Monarda fistulosa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wow! Learned something new today about mouthwash - which I never would have expected. Bee balm (wiki) is the natural source of the antiseptic thymol (wiki), the primary active ingredient in modern commercial mouthwash (wiki) formulas.



I was only looking for companion plants to help tomatoes, and then looked up Bee Balm and now not only can I plant it for helping tomatoes, I can plant it to help me, too - just look at all the uses! Oh yes, and it's pretty to grow and look at, too.

Parsley in Window Boxes

Antioxidants taste better in parsley than they do in pill form. Parsley happens to be on the Farmer's Almanac's list of Best Bets for Window Boxes. So along with the prettiest of flowers, why not add some Parsley this year? What makes parsley so healthy anyway? Here's everything that's in it! I found some parsley seeds at Amazon.comlisted as add-on items with free shipping, too.

Bean Plant Sizes

So how big do bean plants get anyway? With plenty of space in the garden at first I didn't really care. But now I have shadows to worry about ruining the sunshine other plants need, or do I? Some bush beans get only a little over 2' while pole beans can grow up to 10 feet tall! Ten feet tall is a LOT of shadow to worry about, 2 feet, not so much. I think I'll keep the pole beans at the edges of the garden but be a little brave about placements for the bush beans. Wondering about beans? See The Tall and the Short of It: Beans at Dave's Garden.

The Farmer's Almanac http://www.almanac.com/plant/beans has greatly helpful information about beans, too!

Mandala garden designs

Never in my Internet life have I ever subscribed so fast to a blog. Simply brilliant pictures. I'm  so inspired to make a beautiful yard!



Nature's got me high and it's so beautiful. I'm in this deep eternal universe from death to rebirth: Mandala garden designs

Ways to Train Grapes

Have you ever seen grape plant starts for sale at your local grocery store? Here they are displayed for sale just outside the entry doors around the beginning of Spring each year. For as little as $9.99 each, they are a cheap experiment in growing grapes (or raisins). Seems easier to me than attempting to grow grapes from a seed, and faster than waiting a whole year before growth starts resembling anything grape-like. If your local stores don't offer these sweet temptations you can even find grape plants and grape seeds at Amazon.com.

I indulged and purchased 2 grape plants of different types not being sure which would like growing in my backyard or not - but after I planted them I realized I know nothing at all about how to grow grapes! A quick search led me to Cornell Fruit giving plenty of help on how to get the grapes to grow different ways. Now I just need to choose which method I want to use for training the vines. Easier than I thought with lots of pictures included so I don't actually have to understand all the fancy terms to start training the vines. Whew!

How Tall Are Vegetable Plants?

Planning a garden is supposed to be fun! Yet I grew frustrated looking for plant heights - not even shown on all the seed packets much to my surprise! How should I know which plants to put in the middle of the garden (the tallest veggies) and which to plant around the edges (other than the obvious to me chives)? Finally I found Vegetables - List of Vegetables and Vegetable Varieties. Plant Encyclopedia - BHG.com which does list plant heights & other good info, too.

Maple Grove: Vertical Vegetable Gardening

- I'm impressed beyond words - There's a video embedded in the page to show how absolutely fantastic a 16' x 16' garden can look! Maple Grove: Vertical Vegetable Gardening - A Must-Read for Any and All Gardeners I've linked it here not only to share the ideas, but to remind myself to use at least some of them this year.

Potatoes getting buggy?

While I've not tried this yet myself, it's on my to-do list of garden experiments: Growing potatoes in containers | 150 square feet At first I was under the impression that since potatoes grow underground, I could plant them in a shady spot of the yard. Since as it turns out, the leafy part of the plant does indeed require some sun, I won't be digging up any dirt for taters any time soon. And yet growing potatoes in a bucket for example is an inexpensive test to try out a potential new source of potatoes! Apparently growing them in containers may reduce problems with bugs, too, so why not?

10 ways to make seed starters

Oh look what I found today when searching to find if newspaper could be used to make "fake" peat pots. 10 different and (yay) cheap ways to avoid spending money starting seeds! 10 ways to make seed starters — never buy another peat pot!

Get Rid of Gnats!

Is there anything more annoying than gnats in the house? Not to me! Gnats are the only part of spring that I dread indoors. They're nearly impossible to clap between my hands and seem to torment me when I'm trying to concentrate. Here's a little cheap test to get rid of them that I'm going to do next time they welcome themselves uninvited:

Plan A Beautiful Vegetable Garden

Looking for new ideas you can do this year in your backyard? This Plan A Beautiful Vegetable Garden by Jack Staub is a really good read full of inspiration for any vegetable garden!

Growing Healthy Seedlings Indoors

Back to basics time! With each new spring season comes picking seeds and seedlings that are meant to grow into happy little plants. I know I'm not alone in wondering each year: "What am I forgetting", "How did I do this last time?" and saying aloud, "Oh yes, that's right, I'm supposed to (insert memory here) first".

There seems to be just enough time between seasons to forget at least one important tid-bit. So here it is, for me and for you: Growing Healthy Seedlings Indoors, a nicely laid out back to basics instruction (or reminder) guide for starting seeds indoors to get those seedlings going without waiting so long for frost free nights!

How to Grow a Pear Tree Against a Wall

I don't yet have my dream garden space, so instructions like this are great finds I like to share with others who don't have a seemingly endless amount of garden space either: How to Grow a Pear Tree Against a Wall by HGTV Gardens. (steps 1-4 included with pictures even)

Are onions truly easy to grow?

Onions are for everything from hamburgers to soups, sandwiches to omelets, so many ways to use them! With a vast variety of onion types: sweet, hot, pearl, red, yellow, white... there's a type of onion for nearly any use! But are onions honestly easy to grow? So says Bonnie Plants: "If you can poke a hole into the ground, you can grow an onion from a little plant."

Space for Fruit Trees

If I had it to do all over again, I'd have planted a new fruit or nut tree (or at least bush) every year. By now I'd have a fabulous collection of yummy things (and healthy) from which to choose simply by walking outside my house. Now I have 2 cherry trees, 2 blueberry bushes (that are debating whether to hang on through the winter or be pulled out in the spring) and 1 extremely slow growing apple tree. And now I have a supreme desire for more than 6 hours of sunlight in as much of my garden as possible. Yet I still wish for fruit trees, but they sure do create shady areas. Enter the solution: Apples and pears: growing and training as cordons by the Royal Horticultural Society.

I was searching of course for something completely different at the time I happened upon the images of these apple cordons, but I was hooked as soon as I saw them. They're basically apple trees (and pear, as well as other fruit trees) that are trained to grow in a particular fashion, such as up against a fence, along a wire trellis - more 2D than 3D and definitely space saving! And the fruit can be full size, too, it's not like a bonsai tree. There are even books (with good reviews, too) see cordon fruit tree books at Amazon.com & a lot of them have sneak-peaks inside, too for even more ideas!