October 2015 Issue #122

Hello,

What fun that we both love gardening. Thanks for joining me.

1) Less lawn
2) Eco gardening tips
3) Spooky Salad

Like chocolate, no self-restraint is needed to enjoy
No dig Vegetable Garden's FACEBOOK page. Love to see you there to read the latest news and tidbits!

Raring to grow

The FAQ section is the place where the beautiful people hang out... earthy and raring to grow. And here's a teeth gnashing challenge—gnats! Who's got some control ideas for gnat's on my garden hay?

Eco gardening tips

• Less lawn, less bugs
  Lots of grubs from grass grubs to Japanese beetles love lawns. They burrow down away from the cold and spend the winter there. In spring, up they come and hatch into flying or crawling bugs/beetles. They eat your plants and lay eggs which quickly hatch in warm weather. There go your plant roots, particularly grass roots… gobble, gobble, gobble.
  
  

  That's a very basic idea of beetles' lifestyle, however all beetles have different preferences and timing. What I'm saying is that the more lawn area you have, the more grub and bug pests you'll have. Organic control for small areas is possible, see Organic garden pest control.

• Video recorder
  This might sound corny, but it is a very wise gardening tip that apparently won a prize...
  
  

  There are many good gardening programs on TV but often at inconvenient times. Don't the station programmers realize that we gardeners are out in the garden during all possible daylight hours? So learn to record gardening, or any programs, to watch later.

• Zip up your seeds
  I saw this in action, so it is very effective. Don't fiddle around with paper bags, use zip lock bags (left-over ones from lunches will do). To catch the ripe seeds, put bag over seed-head of say, broccoli or onions etc and zip up.
  
  

  With this method you don't have to worry about rain and it seems to help ripen the seed heads well. Watch out for condensation and don't store the seeds in the bag unless it's bone dry.

Want to know what vegetables to plant?

Want to know when to plant them?

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