Watermelons In September?

I admit it.


Late July was NOT the time to buy watermelon starts at the local nursery and think I could actually get results this growing season... 


But I WANT watermelons. I had almost given up, until this morning:

Our September watermelons. Notice the one on the right climbing the air conditioner...

YES! There may be a juicy melon yet! 


Hopefully we will have a few more weeks of warm weather to mature them.


Repeat after me: I will plant watermelons early next year, I will plant watermelons early next year..."

Tip: Double-check your species when purchasing from nurseries

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice...

It happened again. We purchased 4 Calendulas - or pot marigolds - at a local nursery. They are wonderful companion plants for all your garden veggies, helping with insects and other things. Unfortunately, although the 4-inch plants were blooming and looked like Calendula, and were in fact labeled Calendula, they are actually tickseed! Argh!!! Especially now that they are planted ever so precisely where I wanted my Calendula! Calendula officinalis, that is...

This is Tickseed, or Coreopsis

This is Calendula officinalis - Pot Marigold

Last year, when purchasing medicinal plants for our garden, I bought a 1 gallon Valerian plant. I asked the gardener for Valerian. He showed me Valerian. It was labeled Valerian. It turns out that my medicinal Valerian is actually Jupiter's Beard - or "Centhranthus ruber," also known as Red Valerian. How was I to know that  Red Valerian was not true medicinal Valerian which is Valeriana officinalis. 





What to Do: Know your plants by scientific name and by sight. I love my Western Garden Book with photos and illustrations by Sunset Publishing - the makers of Sunset Magazine. If I had consulted it before purchase, I would not have this problem!

Companion Planting Recommended Books

With the thousands of books that have been written about gardening, organic gardening, and companion planting, you may find it difficult to choose the right book for you...

We found ourselves in the same situation. Perhaps our choice of books will help you to narrow down your purchase...

For Companion Planting, we purchased the following two books:

1. 
   
2. 

What one book leaves out, the other includes.

Our favorite tip:

Plant Borage! This beautiful plant will re-seed itself for the next year as well. Plant near your tomatoes - they love them! Not only that, borage attract bees which will also come across your tomatoes, peppers and other veggies. Other benefits of borage - the flowers look rather lovely in a vase, providing beautiful filler and added color to floral arrangements.

Borage is also an edible salad green, and the flowers are an anti-depressant! Eduardo Machado, a plant specialist from Uruguay recommends eating 7 flowers a day to keep the blues away. They're not bad!

Other methods we have used successfully include growing garlic and parsley near your roses...

More photos coming soon - please stay tuned!

~~~~~~
Anya

Have you ever seen Ladybug Larvae devour aphids?

Spring has sprung in San Diego, and with the recent rains, everything is growing like crazy. Weeds, plants, and bugs! 

We use organic methods for pest control and have purchased a couple of ladybug colonies over the last 2 years. I have tried time and time again to move a ladybug to an aphid infested plant to see her happily and gratefully feast on the buffet prepared for her. However, she has always refused to take her meal at my beckoning, and usually flies away, quite irritated with me at that.

Until now, my goal of getting some photos of a ladybug in the act of eating aphids has failed. But wait!

On March 21, 2010, I was passing by my little flower rock garden in the front yard, and I spied a couple of ladybug larvae on my mini rose bush. When I bent down to take a look, why, here they were feasting on a group of aphids that had literally covered a rose bud until you could not recognize it!

Over the course of the next four hours, the group of three larvae devoured every single aphid from the plant.