Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Flower Power

I think we have bugs.

To begin with, I planted a nearly apocalyptic amount of broccoli and cauliflower. What can I say, we eat a lot of it. Also, I was pretty sure at least half of my plants would either die, or be unproductive. I did not anticipate the remaining ones would be eaten by bugs, though.

Apparently broccoli and cauliflower make a great midnight snack. I should try that, I always go for the ice cream.

Since I'm going for organic here, I once again turned back to my friend in organic gardening to make me and expert: Google.

What I learned is this: There are a ton of crazy ideas out there, but the ones that make sense all involve the right kind of flowers. Specifically, bugs hate marigolds.

So I send my husband to the store for several seed packets of the tiny little marigolds that grow to be 8 inches high. He returns with a variety of marigolds which range in height from 8 inches to three feet. Seriously, a three foot marigold? Is that even possible?

I'll let you know in a few weeks.

So, I'm cramming marigold seeds in my veggie beds which are already overflowing with plants that are probably planted too close together. Here's hoping they come up, and that bugs really do hate them. If not for their smell, then for the horrible looking design I attempted to eek out with my 4 varieties of marigolds in varying heights.

The best part of all of this? In four days I'm having 20 people over to hang out in my backyard for my son's birthday party. I was already worried about how to keep the small children out of the beds due to veggies. Now I have to be worried about newly emerging floral borders that if trampled will end their short little five day old existences.

On the plus side, my spinach is thriving. I buzzed it again yesterday and after supplying enough for a dinner salad was able to blanche and freeze a pint of it. I feel like a super gardener already. Enough spinach for three salads and a pint and a half in the freezer. If everything else fails (and it probably will) at least I have something to show for my grand experiment.

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