Beneficial Flowers

Do you plant flowers in your vegetable garden?
Here are four flowers I plant with my veggies and their benefits.

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums are planted in several of my garden beds. Not only are they beneficial, pretty, and easy to grow, they are also edible. They are really good at attracting good bugs. Nasturtiums also repel potato bugs, squash bugs, striped pumpkin beetles, Mexican bean beetles, and aphids. I grow them in my greenhouse because they are suppose to destroy whiteflies. For those of you who have orchards they will help control the woolly aphid, if left to wander.

Nasturtiums with my tomatillos and pumpkins.

This one is planted in a pot with a tomato plant in my greenhouse.

Sunflowers 

Sunflower come in a wide range of colors and sizes. I have planted many different ones in the past. I like to try new verities each year. One year I planted the mammoth sunflower, it was over 6 feet tall and the flower head was HUGE. Unfortunately they get so heavy they fall over even staked up. Now why do I plant sunflowers? Well one my honey bees love them, so do other pollinators and good bugs like lady bugs. Ants also like to herd aphids onto them, keeping aphids off neighboring plants. Sunflowers also giving shade to plants, like cucumbers, that need it during the hottest part of the day. Before modern Europeans arrived in the US, sunflowers were grown as a companion for corn, it supposedly increases corn production. I planted a row of sunflowers between my corn rows to try this theory out. 

Sunflowers with my corn.

Helping shade my cucumbers.

Marigolds and Zinnias

Marigolds are said to produce a pesticidal chemical from its roots. Because of this they repel bean beetles, aphids, potato bugs, squash bugs, nematodes, and maggots. They can also stimulate vegetable growth.

Zinnias are good for the vegetable garden because they attract pollinators and hummingbird, which eat whiteflies.

I planted marigolds and zinnias around the edge of my potato bed.

Marigold with my squash plants.

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Garden Update

The last couple of weeks for us have been cool and wet. I haven't been spending much time out in my garden. Every couple of days I would go out to make sure the outside tomatoes were covered and check the greenhouse plants. So today with the sun shining and blue sky showing, I spent a little time checking on my garden. I was pleasantly surprised to see most of the garden was doing very good.

This is my brassicas bed. The plants have tripled in size. They sure liked the cool wet weather, even though I didn't.

My corn and bean are growing great also. Along with the sunflowers in the middle of the corn.

I'm very happy with my tomatillos. They are huge and full of flowers and fruit. I'm looking forward to homemade salsa verda.

My cucumbers, sunflowers, cabbage, bean and potatoes (in the background) are doing good as well.

My peas and onions happily growing.

My spinach, red lettuce, and green lettuce in my deck boxes. I found the easiest way to water them is with an old milk jug.

Now what isn't growing good.

The zucchini and pumpkins aren't growing as good as the others. Hopefully with more sun in the forecast they with do better.

Who else is happy to see sunshine, besides me?

The Honey Bees!

What I have learned so far this season.

Alcosa a savoy Cabbage.

I had never grown this type of cabbage before. I bought these two plants at my local farm and garden store. They were on the half price rack. This cabbage grew very well, but because of its wrinkly leaves, it is impossible to keep the aphids off of it. These two heads are kind of small but I have decided to harvest them anyway.  I don't think I will grow them again next year.

Here are the two heads in my basket, along with seedless wild blackberries and basil.

The chickens will get the rest of the cabbage roots, aphids and all.

The next thing I learned.

This deck box gets too hot. The arugula barely grew and it is already bolting. See the flowers and what you can't see is the pak choi. They are struggling to grow. The kale is doing okay. Next year I will grow heat loving herbs there. I may pull them out and do that now.

After playing in the yard it was time for lunch.

I had salad fresh from my garden. There is radishes, green lettuce, red lettuce, cabbage, spinach, a pepper, and kale in it. Yummy!

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Frolic Through the Garden Friday

Here's what's happening in my garden.

Strawberries are ripening.

 Peas and onions are growing just as good as the weeds behind them.

This is my main garden, my husband build me raised beds this year. So far I find it away easier to plant, weed, and water my garden. In the first bed I have planted tomatillos, butternut squash, carrots, and pie pumpkins. The bed behind that is zucchini, radishes, carrots, and turnip. Next bed over is bush beans, sweet corn, pop corn and sunflowers down the middle. Behind that one is pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, two cabbage plants, and bush beans at the end. 

The last row of beds I have broccoli, kraut cabbage, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. The bed behind this is yellow potatoes.  In the back next to my greenhouse is my tomato bed. I covered them to keep the heat in and the rain out.

These are my potato experiments. I'm trying to find the best way for me to grow potatoes. In pots and in a garden bed. Both I planted with about 3 inches of soil on top of the seed potatoes then add more soil as they grew.

This is before I added more soil.

After I added more soil.

These are my peppers and basil in my greenhouse.

I always grow a few tomatoes in my greenhouse just in case something happens to the ones I planted outside.

I can't wait eat and make raspberry jelly.

I have had this plum tree for three years and these are the first fruit it has produced. I'm so excited.

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Homesteaders reuse and re-purpose

If you are a homesteader or striving for self-reliance or just plain frugal you reuse and re-purpose. I'm not always good about reusing or re-purposing everything but here are a few from around my home.

Chest

This is an old blanket chest or hope chest. I wasn't using it in the house, so I re-purposed it as a planter for my Lovage, Parsley, and Chives.

Used Bricks

We have a bunch of used red brick around the house. Among other things I like to use it in the garden for bed borders. 

Damaged Water Bath Canners

I pick these up usually in the free piles at garage sales. The small ones work great for growing peppers and the big ones are great for tomatoes. In my area I have to grow pepper and most tomatoes in my little greenhouse.

Grass Clippings

My favorite mulch is grass chippings. I have used it for many years in my garden and between rows. It is easy to come by and works well at keeping weeds at bay. Not to mention it adds nutrients to the soil.

Tattler Lids

This is a reusable item. With all the canning I do each year I love using these reusable tattler lids. I have used them for several years and had very good luck with them.

What are your favorite things to reuse or re-purposed?

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