Pollinators & Pests in the Vegetable Garden

Achillea millefolium
Apricot Delight Yarrow
& white cosmos

For the pollinators I planted yarrow in a pot with some cosmos and pansies. It's sort of weird, but I wanted the yarrow for the butterflies & hummingbirds, but not to spread throughout the vegetable bed in our small(ish) garden yard. Weird but pretty, and as the plants start to fill out (after living in tiny pots) it's growing into a beautiful arrangement marking a corner of the bed. 

Rhodochiton / Lophospermum

climbing the twig trellis

vegetable garden in the background

The herb garden is growing in with some in the ground and others in pots. I'm hoping that by varying the heights of things everybody will have a little more room this year. The little garlic chives which used to grow under the Tamarack are blooming happily in their second year in their new spot; with English Lavender, Lavanda inglesia, & Lavender 'Coconut Ice' near the steps to the back porch.

We have a few sprigs of asparagus appearing,
excellent for being first year transplants.

 Zinnias mark the rows.

Zinnia
Megellan Cherry

It's been a good year so far in our new vegetable bed. Cutworms have taken out some of the radishes, two tomatoes, and some leaves of kale, but they can be sent away with eggshells and coffee grounds and kept under control in a garden this size. Most of the wee carrots washed away in the heavy rain, so I'll have to replant those..., but with the heat, humidity, and deep rainfalls we've had the garden looks lush and unbeatable.

We're really growing into our yard, making it our space rather than someone's adopted garden. Soon there will be no grass anywhere, with our fire pit and outdoor living space surrounded by a garden we planted, and I can't wait. R's rebuilt back fence is beautifully constructed, and so will be the ornamental picket fence surrounding the main garden. I think we've really really found a way to reconcile three dogs in a downtown garden - complete with poop compost, and one for kitchen waste. R's next artistic (and practical) wood working project will be a beehive wormery - another thing I can't wait to have operational. :)

evidence of cutworms and Cliffords
mini dachshund feet are the same size
as radish leaves
who knew

garden notes to self

• Upper Canada Seeds specializes in organically grown heirloom tomatoes mmmm, offering 237 varieties of seeds in their 2008 catalog.

• North America Native Plant Society's seed exchange program, and their great resources for native plant gardening within their publications page.

• 

The Ritchers catalog has been under my desk at work for weeks.
Online they have some info sheets that I should remember to refer to in the future.







Books I wish I owned:

von Baeyer, Edwinna. Rhetoric and Roses: A History of Canadian Gardening 1900-1930. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1984. (635.09 V57)

Gray, Charlotte. Sisters in the Wilderness: the Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Trail. Toronto ON: Penguin, 1999. (920 G67)

Martin, Carol. A History of Canadian Gardening. Toronto ON: McArthur & Co., 2000. (635.09 M14)

von Baeyer, Edwinna, and Pleasance Crawford (eds.) Garden Voices: Two Centuries of Canadian Garden Writing. (820 G14) Toronto: Random House Canada, 1995. Hardback: 334 pp.

cute:

• Manual for Lavender
  

doodling:
shady nook sketch, 21 March 2008

















also should be mentioned: browalia and Labrador violets (pictured here), the many hostas, spiderwort, Solomon's seal, lungwort, purple carpet thyme...pots of shady things tucked here and there...



current music:
MICHAEL TORKE
Conductor: Marin Alsop, Percussion: Colin Currie
ROYAL SCOTTISH NATIONAL ORCHESTRA
ORCHESTRAL WORKS
Rapture - Percussion Concerto

Lovely Lavender

Lavender and strawberries, lavender lemonade, lavender and white wine, lavender ice cream. Also known for it's calming, therapeutic effects and analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, diuretic, insecticide, and sedative properties...Lavender is more than lovely.

The English variety - Lavendula angustifolia (also known as L. officinalis, L. Vera and L. spica) is what I have planted between the roses on the west side. Last night, after harvesting the pumpkins and removing the tremedous vines, the lavender I planted in the Spring was revealed - with blooms noless! Lovely.

There are other cultivars such as Hidcote (dark purple), Jean Davis (pink), Nana Alba (white), and Lavandin which is a cross between lavender and spike ( Lavandula latifolia ) can only be grown from cuttings.

Lavender thrives in full sun and prefers sandy, sweet soil with good drainage. In soil that has had a generous amount of compost or manure, lavender will bloom perfusely.



The essential oils are at their peak just when the flower starts to open up.