  Here are some pictures of what we accomplished today!  Until next time, happy gardening! 

After a few passes with the tiller

Tomato seeds

While my husband tilled, I started seeds

Recycled egg carton as seed starting pots

After compost

Starts all tucked away until it's time to transplant