Nasturtiums

My beautiful Nasturtiums aren’t so beautiful anymore. I have a Flea Beetle problem. I tried to spray my shampoo and water mix on the plants. I didn’t expect it to work at all on the flea beetles but I was using the mixture to control whiteflies and aphids there anyhow and thought I’d give the beetles a few squirts.

To my surprise, it brought the numbers down a bit. Perhaps the couple days of cooler nights and rain helped, too. Diatomaceous Earth would work better, I’m sure. In any case, I only have a few beetles on my Nasturtiums now. Perhaps I’ll get a few more flowers to enjoy. Perhaps it was the prayer that did it. I am nearly out of this coconut shampoo and will certainly be seeking for more of this brand of shampoo (to use as insect control along with my garden prayers).

You can check out my video with the orange butterfly in my flower garden at the end of this post to see how effective the soap mixture was on the flea beetles. I was surprised to see so few beetles this morning. Before yo do that, you might enjoy reading my poem, Tip Top Alaska Nasturtiums, which I typed up and included in this post. I have placed videos between the stanzas of my poem.

I attract birds to my garden. Birds are wasteful eaters – littering as much seed in the garden as they eat. By doing that, they ensure a crop for the following year, when they hope to return to the same spot to raise their young and continue to grow their “garden”.

They really aren’t interested in controlling insects entirely (they help “garden” them, too). Birds usually keep the insect numbers controlled so that the host plants continue to do well (since the birds like to care for the garden that they either planted in the first place or adopted). Birds are excellent gardeners.

I planted many sunflowers this year for the Blue Jays. Right now the orange butterflies are busy pollinating the disc florets but soon there will be plenty of seeds for the Blue Jays. If you want to attract Blue Jays to your garden, plant sunflowers (and put out peanuts on the window ledge or in a feeder).

Tip Top Alaska Nasturtiums

Tip Top Alaska Nasturtiums are great.

They start blooming so early and bloom really late.

Though their blooms are all yellow, not orangey red,

I will never again grow another instead.

I tried other Nasturtiums this year, but they don’t

out-shine Tip Top Alaska plants. Therefore, I won’t

even bother with others in gardens I grow

since no other Nasturtiums can put on a show

like this type. Like its leaves, this type’s growth habit’s round

and its covered with blooms – more than any I’ve found.

Leaves are variegated, like many prefer

(though not I). Even so, this Nasturtium is sure

something sweet. Ten more open for each bloom that drops.

For an edge or container plant, Tip Top’s the tops!

I haven’t gotten down because of the insects that were attracted to my garden this year. Sometimes the garden attracts flea beetles, aphids, and whitefly instead of butterflies and Blue Jays. I look forward to seeing if the Whitefly and Aphids end up attracting some songbirds. Yellow Warblers are always nice to see enjoying their crop of aphids from the Honeysuckle that they planted in my garden two decades ago. Nature is beautiful, educational, and surprising.

Next year I will avoid planting an Asian Green that I’ve been growing which attracted the flea beetles (cabbage family plants attract flea beetles). I will also avoid planting my Nasturtiums in my peat bale row. Crop rotation can be an easy way to break a pest’s life cycle.

Useful Resources

https://www.almanac.com/pest/flea-beetles

How to Control and Eradicate Flea Beetles

https://www.caterpillaridentification.org/caterpillars-by-state-listing.php?reach=Alberta

Sunny Window Wishes

Today is March 7, 2023, which is a full moon day. What’s a fun thing to do on the March full moon? Start your tomato seedlings indoors and make a wish (for a rewarding tomato crop, or something else).

Having a sunny windowsill full of seedlings is like having a little piece of the summer-to-come in the house with you. With each little bit that the seedlings grow each day, you feel that much closer to summer.

Watching the seedlings first thing each morning is a great way to start these late winter days. And, if you live in or near Lethbridge, there has never been a better time to start your own vegetable garden. The price of produce is high (and growing) and the Lethbridge Public Library is offering free garden seeds right now.

My grandmother always started her tomato seeds on the day of the full moon in March. I typically start mine earlier. Either way, it is always fun to hold the seeds in your hand and think about the beautiful garden to come before you plant your seeds. It’s like your making a wish for their health and your own. It’s nice to have such happy thoughts this time of year.

You may have noticed that I have started my basil already. It is good to start basil with the tomatoes (although not in the same flats) and it is good to plant them together in the garden in May. They are companion plants. If you don’t care for basil or tomatoes, there are other free seeds available at the Lethbridge Public Library. Now is a good time to start Brussels Sprouts, for example (and the library has Brussels Sprouts). The library seed packets don’t have growing instructions (or pictures on them) but that information can be found quickly and easily on-line (you can even use a library computer to access the information while you are picking up your seeds).

Even if you have only a drive way or a balcony to work with, you could set up a temporary garden in a few peat bales (see how on my gardening page). A peat bale generally costs about $10 or so. It’s cheap. If you pick out one with untorn plastic, the plastic itself serves as a pot. It works very well.

Platform carts work great to set each bale on, but as I learned one year, vagrants like to make off with them (so you might want to chain yours up if you use them). The platform cart will make it easier for you to move the bale off the driveway in the fall when you want to stop parking on the street and start parking in the driveway again.

Below, I have included a poem that I wrote called “I’m catching up on my Vegetables.” It is a Silas Story (if you have visited my blog before, you may have noticed that I’ve been writing many Silas Stories this winter. Silas was a dear friend of mine for many years. Writing my Silas Stories down has helped me remember so many good times that I enjoyed with Silas. I hope you like my poem. I recorded myself singing it recently (the video-link to that performance can be found on my picnic page).

“I’m catching up on my Vegetables.”

Maybe a month passed before Sigh had known

I’d been pretty much all “vegetarian grown.”

Although I was embarrassed, Sigh thought it was great.

Silas hoped I would teach him, and I couldn’t wait –

what had made me an outcast, then made me unique –

vegetarianism was no longer weak

and it wasn’t a sign I was “different” or poor

so I wasn’t embarrassed to eat anymore.

Each time someone asked Sigh why he’d changed what he ate,

he’d say “I’m catching up on my vegetables, mate.”

He was always so friendly – he made it a joke

so no carnivores took an offense when he spoke.

Many hear “vegetarian” like an attack

on their personal freedom but Sigh had the knack

to make everyone think that their choices were fine.

While I influenced Sigh’s he had influenced mine

when we broke bread together with dinner’s we shared.

Sigh caught up on his vegetables since Silas cared

about animals, me, his own body, and you.

Maybe you should catch up on your vegetables, too!