Youtube Video on Pollination . . . . .

This video is a 4+ minute wonder to enjoy :

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0

 

From PIKE'S Nursery's Blog . . . . .

Plants that Attract Ladybugs and Other Beneficial Insects

Plants that Attract Ladybugs and other beneficial insects
Why would you want to attract ladybugs to your garden? Ladybugs are beneficial insects, or good bugs. They eat bad bugs, the pest insects like aphids, thrips and spider mites that feed on your garden plants. A single ladybug can eat over 5,000 aphids in its life. So, they are great workers in your garden helping you to keep out the bad bugs. Encourage ladybugs into your garden by adding plants that they are attracted to. These plants include:

Coreopsis - is another hearty perennial that blooms profusely through the heat of the summer. While ladybugs and butterflies love it, its not a favorite of deer and can be planted in a deer resistant garden. Plant in full sun. 
Lobelia - has brilliant blue or white flowers that are a favorite of hummingbirds. Plant them in container gardens and beds that receive full to partial sun. 
Dill - has feathery green foliage that stands tall in the back of herb gardens. But, don't just plant it there, mix it in with your perennial flowers. It attracts butterflies and ladybugs. Dill has clusters of pretty yellow flowers. Its also great used to season fish dishes or to incorporate in salads.
Scabiosa - is known as the Pincushion flower. If you look closely at it's blooms you will see why. The lavender flowers look like a pincushion with sewing needles. They bloom profusely from early spring through summer. Plant this perennial in a sunny spot for you and the ladybugs to enjoy.
Coneflowers (pictured) - Echinacea, or Coneflowers are a favorite summertime perennial that attract ladybugs, butterflies and hummingbirds. Best known as the Purple Coneflower there are many different varieties available today in all sorts of shades of purple, white, orange, yellow, pink, red and peach. Plant in full sun and enjoy these hardy perennials that don't require much extra water once they are established.
Lavender - there are many different types of lavender and they all attract ladybugs and butterflies. Their spikes of lavender or blue flowers are also prized for their fragrance and used dried in potpourris. Plant them as a hedge in your herb garden, in a mass in a waterwise landscape or in container gardens in full sun.
Milkweed (Asclepias) - is also called Butterfly weed and is known as a butterfly magnet, but they aren't the only beneficial insect that loves Milkweed, ladybugs do too. The beautiful flowers of Milkweed  are either yellow, orange, or red and yellow mixed. Plant them in a sunny spot.
Yarrow - is one of the easiest perennials to grow. Beautiful clusters of flowers in yellow, pink, or white sit atop fern like foliage. Yarrow is beautiful planted in mixed perennial borders and makes an excellent cut flower for drying. Plant in full sun and once it is established it requires little extra water.
Cosmos - has pretty daisy-like flowers that are available in pink, white, red, and yellow. They are easy to grow in beds and containers. Ladybugs are attracted to their delicate fern-like foliage. Plant them in full sun for spring and summer blooms.
Sunflowers - the iconic blooms of sunflowers have large seed heads that are surrounded by yellow petals. The flowers face the sun turning with it as it moves across the sky. Sunflowers come in many different sizes from giant varieties that are many feet tall to compact varieties. They also come in an array of colors yellow, red, and burgundy. Plant sunflower seeds in your garden in a sunny spot.




 

Controlling APHIDS . . .

A lady bug showed up on the windshield of my car, as I was leaving one of my gardens.  
They are a mixed blessing, often indicating the return of aphids to a garden.  They'll suck the sap out of any new, tender growth on everything from flowers, fruit trees . . .  vegetables . . .
Females produce without mating, about 2 weeks from their 'nymph' stage.   They lay eggs that over winter and then wake the following spring with a HUGE appetite. (in mild climates, the problem is ongoing!)
Adults and nymphs suck plant sap, which usually leaving distorted leaves, buds, branch tips, and flowers.
Aphids excrete a sweet, sticky goo called 'honeydew.' This goo creates an environment for 'sooty mold' to grow, which, blocks light from leaves.

Poem By Phillip Larkin . . .

THE TREES

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,...
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

–Philip Larkin, "High Windows" (Faber and Faber 1974).

Beaver Tree . . . .

This tree (a hardwood) is being worked on by beavers, on the property of our cabin.

 

 

 

  It's original diameter is about 20". Truly. . . . there are a zillion + trees in this area that could have been chosen for their building project. In th...eir wisdom, the beavers have chosen a tree close to the river, for 'easy' transport & one that is far away from any structure. It is 40' + tall.
When it falls, it will alter the river's path, significantly, for a short time . . . . . but it won't stop the flow.

 

Nature, yet again, provides another metaphor for my life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More IMPORTANT INFO on Epsom Salts . . . .

Yesterday, I began planting tomatoes for this growing season.  My largest crop of vegetables are grown in Kashi Atlanta's garden, in raised beds.  The sides are made of stacked granite, lined with a landscape fabric (to help contain the soil).  The soil is an awesome mix of compost our worms have created.
** I enjoy the soil, at least as much, as I enjoy the harvest. **  
That being said, I would like to share an article that I found this morning, on line, concerning the use of Epsom Salts in the garden / turf.  It is somewhat lengthy, but worth the read.  It has demystified some of my beliefs, with more science. 
The paper was published by Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott.
Check out her podcasts @ :  www,theinformedgardener.com, for a lot of good information.

 

 

 

 

 

On The Day Of MA's Mahasamadhi . . . .

Blooming in the Gardens of Kashi Atlanta Ashram:

Thank You, Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, for taking me as Your student.

With endless gratitude, I tend Your gardens.

... and garden.

 

... and garden.

Heirloom vs Hybrid Vegetables . . .

Here is a reposting from HGTV's online Magazine:
Heirloom and Hybrid Vegetables
Vegetable expert Renee Shepherd discusses the difference between heirloom and hybrid vegetables and the advantages or disadvantages of growing each.

 

Figure A

Heirlooms or hybrids, open-pollinated or F-1. If you need a dictionary to make sense of what to plant in your vegetable garden, you're not alone. Given the right circumstances, all these plant types have real merits.
Heirloom Vegetables: An heirloom vegetable is an old variety that is open pollinated. This means you can save the seeds, and they'll produce true to seed the next year. A few terms: Old varieties can refer to those that are anywhere from 50 to 400 years old. "Open-pollinated" means the flowers are pollinated by the wind or insects, therefore exposing plants to a bigger gene pool. There's a lot of genetic variability in open-pollinated plants, says veggie expert Renee Shepherd of Felton, Calif. "So, if you grew a whole field of bull's horn peppers (figure A), there'd be a lot of difference in shape and maybe a little different color. Some of the plants would probably be a little taller, a little shorter."

Harvesting seed from the plant with the most desirable characteristics – the tastiest or the biggest pepper – helps to reduce variability and increase the success of next year's crop. But for many heirloom aficionados, it's not the unexpected flavors, colors or shapes that are so captivating, as much as the legacy that grows from one tiny seed.That's the heart and soul of heirlooms and the thing that connects people to the past. "They have meaning and value in people's lives," says Shepherd. "They're associated with people and places, and they have stories."

Figure B

The problem some gardeners have with heirlooms is that they don't produce a reliable crop, leaving a hole in a person's food supply. Shepherd recently had a different problem with heirlooms – their lack of disease resistance left a hole in her garden. "This is a good example of what you do when you get Verticillium wilt, which is a common tomato disease," she says. Verticillium wilt (figure B) kills susceptible plants and multiplies rapidly without intervention. The tomato plants in Shepherd's bed were pulled, the soil removed and now she is trying to eradicate the disease with an organic method called solarization.To start the solarization process, thoroughly wet the soil and cover it with clear plastic. It's ideal to do this at the height of the summer when there's a lot of heat. It generally takes six to eight weeks to complete the process. According to Shepherd, there's a reasonably good chance of getting rid of the Verticillium, but it's not guaranteed.

Hybrids: Try planting disease resistant hybrids, which are plants that have bred for certain desirable characteristics. A hybrid is called an F-1 cross, meaning the selection of a male and a female for their specific traits that was hand-crossed to retain those traits in the offspring.

Figure C

For example, you might want tomatoes with superior disease resistance that are also medium-sized and good for slicing. Through controlled pollination, plant breeders can develop hybrids, like 'Carmello' (figure C), that offer those traits. The biggest disadvantage to using hybrids is that seeds taken from F-1 hybrids, or the first filial generation, aren't reliable for staying to true to seed. "Of course, you can save the seed. It would grow tomatoes, but they wouldn't be reliably consistent in having the same traits," says Shepherd. "You'd get a whole range because you wouldn't have the specific parents that you put together to get specific traits."

Figure D

With advantages and disadvantages to both heirlooms and hybrids, Shepherd recommends growing some of everything. "Find what you like, find what works in your garden, and then do that because gardening is an art – it's a fun art."Even though they're grown to eat, heirloom tomatoes produce a visually interesting platter (figure D), such as marble striped, orange yellow and classic red.

Figure E

Even her hybrids are showy (figure E). "These are very uniform. They're round and red, the same size, and I can depend on them to consistently look like this," says Shepherd. Their dependability can mean the difference between a bountiful harvest and a bust. Heirlooms offer excitement, while hybrids offer security. There's only one word you need to remember in creating successful gardens: diversity. "In my experience, heirlooms are better for certain places and certain reasons, and hybrids have huge advantages, too, so I always plant some of both," says Shepherd. You don't need a dictionary to tell you how scrumptious homegrown veggies can be. That's the biggest reward of growing your own: sinking your teeth into the fruits of your labor.