Aroma & Taste
Alex Kronick from Caboa farms has incredible produce for you to choose from especially a nursery of HERBS. Talk to us about changing your garden around to be 100% herb usage. Here is a link to his website
http://www.caobafarms.com/
Flowers are pretty and can always be kept but most of your garden should be setup to utilize on a daily basis. MINT, BASIL, ROSEMARY, SAGE, OREGANO and others. Snip snip daily and melt with the wonders of the tastes these herbs can offer you. If you can master tomatoes, draw some fresh Oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, ready to serve an perfect simple meal for two with a beautiful glass of wine. If you are interested in Composting and seek ideas for your garden check out our site on Facebook at Antigua, Guatemala Composting Group
make your garden full of taste
COFFEE GRINDS: Are you worried about bugs? Take 2 tablespoons of your left over coffee grinds, mix with a cup of the following herbs – Yarrow, Tansy, Pennyroyal, Thyme, Lavender, Rue, Catnip and Artemisia and 2 cups of water. Coffee is a natural pesticide and though offers a boost to humans, to the insect world this causes them to dehydrate and become compost.
The mosquitoes are a family of small, midge-like flies: the Culicidae. To rid your house and garden try planting Citronella plants. Eucalyptus oil is readily steam distilled from the leaves and can be used for cleaning and as an industrial solvent, as an antiseptic, for deodorizing, and in very small quantities in food supplements, especially sweets, cough drops, toothpaste and decongestants. It has insect repellent properties, and is an active ingredient in some commercial mosquito repellents.
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture. Many moth species are better known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce. Like snails and slugs, these little critters have soft bellies that will not want to touch eggshells placed around the plant bases. You can easily remove caterpillars manually. Plucking them straight off the vine and move them to another area of the yard (away from your garden) or destroy them using one of the sprays or soaps listed below.
Leafhoppers are hard to spot but the damage they leave behind is unmistakable. They are sap-sucking insects and the plants they attack have foliage that appears crispy and burnt at the ends. To rid your garden of leafhoppers, try to attract parasitic wasps to your garden by growing thyme, sweet alyssum, dill, cilantro, parsley, yarrow, candytuft, verbena, or goldenrod. Leafhoppers also detest geraniums.
All-Natural Recipes for Sprays and Soaps
Sometimes a gardener needs to take it up a notch with pest control, but resist the temptation to buy chemical pesticides from the nursery or home improvement store. Try the following recipes as go-to formulas for knocking out all kinds of unwanted visitors.
All-Natural Insecticide Soap
The soap in this recipe gets into the skin of the insect, causing dehydration and then extermination. It is particularly helpful for soft-bodied insects. Mix no more than 1 to 2 tablespoons liquid soap (use a biodegradable, plant-based liquid soap such as Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap) and 1 quart water. Pour mixture into a spray bottle and spray pests as needed. Add this recipe to others (below) to boost its effectiveness.
All-Purpose Pesticide Spray
Gather some strong scented roots and spices such as cayenne, horseradish, ginger, garlic, onions, mint, rhubarb and anything else you can think of. Boil these in enough water to cover them and let the mixture sit overnight to soak. Strain solids from the liquid and compost solids. Pour liquid in a spray bottle with some All Natural Insecticide Soap (see above). This will keep for several weeks unless frozen. Garlic Variation: Instead of using all of the other herbs listed above, simply use 1-2 heads of garlic. Deer and rabbits in particular shy away from the strong scent of garlic.
Other Methods of Pest Control
One of the best ways to protect your garden from infestation is to grow healthy plants that are free from disease to begin with. Sickly plants make for easy targets, and while healthy plants are not defenseless, damage inflicted on them by pests will be less intrusive. So be diligent about inspecting leaves for discoloration or damage and deal with the problems as soon as possible by deadheading, pinching off, or removing entire plants that become diseased. Water your plants to their liking; protect them from malnutrition by replenishing their nutrients through organic fertilizers and compost. Keep a weed-free environment to reduce the probability of attracting pests to live among the foliage. Encourage pest-consuming predators, such as bees, wasps, lacewings, praying mantis, ladybugs, and spiders to make homes in your garden. Bees in particular are important because they destroy unwanted critters as well as pollinate your garden. Growing pollen-heavy plants will attract them to your plot.
Here is a list of common plants that attract beneficial insects:
Alyssum
Angelica
Basil
Bee Balm
Borage
Buckwheat
Butterfly Bush
Calendula
Chamomile |
Cosmos
Dill
Fennel
Feverfew
Garlic
Golden Marguerite
Goldenrod
Hairy Vetch
Heather |
Lavender
Mint
Parsley
Queen Anne’s Lace
Sunflowers
Sweet William
Tagetes
Tansy
Yarrow |
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