I saw this on the Internet today, and thought you might like to know.   Really, I couldn't present the information any better, so I left it in this format.  

 

Seeds for all these plants are easily available.  I can share catnip, marigold, and basil seeds.  I have never grown Rosemary or Lavender from seeds.  Best to buy small plants of those herbs.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Hey, Karen!!!  Hey, everybody!!!

 

We finally found something the deer won't eat!!!  Marigolds!!!  They haven't touched them.  YAY!!!

 

Thought you'd like to know.  ;).

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Same flower, different day!!!  Full on smile right there!!!  You can even see honeybees enjoying themselves.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I just LOVE this photo!!!  It feels like the beginning of a smile.  

 

We poke all types of sunflower seeds in the ground every year, just to bring smiles to our faces.  Patty told me that she loves running by our garden.  The sunflowers make her smile.  Some of them are 10 feet tall.

 

The birds love them too.  We see all kinds of birds pecking out the seeds.  And when they've eaten most of the seeds, we harvest the rest to plant next year.  Everybody wins!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here it is: most of our 2019 garlic harvest.  Aren't they pretty?  Too bad you can't smell them too.  Mmmmm.

 

Last summer I ordered garlic bulbs from Sow True Seeds, in Asheville, NC.  I got three different varieties, 1/2 pound each.  For perspective, 1/2 lb of garlic is about 15-20 cloves, and costs $10.95.  I spent 33.00 plus 5.00 shipping: $38.  Sounds like a lot, but I got 60 cloves of organic garlic, guaranteed to grow.  

 

I planted all the cloves, and harvested 60 bulbs of organic garlic.  I'll do the math for you:  it came to 63 cents each.  OK, that's not the end of the story.  Cause we'll NEVER have to buy garlic again.  This October, if I plant 60 cloves again, next year's garlic bulbs will have only cost 32 cents each.  And every year I can plant cloves from the previous year's harvest.  

 

Not sure I'll plant that much again;  we can only use so much garlic in a year.  But if you'd like to plant some, I'll be happy to share.  It was very interesting to grow and learn about real garlic.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Well, I promised to show you my red cabbage.  Here it is.  See the leaves?  A lot like cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts.  And just like broccoli and cauliflower, the heads grow right up out of the center of the leaves.  

 

See those holes in the leaves?  Cabbage White butterflies lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, and when the caterpillars hatch they eat holes in the leaves.  Fortunately once the heads form, they leave them alone, and just eat the larger leaves.  Don't care, we don't want those leaves, we want the cabbage heads.  

 

I do care that the same caterpillars get into the broccoli florets, and have to be picked out one by one.  Oh well, that's the price we pay for growing organically, we eat a few bugs along with our veggies.  ;).  We steam them first.

 

We enjoy eating these vegetables, and they are cheap enough to buy at Ingles;  but honestly, I think I just want to watch them grow.  It is a lot of work, but it is fascinating!!!  And we learn something new every day!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I thought you might like to see my cauliflower.  

 

In the store it comes wrapped in plastic; in the garden it is wrapped in leaves.  Big, beautiful, bluish leaves.  

 

Cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are all Brassica oleracea.  Funny:  same genus, same species, very different expressions.  Anyway, they take up a lot of garden space, so we only plant a few of each.  This year we planted 6 broccoli, 6 cauliflower, 6 green cabbage, and 6 red cabbage.  We've already eaten all the broccoli, and 3 of the green cabbages.  Mr. Rabbit ate 2 of the cauliflowers, but we still have 4 of them, and the red cabbage is just now big enough to harvest.  Can't wait to use it in our salads.

 

Interestingly, in order to keep the cauliflower heads white, you have to "blanch" them. That means you pull the leaves up around the head, and tie them to keep the sun from burning the heads.  It looks funny right now, but worth it in the end.

 

I'll post a picture of the red cabbage soon.  It's beautiful too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here they go again!!  Jim and Roxanne showing off their fabulous gardening skills.  They are amazing!!!  They have absolutely NO sun in their yard, and they grow the most gorgeous flowers!!!  Every season!!!

 

These are Star Gazer lilies.  They grow from bulbs, planted in the fall, and they bloom late spring, year after year.  Go look at these, they are huge, and abundant right now.  They were planted years ago, and they just get prettier every year.  I wonder if they are so prolific because of all the deer away spray Jim uses on them, or maybe the gnomes do their magic at night when nobody is looking.  Whatever, they are beautiful, and worth the walk to go see them.

 

Psst...I think it's the gnomes.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We harvested some garlic yesterday, and this is it.  Not as pretty and clean as you can get in the grocery store.  That's because they just came out of the ground.  

 

Garlic needs to sit in a dry place for a couple weeks in order for the papery skin layers to dry.

 

Then we can peel off the dirty outside layers, and reveal the papery white skins you recognize.  Check back, I'll show you when they're done.  

 

Remember when I showed you the garlic scapes?  Look back to May 26, 2019.  I learned that you take off the scapes in order to redirect the plant's energy to the underground bulbs.  Well, I cut most of the scapes, but left a few, to see what they looked like when they bloomed.  When we dug out the bulbs, we noticed that there was a significant difference between the ones with scapes left on.  The bulbs were a lot smaller.  

 

Some of us just have to see it to believe it.

 

 

The bulbs on the left had the scapes removed in May, the ones on the right had the scapes left on to bloom.  Look at the difference!!!  We were surprised at how much of a difference it makes.  Now we know:  remove ALL the scapes.

 

Good lesson.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, they haven't taken over the entire garden, just the northwest corner.  If they weren't so pretty, I might consider them weeds.  But how could you say that about these beauties.  

 

I love them too much to take them out and reclaim my garden space.  So periodically I dig some out, put them in pots, and sell them to my friends and neighbors.  For the excellent price of free!!!  Then I get to see them sprinkled all around the neighborhood.

 

If you have a nice, big, sunny space to plant some Blackeyed Susies, let me know;  I am happy to share.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!