Thursday, September 19, 2013

Companion Planting in South Florida

When I first started to contemplate on whether I should have a vegetable garden in South Florida I never thought it would turn into many many blog posts, lots of notes, lots of pictures, lots of frustrating moments, lots of delicious dishes, lots of conversations with friends and family and alot of time spent on it.  Though what I was excited to learn about aside from the farming aspect of a vegetable garden was companion planting.  Unfortunately my grandmother and grandfather on my Mom's side have since passed, taking with them decades of experience.  Gone is their knowledge of running their 65 acre farm in Massachusetts, of growing vegetables and fruit trees in West Palm as well as the art of composting.  Boy I really wish I could have done things differently when they were alive...soooo much I could have learned but I know they would be so proud of what I am doing now.  One of their time honored gardening practices was companion planting.  I remember picking some marigold flowers from my Memere's garden, before I knew it she came out to repremand me.  "No, no, noooo...those are not for picking.  If you pick them all then there will be nothing left to keep the bugs away."  Hence my first introduction into companion planting.
My Memere with veggie's from their garden
My Pop Pop with flowers and veggies
These are the first carrots my brother and I grew.
He was so excited that he pulled them out too early lol.
Below is my list which I put together of many hours of research as to which plants are for what vegetables.  I hope this finds it's way into your garden notes for you and your family to use for many years to come.  If there is anything I am missing please feel free post a comment so I can add it to the list.  I would love to hear from you experienced farmers!
  • Anise – repels aphids, snails and slugs
  • Basil – repels asparagus beetles, tomato heartworms and thrips but never near Rue, plant 3 basil plants for every one tomato plant
  • Bee Balm – attracts bees for pollination; plant near tomatoes
  • Borage – Plant w/strawberries; repels cabbage worms, tomato heart worms & tomato horn worms; bees like it; leaves good trace elements in soil
  • Butterfly (white) Sage – asparagus beetles
  • Chamomile – Plant w/onions & cabbage;
  • Catnip – repels ants, aphids, corn earworms, cucumber beetles, flea beetles, Japanese beetles, squash bugs, weevils and mice; can be used dried too
  • Chives – Plant near tomatoes and carrots repel pests and improve the flavor of the vegetables; repels aphids, Japanese beetles, spider mites & carrot rust flies; chive steeped in water makes great spray to kill powdery mildew disease
  • Cloves – repels cowpea curculio, spider mites and squash vine borers
  • Coriander/Cilantro – repels aphids, Colorado potato beetles and spider mites
  • Dill – Plant w/cucumbers, cabbage & onions, in cool season w/lettuces; repels aphids, cabbage moths and spider mites; sprinkle dill leaves around squash to repel squash bugs; keep away from fennel for cross pollination also not near tomatoes b/c attracts tomato horn worm
  • Fennel – Stunts the growth of other plants so keep it by itself or in butterfly garden (monarchs, swallowtails); it repels aphids, slugs, snails and spider mites; never put it near dill for cross pollination
  • Garlic – repels aphids, cowpea curculio, flea beetles, Japanese beetles, Mexican been leaf beetles, root maggots, spider mites and squash vine borers
  • Geranium – repels Japanese beetles, leaf hoppers
  • Green Bean – repels Colorado potato beetles
  • Horseradish – repels potato beetles
  • Hyssop – repels imported cabbage worms
  • Larkspur – repels Japanese beetles
  • Lavender – repels mice, mosquitoes, moths, rabbits and ticks
  • Lettuce – repels carrot flies
  • Marigold – Plant w/tomatoes & cucumbers; repels aphids, corn earworms, leaf hoppers, Mexican bean leaf beetles, rabbits, squash bugs, thrips and tomato heartworms; must be a scented marigold for it to work (French or Mexican), the stinkier the better
  • Mint – repels ants, aphids, cucumber beetles, flea beetles, imported cabbage worms, rodents, squash bugs and white flies; but never plant near parsley
  • Nasturtium – Plant with tomato’s, cucumbers & zucchini; repels Colorado potato beetles, squash bugs, whooly aphids, whiteflys & cucumber beetles
  • Oleander – repels coddling moths but the red/white & blue moths love them
  • Onion – repels bean leaf beetle, cabbage loopers, carrot flies, flea beetles, harlequin bugs, Mexican bean leaf beetles, mice, rabbits, spider mites and squash vine borers
  • Oregano – Plant near cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber or grape vine; repels cabbage butterflies and cucumber beetles
  • Parsley – repels asparagus beetles and carrot flies; never near mint
  • Pennyroyal – ants can't stand it
  • Petunia – Plant near beans; repels leafhoppers, Mexican bean leaf beetles & squash bugs
  • Potato – repels bean leaf beetles
  • Radish – repels cowpea curculio, cucumber beetles, harlequin bugs, Mexican bean leaf beetles, squash bugs and stink bugs
  • Rosemary – repels imported cabbage worms and slugs; but never plant by potatoes
  • Rue – Plant w/strawberries & fig trees; repels aphids, cats, dogs, Japanese beetles, onion maggots, slugs and snails; never near basil; rue can create allergic reaction so wear gloves
  • Sage – repels cabbage loopers, carrot flies, flea beetles, imported cabbage worms and tomato heart worms; never plant near cucumbers
  • Tansy – repels ants, cucumber beetles, Japanese beetles and squash bugs
  • Thyme – repels cabbage loopers and white flies
  • Tomato – repels asparagus beetles
  • Turnip – repels bean leaf beetles and harlequin bugs
  • Wormwood – repels slugs
My Pop Pop, Memere and Great Grandfather in Massachusetts
This one is actually my great grandparents vegetable garden.
My Companion Planting Notes
There are a number of plants that can protect other plants from pests and disease as well as improve the flavor of certain food plants. Here are some of my garden notes:
  • Basil planted near tomatoes improves flavor and protects against a variety of pests; plant 3 basil plants to every one tomato plant; plant tomatoes near cabbage as tomatoes deter diamondback moth larvae
  • Beans like to be near celery, carrots, corn, potatoes, strawberries and cucumbers but dislike onions and fennel.
  • Cabbage likes dill, beetroot, celery, garlic, nasturtium, onion, peas & potatoes
  • Carrots like chives, garlic, leeks, lettuce, onions, peas & tomatoes
  • Corn likes beans, peas, potatoes & squash
  • Cucumbers and nasturtium; Cucumbers like corn, peas, radishes, beans and sunflowers. They dislike aromatic herbs and potatoes.
  • Horseradish planted at the corners of a potato patch with beans also planted nearby repels potato beetles though not sure what a good measurement of spacing would be for this.
  • Leeks like carrot, celery & onion
  • Lettuce likes carrot, radish & strawberries
  • Onions tackle strawberry’s diseases
  • Peas like beans, carrots, corn, potatoes & turnips
  • Potatoes like beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, corn & peas
  • Tomatoes likes asparagus, basil, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, garlic, onions, oregano, parsley & thyme; but never tomatoes near cabbage.
Make Your Own Non-Toxic Pest Repellents and Insecticidal Soaps
North Carolina’s Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance offers a number of recipes for non-toxic pesticides that you can make at home and apply to your plants with a spray bottle, including the following:
  • Grind 3 large onions, 1 bunch of garlic and 3 hot peppers. Mix with water and leave overnight in a covered container. In the morning, strain through fine strainer or cheesecloth and add sufficient water to produce approximately one gallon (16 cups) of pesticide.
  • Soak 10-15 diced garlic cloves in a pint (2 cups) of mineral oil for 24 hours. Strain and add to a spray bottle.
Annie B. Bond, from Care2 Green Living Executive Producer, offers a recipe for all-natural insecticidal soap spray, which uses 1-2 tablespoons of a natural liquid soap such as Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile soap in a quart (4 cups) of water. Once this solution is mixed, it can be added to a spray bottle.

Attract Beneficial Predators Such as Ladybugs, Praying Mantises, Dragonflies and Spiders
Another method of natural pest control is attracting ladybugs to your garden. Ladybugs are voracious consumers of aphids and other garden pests. Plants that attract ladybugs include Angelica, Caraway, Cilantro, Coreopsis, Cosmos (particularly white), Dandelions, Dill, Fennel, Geraniums, Tansy and Yarrow. Ladybugs can also be purchased from certain garden supply stores.  I buy mine from a local garden center called The Garden Gate at the Pompano Citi Centre.
There are other insects that can aid in pest control, such as praying mantises and dragonflies. Spiders (which are arachnids rather than insects) are also highly beneficial.  They love eating cockroaches and I can't stand them...so it's a win, win!


Hope you find companion planting alot easier now and not so intimidating.  Plus herbs add so much nutritional value to our diet as well and many are important to help aid in digestion.  
So get out there and put some herbs in your life.
Happy Gardening and Best Wishes,
Sheri
xoxo


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Our 2013 Vegetable Garden in South Florida

On my journey to be a better South Florida vegetable gardener, I gave myself (and the garden) a year off.  For me a year to contemplate, analyze and ponder my mistakes.  For the garden, a time-out for being a bully; for pushing me around with it's caterpillar's, it's anthracnose, it's powdery mildew and all it's mysteries.  I went into this project thinking, "vegetable gardening is going to be so easy, a breeze...I can do this urban farming stuff."  But at the end of the season with only a few tomatoes in hand and one hot pepper plant to show for, somehow all I felt was deflated and beat down..."why was nature conspiring against me?"   So for a year I let the garden lie fallow.

During last year's sabbatical I considered quitting, "well this just isn't for me, I have better things to do with my time...I will support our local farmer markets instead."  Only the opposite seemed to be happening, I found myself perusing through my big bag of seeds on the shelf, I was going by our local nursery looking for vegetable plants..."why yes, by Joe, I will not be beat down by some bugs, and viruses, and oh yea did I say caterpillars."  Ok it does seem daunting but I will prevail....won't I?  Heck yes I will, with this new attitude adjustment, I will have the best darn tootin' vegetable garden in South Florida!

So here are a few sidebar notes of my new plan of action this year:
1) Alternate the planting of new seedlings throughout the season.  This way I am introducing new plants about every four weeks so their growth rates and harvest times are stacked.
2) In the past I had a hard time with heirloom tomatoes so I intend to use hybrid disease resistant varieties this year instead.  Anything to make my learning process easier and my tummy happy.  I love tomatoes so much I am bound and determined to grow a great tomato!
3) Going back to companion planting, which really worked great at keeping the insects to a manageable level.  Now this could totally be in my mind but it seems the performance and overall health of the plants were better with their companion herbs.  Stay tuned for my companion planting post.
4) Trying new things rather than going back to repeat my wrongs.  For example, trying a subtropical legume like pigeon peas or an European kohlrabi and there are all kinds of cool Asian greens to try.

First phase, I gave myself a little help with a few store bought transplants- hardier disease resistant hybrid varieties, already 6 weeks old ready to put in the ground.  I bought a 6-pack each of 'Sweet 100' tomatoes and 'Snow Crown' cauliflower.  Since I only needed a few plants, I shared the rest with my best friend (hers are taller than mine so go figure that one out).  This will allow me a head start to get some plants in the ground now while the rest are taking their time sprouting from seed.  This cauliflower is supposed to be an early producer.  So when it's done something else will be ready to take it's place.
The 'sweet 100' tomatoes mature in 65 days and the clustering fruits are about 1 inch
The 'snow crown' cauliflower matures in 50 days and heads can be up to 2 lbs.

The green onions are actually organics from the grocery store that we ended up not 
eating so I put them in the ground though I think that was just luck, lol.


The second phase will be transplanting the second batch of plants in the ground.  I put these babies in soil few weeks ago:
'Paris Market' carrots (which did nothing for me in the past so we'll see),
'Black From Tula' tomato (I know, I know I said no heirlooms...),
'Jubilee' tomato (a yellow variety),
'White stem' bok choy,
'Michihili' Chinese cabbage,
'Oregon Sugar Pod II' snow pea,
'Peach Melba Superior' nasturium,
Summer savory (herb) and
Fennel (herb).
We have been getting monsoon amounts of rain the past 5 days and about half of them have sprouted.  Plus I already moved the Oregon sugar pod II peas (60 day maturity) from their pots in the ground.

Hopefully by November/December phase three is purchasing another set of baby plants from the nursery to go in the ground.  As well as plant another set of seeds.  Would like to do some butter lettuces, spinach, radishes, sweet Chinese mustard greens, broccoli, eggplants and more tomatoes but we shall see shan't we!

Well that's all I have for today friends though I will keep you posted as to the progress!  
Hope you all are doing well and staying dry!
Happy Gardening and Best Wishes,
Sheri
xoxo

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Perky Color Combo's In the Garden

     When we were old enough to have chores and responsibilities, "yard work" was very often one of my family's weekend events.  Some how my younger brother always and I mean ALWAYS weaseled his way out of work.  So it would end up being my Mom and I doing the landscape while my Dad mowed the grass.  Then when my sister was big enough to help out, I was so happy to have a buddy, but she too would end up doing such a half-hearted job that my Mom would turn her loose.  So yup, it was just me again.  UGH!  No matter my lament, my Mom always had a way of putting a different perspective on it, "this will make you a better person" or "you never know what you will gain from this" or "the sooner we finish the sooner you can go play."   Phewy I say!
My Mom and sister creating a new plant bed in our Miami front yard
You can see who is working LOL...love ya sis!  You should see my sister garden in Atlanta now, wow!
I think this was around 1988.
      In my opinion, the real fun stuff was when we created new sections of our half acre yard...a vegetable garden here, fruit trees there, gardenias here, palms there, a chicken coop here, a butterfly garden there, etc.  We would come back from the Homestead nurseries with so many cool plants.  I would quickly start putting these weird combinations of plants together in their newly appointed locations.  Of course in my mind thinking, well that's where they should go and Mom will be so proud I laid them out for her.  Well, stand me corrected!  I can still hear my Mom saying, "what are you doing, those don't go together."  My standard reply, "why not?" and her reply, "well because that's not how I want them."  She would then show me how she envisioned what we were to be working on.  And this was coming from a very liberal free spirited creative thinking woman, who knew.  Though now that I am older, I realize how important it was for her personal style to be translated into how she liked her garden to grow.  Now that I have my own garden, boy that sentiment couldn't be more true.  Just like fine art, gardens and landscapes can be an extension of one's unique ideas and personality.

     So this post is all about crazy color combinations in the landscape.  We are talking about cool contrasting colors, textures, shapes, sizes and variations.  I am sure you have passed by a landscape that made your head turn and say, "wow, did you see that!?!"  Yup, that's what I'm talking about friends!  So here are a few of some of my favorites.  I sure you will see a theme here of the color combinations I tend to gravitate towards, hee hee.  Purples, chartreuse, pinks, yellows, orange and blues.
Wow, chartreuse, red and purples - ferns, coleus and sweet potato all in one window box!
Not sure who to credit this super saturated purple & red flower
bed to but it's really incredible.
Yes bromeliad's can give you a kick of color, just check out this Miami median.
Another amazing little landscape using the wall color & lighting as well...kudos to the designer!
This lantana 'confetti' is an all-in-one knock 
out of color...just add purple, lol.
Alternanthera 'red threads' in my front yard
before mulch.  That will be for another post to come.
In the middle is a Jamaican croton 'tricolor' and blue daze around the outside.
Yellow, magenta, white and purple set this landscape off in Weston, FL.
Magenta penta's and caladium 'moonlight' is sure to impress.
I just love this plant called irsine/bloodleaf, I have
used it on three of our latest landscapes!
Now put the bloodleaf with this incredible looking
sedum and you've got a striking pair!
Chartreuse coleus, purple Persian shield and red/green coleus.
     Of course there are all kinds of plants that have a multitude of colors in their leaves like crotons, coleus, variegated plants, caladiums, succulents, cordylines, alternantheras and dracenas.  Then pair them with flowering plants and wow what a combo you will have.  Check out The Graceful Gardener's blog for some absolutely amazing color combinations in the landscape as well as in her beautiful container's....stunning!
My jaw hit the floor when I saw this tradeshow exhibit in Asia...talk about creative!
Wish I knew who to give credit to for this...anyone know?
What a happy looking front yard saying "welcome home"!
     No matter where you live or what your cold hardy zone is, there will always be colorful plants you can use to create your own unique and eye catching garden.  Just let nature guide your way and you might be surprised at what you find that's native and colorful in your region.  Come to think of it, our front yard island area needs a redo in some really colorful wild plants...hmmm maybe another post.

Wishing you all a very happy Labor Day, so enjoy your day off y'all!
Happy Gardening and Best Wishes,
Sheri
xoxo