Edible garden chatter

[briggsy's girl]

I have a recipe for homemade insecticide. It involves pureeing 10 cloves of garlic and 3 tsp of vegetable oil. Strain into a 1L jar. Add 3 cups of hot water and a tsp of dishwashing liquid. Spray infested plants, making sure to cover both sides of leaves. Apply every 3 days for a week. Then repeat as required.

i missed this one the other day - just shared with DH - we ahve some of last seasons garlic still out the back so we might make up some of this in the near future

does anyone have any natural remedies for rust on fruit tree leaves? will go google now, but wondered if there were any tried and tested ones.
may have to buy some UHT milk to use on the roses too (not that they are really edible, but it's all tangled up with trying to keep the garden as natural as possible) - milk and water spray helps with powdery mildew...

[2CheekyMonkeys]

Thanks Pholi. Great tips. I didn't know that about snow peas but now you mention it they do seem a lot healthier at the top. I think I will get rid of some zucchini plants, I don't want them to take over. I don't ever see any snails or many insects. The only ones I see from time to time are little fly type things that have a bluefish colour, tiny tiny minuscule flying things that scatter when I brush the leaves with my hands and a little insect with triangular shaped wings. I will try the natural pesticide too, I'm not really a fan of the chemical ones.


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[luna moth]

Best natural snail remedy is a jar lid filled with beer, dug into the ground, with a peaked roof tile over the top. Any beer works, but VB seems to be the most repulsive

[briggsy's girl]

Snails are attracted to yeasty smells. If you have room, sink a container (we used old Chinese containers) into the soil and put beer in it. Snails will take a swim and drown. Vegemite dissolved in water supposedly works too but we had limited success. Maybe I didn't use enough

Apparently saw dust or rough mulch works to keep snails at bay. They don't like the roughness/dryness to get over so stop. Not sure if that works though

Wish watermelon didn't take up so much room. Miss the old yard we had. Essentially s whole house block spare. Used to let pumpkin, watermelon and rock melon just take over....

[Mother Goose]

We only have the beds along the fence line. Not very much at all. But better than nothin and better than I have now!

[veus]

We currently have the winter veg, kale, broccoli, bok Choy (that has mostly gone to seeds), snowpeas, potatoes, garlic & herbs.

Have a kumquat, lemon, lemon & lime, mandarin, avocado (brand new) and an old apple tree that kinda needs to go but looks too beautiful to remove.

Somehow there's a few carrots & celery. Musta been from previous sowing that didn't grow. Not complaining.

DH loves permaculture so that's his job to work out where to plant them etc.

I'm hoping for decent tomatoes. Last couple of seasons hasn't worked for us. Also want zucchini, eggplant & LOTS of chilli!


Sorry, fat fingers syndrome might occur.

[veus]

Chickens dig up the garlic. They like to eat them too? I was hoping could save space for other crops when we have chooks.


Sorry, fat fingers syndrome might occur.

[briggsy's girl]

we have great success growing garlic. We have roses (not as many as we used to) and I read that planting garlic under roses helps keep aphids at bay, so we started planting any garlic that has started to sprout. Now we have heaps in, and some from last years harvest ready to go on as well. We just plant and walk away. And rarely have issues with aphids! Bonus!

[luna moth]

Oh BG I love that idea! We inherited a rose bush when we bought this place, we were pretty intimidated by it at first, but now I love it! Definitely going to try it.

[~Kim~]

oh great! Me too. Thanks BG!
We have heaps of roses that were very average but are going great guns since we got here. The ground around them is pretty bare though, so this will be a definite improvement.

haha Audax, that's so cute and very very clever....mine could never be that restrained. I've had to put the strawberries in hanging baskets so at least a few make it inside.

[briggsy's girl]

Wind has killed the mesh over the strawberry bath. I think I'll have to add that to this weeks list of things to get. Going to run some wire between the fences (heavy wire for safety) and attach some hanging CDs to it. The ones that didn't work on burning. Apparently it Scares birds off. Have also read that owl ornaments do the same. Found one yesterday that could hang over the garden if we can find a way to hang it. Well, them really. We'd need a pair of them!

[veus]

Good idea abt the roses & garlic! Thanks BG!


Sorry, fat fingers syndrome might occur.

[Bella29]

Hey BG, I saw this chick talking about compost bins at the garden expo this year. She just get plastic garbage bins, te ones with the big round lids that you can clip the lids on. She cuts of the bottom and digs it in an inch or two into the ground. Then she puts it in her garden wherever she most needs the compost and makes it up there. She uses layers of Different things to get a great compost and then adds lots of water and some liquid fertilizer. She said it was way cheaper than the fancy bins and that it is best to keep it in contact with the earth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk..... I'm probably feeding my cherub

[veus]

BG: basil is good for tomatoes too for companion planting.


Sorry, fat fingers syndrome might occur.

[2CheekyMonkeys]

This might be a stupid question.... But what does 'gone to seed' mean?


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[Floweryfields]

Well brocoli and cauli flower is actually the flower buds, so if you leave them long enough, they shoot up really tall and flower then form seeds. Brocoli has yellow flowers, not sure about cauliflowers. The cabbages actually split in half and the flowers shoot out from the middle, kind of alien style!

BG they;ve been in about 12 weeks I think.

[briggsy's girl]

I think cauli just shoots long stalks with florets in top.. I think...

[luna moth]

Last time we did cauli we got no heads at all ever. But Brissy had a ridiculous August heat wave that year, I reckon that's what did it. Tempting fate to grow it here anyway, I think.