Summer is in full swing and my garden is over flowing!

What a wonderful summer this has been for growing. The rain is on schedule every week - the new Pear, Apricot, and Mountain Ash are growing like weeds. The hollyhocks are 8 feet tall, the tomatoes are competing for height and the pole beans could easily reach the sky like Jack in the Beanstalk if they had taller supports.The grapevines are covering their support and have totally taken over a bird feeder hanging near the arbor. Incredible. Unfortunately frost hit the plums and apples when they were in full bloom and we won't get any fruits from them this year. But they needed a rest.  I hope your garden grows as well.

I had a thought about wild plants - so many things we think are nothing but weeds really are useful as food and or medicine. The Native American's knew this and found ways around pills. From wild rice to maple sugar we still enjoy some of the Native foods, but did you know Dog Bane, Yarrow and Barberry were used to cure a head ache--wild ginger was used to tame a tummy of indigestion. Have a sore throat try tansy, cow parsnip or choke cherry. Some of these remedies would be made into teas from the leaves or bark, others it was the roots--chewed or gargled with. A book that can take you through the basics is How Indians Use Wild Plants for Food, Medicine and Crafts by Frances Densmore, available by clicking the title.
You may want to be sure next year that you have some of these "weeds" in your garden or on your property.
Mean time, May your garden provide you with all your needs be it food, beauty, or peace.

Poison Ivy and Other Summer Surprises

If you've ever gotten mixed up with the itch that follows an encounter with any of the plants that are like Poison Ivy, you know the torture it can cause. Poison Ivy, Leaves of three, let it be--the sharp edged leaves that resemble strawberry plants can fool us sometimes. If they do, hit the shower quickly using plenty of soap and water. Then apply a soothing paste made of one of the following:
Water: and Cornstarch, or oatmeal, or baking soda, or Epsom salts, or a combination of witch hazel and baking soda.

Poison Ivy does have a good side, Since poison ivy absorbs more than its share of CO2, it is helping combat climate change. And yes it has gotten worse, more of the juice that makes it itch, it has become stronger because of the very nature of it's CO2 absorption.


Remedies don't have to be expensive to work. A recent encounter with fire ants showed me that. The cornstarch and  worked better paste worked better than Hydro cortizone, anti-itch or any of the first aid meds. My arm was swelling out of control until a friend suggested the cornstarch paste. It worked.
I am allergic to many of the green leaves in my garden, beans, cucumbers, squash, I react as if they were poison ivy. I wear long cotton blouses in the garden but it doesn't always help. The cornstarch does. It's good to know there are other sources of relief as well. Try one, try them all if you should find that your walk into Mother Nature was less then pleasant on any given day.

Gardening with the Bomb

We've all heard of Guerilla "everything" basically. Have you ever heard of Guerilla Gardeners?  I just read a short newsletter from Jerry Baker where he commented on the "do good" in all of us, but this in particular was about some who are bent on prettying up the ugly.

It seems some Guerilla Gardeners are bombing the planet. At least in and around their town. The idea is, vacant lot and free way eyesores. As these Guerilla Gardeners travel by foot or bicycle they drop, lob or toss green grenades, or seed bombs, made of compressed compost, fertilizer and seeds onto the barren plots of land.  Eventually, they sprout all manner of flower and fauna to reclaim for Mother Nature what pollution or disuse, or misuse has created. What a great idea, don't you think?

How Far Did Your Meal Travel?

Can You Shorten The Trip?

The average American meal travels 1,500 miles from farm to table. With so many recalls of food a Victory Garden, A Kitchen Garden or a few well-placed containers in an apartment window or on a balcony can help you take back control of what you eat. What you feed your family.

Organic gardening, foregoing the use of chemical pest controls, to preserve the nature-friendly atmosphere is a huge plus as well. There are many ways to feed yourself and your family and even your neighbors healthy fare.
Salad greens are one of the easiest to grow and supply fiber, calcium and vitamins such as A, C and K as the spicy lettuce-like Arugula (eruca sativa) does. This is a quick growing leaf (35 days) with many benefits. Cold and heat tolerant, it can be grown year around in zones7 and South from there. Its relatively short growing seed to maturity is ready when your radishes are making it an attractive salad choice.
All it needs is a fertile soil and full sun, although in the hottest part of mid-summer some shade is beneficial from the heat of the afternoon sun. Spinach, leaf lettuce, kale all seem to have similar needs.

Water plants deeply twice a week to keep the leaves from becoming too spicy-hot and so that the plant won’t bolt.

Since early plantings do bolt as the days lengthen, plant at 10 day intervals to ensure a lasting feast.

Recommended varieties are: Roquetté – an extremely frost tolerant variety or
Sputnik – a more mild-flavored variety with a wide range of leaf shapes which will add interest to any salad.
The arugula leaves can be substituted in most any recipe that calls for spinach, mustard greens, or Swiss chard. A very versatile vegetable, indeed. So why not give it a try. You may find a new favorite.

To protect your Arugula from the flea beetle you may want to use a row cover/caps.
Billie A Williams, Best-selling, award-winning author of Writing Wider, More Exercises in Creative Writing
http://printedwords.blogspot.com
http://www.billiewilliams.com

Birds of Every Color - Eye Candy

Birds and Pieces
By Billie A Williams

It's not only the garden that satisfies this woman's garden. A flash of red catches my eye as the Cardinal comes in for his turn at the mix of sunflower seeds, sesame and other seeds mixed especially for him. ( A rather expensive mix that I dilute further with black sunflower seed and wild finch seed because I have a universal feeder in my front yard). But the colorful display is enough reason to spend the extra for the entertainment of these beautiful creatures. The small brown to yellow female isn’t upstaged by her brilliant male counterpart. I begin to realize the tradition of men being the brilliantly dressed, wig coiffured specimen of years ago must be from seeing the male bird in his splendid plumage next to the often dull female markings. I’m tempted to say, she does all the work (bearing and rearing the children, etc.) He gets all the glory, brilliance of plumage. But I digress this is about the birds.

My bird feeder is alive with color from the brilliant yellow, black and white of the Evening Grosbeak to the muted tan, gray and off white with touches of black of the black capped chickadee, . I can understand the Cardinal color, from the fruits, rose hips and berries it consumes. I can understand the Grosbeak, gold finch and sparrow yellow, black and white from sunflower seeds.

I ponder the brilliant hues of the blue jay, the indigo bunting and the blue bird—what do they eat that turns their plumage blue? Is there something in their eating habits that mixes green and yellow and turns them blue? It would seem they eat the same varied menu as the rest do, yet they utilize the color in such a different way, Puzzlement!

A one legged blue jay visits our feeder regularly puffing himself up to get exclusive use of the feeder platform, where he can forget about balance and just eat. I am amazed as the nuthatches sneak in to grab a seed or two without disturbing the blue jay. The wood peckers in brilliant markings of black and white splashed with a red skull cap — males only have the red says my grandson.

A new kind of woodpecker calls us home this year a along with the usual Hairy, Downy, Yellow bellied Sap sucker we have a ladder-backed woodpecker the Red-Bellied one…too far north but who knows what the weather may have done with all the crazy storms and tornados hitting the Midwest this year.

So I will enjoy his color and inclusion. We’ve put a squirrel baffle over the suet to protect it from the black birds. You can start laughing now. Yes, that worked until the first one jumped up from the ground and found he could cling to the mesh bag regardless of the canopy of the squirrel baffle. And the added benefit he can eat while it’s raining or snowing without getting drenched. {grin} so much for my ingenuity.
We tried a new one just constructed by talented hubby. It's roofed, it securely holds the suet cubes available from a local hardware store where the woodpeckers can eat in peace - well, they could until the black birds --common grackles-- found out by watching the woodpeckers what they need to do. It didn't take but a couple days and they are happily emptying the feeder nearly as fast as we can fill it. Soon the babies will be on their own and then it will settle down. But that is another whole story.

Enjoy the beauty and entertainment of feeding the birds and yes, squirrels, rabbits and occasionally a deer or two visit our in town yard. You’ll reap a double harvest in your summer garden as they forge for food. Birds will be cleaning up snails, grubs, ants, potato beetles and other insect pests for you as a thank you for their winter feasting. And the bird bath - amazing antics--more on that later as well.

Billie A Williams
Accidental Sleuths Solve Crimes
With Wit, Wisdom and Chutzpah
www.billiewilliams.com
http://printedwords.blogspot.com

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

Where Has The Summer Gone?

Try as I might, I do not find enough hours in the day to write and garden and the myriad of other things a woman must do. The garden is and has been producing wildly - The corn is nearly ready as the beans (yellow wax) have begun to fade. The late planting of the pole beans is nearly ready.

It seems to be a series of flower bed to flower bed, to vegetable gardens (we have two medium sized veggie gardens) A strawberry bed, grapevines, raspberries (newly planted) plum and apple trees, bush cherries and more. It has been an amazing summer for all of them.

We were gifted with enough hostas to plant everywhere I wanted them - I feel truly blessed. For years I've been accumulating them, but this year what a bonanza. The hummingbirds love them.

Speaking of the little hummers - they are gathering to head south. Our three we've had most of the summer have hung behind, but the flocks that emptied our feeder three times a day - have disappeared. This morning 10 or so gobbled hungrily and suddenly as they came - they disappeared. They were so much fun to watch -- *sigh* But this is the first time ever they have spent a week here - the weather has been so odd this summer...that could be why.

Now I am thinking of my Azaleas and I must consult someone who knows more than I do--how do I winter them over? We live far enough north that they can't do it on their own I don't think, though I have a sister further up north that has one that is so beautiful--I couldn't resist getting them. I think I need rose cones for them while they are still little. I did manage to keep a butterfly bush alive last year by applying a heavy layer of straw - will that work for the azaleas? I'll find and expert and let you know.

Meantime, take a deep breath, enjoy the flights of the geese as they pass over - and the migration of the others as they realize days are getting shorter and school starts here September 1. Where did the summer go?

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