COASTAL HOME & GARDEN

It’s important to learn about and encourage "good" insects like ladybugs, lacewings, and other predatory bugs to come into your garden so they control common insect pests. Another efficient predator is the praying mantis, a remarkable insect with a voracious appetite. Not only do they eat aphids, crickets & grasshoppers, they are fast enough to catch mosquitoes. How can one do this? You can plant fennel, dill, allyssum, ammi majus, and cumin in your garden to attract them.

Fennel is an excellent plant for attracting ladybugs. The statuesque plants are usually covered in ladybug eggs and larvae. Set aside a space in your garden for this beneficial herb. Keep garlic in your toolkit. If insect pests like aphids become a nuisance, use the crush the cloves to make your own insect spray. Any garlic that sprouts can be planted in the garden to help repel other pests.

For the one herb your garden, try fennel. Not only do its leaves & flowers attract beneficial insects, fennel is a wonderful herb to use in the kitchen with its sweet anise flavor. A perennial, it's a very easy herb to grow.

Remember, by learning to tolerate some damage by insects in your garden and flowerbeds, you give something for your guard bugs to feed on.

Don't let powdery mildew ruin your garden. Control it easily using milk! Mix 1 part milk to nine parts water and spray affected plants once a week.

Whitefly can cause considerable damage as temperatures rise. Keep their numbers down by using sticky traps & organic sprays such as pyrethrum or neem.

Spider mites can suddenly become a problem during the winter months as plants are brought indoors into warm, dry environments.

Keep plants well misted to increase humidity and keep spider mite numbers down.

Keep an eye on out on houseplants that have been outdoors all summer and are now being brought inside. Unwanted stowaways can flourish indoors where they have no natural enemies. Keep a bottle of soap spray handy to dislodge them before their numbers multiply.

Also, improve your soil to feed your plants. Add organic matter (Compost) in order to feed soil organisms that will break down this organic matter to feed your plants. Not only does compost nourish the soil, it makes kitchen and garden waste into a useful product!

You can compost almost all the organic matter from your household including garden cuttings, vegetable peelings and even eggshells. A definite no-no for your heap are meat scraps or dairy products. These will stink and attract rodents. Tealeaves and coffee grounds are great additions because they contain caffeine, a natural herbicide.

Growing sprouts indoors is not only nutritious but also ornamental. Before starting your seedlings, make sure your containers are clean. Wash them out with warm soapy water and sterilize them with a 10% solution of bleach.

Seedlings growing indoors will need to be fed every couple of weeks. Dilute fish fertilizer is a great choice but if you need to keep the smell to a minimum, try making a tea of worm casts with no worry about burning your plants.

Any container can be used to sprout wheatgrass. Start seeds in potting mix or compost and they'll be up in 3-4 days. To prevent damping off in your seedlings, sprinkle the top of your potting mix with cinnamon, a natural fungicide.

Are the forsythia in bloom? If so, it's safe to plant cool-season crops like peas, cabbage & Asian greens.

If you want to get a jump on planting peas, start them indoors. You'll get a far better germination rate and your seedlings will be less susceptible to fungal and pest attack.

Test that old seed before you plant it. Most seed should germinate between moist paper towels so that you can gauge how much to plant in your garden without wasting time & money.

Keep amaryllis well fed with compost or worm cast tea. Both contain nutrients that help build strong roots & bulbs, which then lead to larger blooms.

If you want your Christmas cactus to bloom by the holidays, it's time to put it into a cool, dark place where it gets less than 8 hours of light per day. The change in temperature and light levels triggers the plant to begin bloom production.

Cilantro can be started in late summer for early fall production. Sow seeds often in short rows so that you can keep picking through the fall.

Keep tatsoi producing well into the fall by picking individual leaves instead of harvesting the whole plant. Older leaves can be clipped from the bottom and will encourage a new flush of younger leaves.

If you're having trouble starting your winter garden seeds in the heat of the sun, you'll have much better success starting the seeds indoors where you can keep an eye on soil moisture. Transplant your greens outside once you have a couple of sets of leaves.