Spring is in the air? NOT!

But it will be anytime now. With that in mind:
While you are thinking spring and planting again…consider this.
Good Companions Gardening – Everyone needs a friend
Here are a few traditional pairings to try:
• Beans or parsley with carrots
• Broccoli with dill
• Cabbage family with thyme
• Native American trio: corn, squash and pole beans
• Radishes with cucumbers
• Kale with potatoes
• Onions with lettuce
Marigolds to surround your whole garden (the stinky variety, not the new hybrids) Not only do they deter insect pests they also deter deer, rabbits and other critters with voracious appetites. I do not fence my garden except with marigolds and while I have deer and rabbits around my bird feeders they leave my gardens totally alone. I also use bloodmeal around peas since they are the most desirable thing on the planet for rabbits and marigolds may appreciate a little help. The addition of bloodmeal to the garden is a boost to the soil as well – a win, win situation.

And if you are waiting to start planting, you may want to look at this little book on writing that will help spice up and create good reading while you anticipate planting.
Watch for crocus and daffodils - soon.
Billie
http://www.billiewilliams.com

One Woman's Garden - a look at Organic Gardening

I've gardened all my life. No wait, that's true. While I was growing up I spent summers on my grandfather's farm - he had two 80 acre parcels split in half by a road that twisted over the narrow bridge and through the woods to a little country town that was nothing more than a whisper on the map in Northern Wisconsin named Morse.

I learned that if you salt cabbage it heads without the intrusion of worms and a lot of other great things about gardening using ordinary things every kitchen should have to control pests and invaders. Control ants and weeds with vinegar or cheyenne Pepper. Skunks don't like moth balls. But I'll leave more on that for later.

Living on a small dairy farm with pigs, chickens and eggs, geese, sheep, worked by draft horses that eventually were replaced by the more energy efficient (?) tractor...a learning experience unequalled by anything else. I came away richer for it and I would like to share some of what I learned with you. If you garden, or want to garden in this day and age where you are afraid to buy Spinach or peanut butter because it might be contaminated-- tag along with me. It's time we all started doing, what during World War II they called A Victory Garden, near our kitchen doors. Don't worry if you live in a high rise apartment building - I've got solutions for you too. So join me, won't you! Until next time...

Happy Gardening,

Billie