Miracles of Garlic

Garlic is one of the most used plants in my garden. Its pungent taste adds so much flavor to so many dishes that it makes an appearance in my kitchen almost daily. Meats, fish, chicken, soups, stews, gumbos and vegetable dishes just would not be the same without a good helping of garlic. It is strange in a way, that I use it as much as I do. Although my dad grew garlic in his garden, I never remember it being used in my mom's kitchen. Dad grew it as a natural insecticide. He always maintained that if you planted it beneath fruit trees there would be no worms in the fruit and no borers in the tree trunk. I cannot vouch for this, since as a child, I was more interested in eating the fruit than protecting it from bugs! Yet, I use garlic a lot. Not only do I cook with it, but I have found the many medicinal uses outweigh the common complaint of halitosis! It is one of the main ingredients in the herbal concoctions that I brew for respiratory ailments (colds, flu, bronchitis, etc). Garlic has natural antibiotic properties making it one of my first choices in the herb garden. Another use for garlic has been discovered in the realm of my garden area! Stinkbugs were invading the tomatoes, ugh! Hard knotty places appear where the bugs eat the juices out of the tomato rendering the fruit useless. I had to come up with a garden friendly insecticide to get rid of these things! On a whim, I mixed garlic juice and water (one part juice to ten parts water) and sprayed the plants. My son said the garden smelled like a pizza but the bugs were leaving as fast as they could. Remarkably, I have not seen but three stinkbugs since! Now if I can just find something to get rid of the tomato worms!

The summer heat is about to take its toll on the rest of the garden, though. We recently pulled out most of the spent plants and replanted, hoping for a late summer crop. Today, I noticed the okra and green beans poking their heads above the dirt but the squash have refused to wake up. It is amazing to me that the flower gardens are still doing so well. The Ruby Lilies, Gloriosa Lilies and Purple Phlox are all doing beautifully as are the Day Lilies. The roses have started to wane a little so perhaps I need to fertilize and prune them. Maybe if we get a rain, things will grow a little better. Hmm, speaking of rain, we are watching the first tropical storm of the Atlantic season. It is predicted to stay away from this area but we are always watchful of any in the Gulf. Hopefully it will not intensify in to hurricane strength. Tropical storms do give us much needed rain without the destructive winds, not a bad thing.