Ladybug Diner

  This afternoon, I headed out to pick the figs.  This is a twice daily chore as I try to "beat the birds".  No, I do not wallop the thrashers stealing the figs but I try hard to out race them to the ripe ones.  There are only a few more days that this comedy will take place as there are few figs left on the trees.   Between the birds and me, we have picked the trees clean.  After finishing this chore, it is my habit to walk through the garden to check for any remnant veggies.  It was there that a small red dot caught my eye and made me while away a good half hour.

  One of the garden boxes has a mishmash of plants. One volunteer tomato plant, six marigolds, one chrysanthemum, two mints, a few chives, a couple of purple basils and one struggling rose cutting are all growing there.  In the midst of all those leaves, a red dot scampered.  Aha!  A ladybug had found the mother lode of aphids and was a happy camper!  I watched as the ladybug raced around the leaves in search of aphids.  It would then chow down on its prey before starting anew.  The race was on!

  On closer inspection, there were many ants on the same plants.  At first, I assumed the ladybug was merely trying to outrun the ants but it kept coming back to run atop them again and again.  Then I realized that the symbiotic relationship between the ants and aphids was how the ladybug found its meal.  Ants literally "farm" aphids.  As the aphids suck the juices out of my plants, they excrete "honeydew" which the ants love.  The nectar rich resource is food for the ants.  In return, the ants protect the aphids.  (There have been cases known where ants will tote aphids with them if they have to move their nests.)  The ladybug, on the other hand, dines upon the aphids, themselves.  

  Usually, the ants and ladybugs tolerate each other and pretty much ignore one another.  Neither are predators to the other.  They both happen to be interested in the third insect..the aphid.  Personally, I would rather have the ladybugs than either the ants or aphids!  Chow down, Ladybug!

Pizza....Garden Style!

  Once again, my friend sought out the peace that only the Bayou can bring.  "Can I come to the Bayou?  I need a little Bayou Therapy." she said when she called.  Sure, come on over.  All afternoon, we fished and she spilled her feelings.  The Bayou seems to be the ideal place to throw things out there, mull them over and then put them back in a decent order.  

  Long about 6 o'clock in the evening, I felt a hunger pang and decided that fishing needed to cease for a while.  I was hungry!  But...I had forgotten to thaw anything from the freezer.  Well, we would just have to make do with what was on hand.  As we wandered back up the board path from the pier, an idea hit me.  Pizza!  We would make pizza!  Darlene looked a tad confused.  "I thought you can't eat meat.  How are we going to make pizza?"  Easy enough!  We would make a garden pizza!  She looked at me a bit dubiously and shrugged her shoulders.  My friend is not one that experiments in the kitchen much....I do.   So, I grabbed tomatoes, onions, fresh basil and fresh oregano from the garden and set her to work chopping.  After the pizza dough was spread on the pan and lightly baked, I started layering on the veggies and herbs.  "No sauce?" she queried.  Nope.  No sauce.  Once again, I caught her with a puzzled look on her face.  After assuring her that it would be tasty, we added seasoning and loaded on mozzerella cheese!  The pizza was popped back into the oven for about 15 minutes.  Oh, my goodness!  The kitchen started smelling delightful and Darlene's expression started to change from doubtful to eager.

  Once our supper was on the table and we gave thanks, the sampling began.  Yep, that was one tasty pizza!  In fact, we almost did not get a picture of creation!  It was disappearing fast!  Fresh garden style pizza....that is supper!  Yum!  Good friends, good food....doesn't get much better!

Lost in a Sea of Green

  Help!  I am being swallowed up in a Sea of Green!  Soon I may feel the need to send out a SOS signal!  Things are getting that bad!  Yesterday, I cut grass for over five hours.  The lawn seemed to be growing faster than my mower could gnaw its way through it but that is not the Sea of Green that I am watching take over the yard.  The vegetable garden seems to have been put under some magical spell!  The tomatoes have far outreached their cages, doubled down to the ground and are now nigh on four feet high again! The ones still standing erect reach skyward with heights untold. Bell peppers and cucumbers fill the rest of the area and are growing at the same fast pace.  Beyond them, the herbs have taken on a whole new appearance. Basil is a least four feet tall, a mint assortment is towering at more than two feet higher than normal and the fennel is slap crazy in size.  What am I to do???

  This green splurge must be due to the warm, humid weather.  My rainforest of a garden has just about blocked out the view from my window.  Whereas I used to see the Bayou and greenhouse, I now see tomatoes and basil.  It would be easy to lose myself among the plants. Obviously, judging by the specimens in my garden, the warm, humid weather of late agrees with botanical growth!  

  You will hear nary a complaint from me, though!  I love fresh veggies and the large, healthy tomato plants are loaded with green fruits.  Soon there should be enough to replenish the pantry shelves with yummy sauces, salsa and ketchup.  Those tiny cucumbers and bell peppers will make tasty relishes and the herbs are waiting to be dried and jarred. Our winter supplies will be laid in early this year.  My "Sea of Green" is a happy place!

 

Itching for a Remedy!

I was out wandering the hillside after the latest rainstorm when I met up with the largest "swarm" of mosquitoes that I have ever seen!  It seems that the rainy weather has caused every mosquito in a radius of fifty miles to seek out my Bayou!  (Ok..so perhaps I exaggerated a tad but I was being eaten alive!)  My arms itched like crazy!  I headed to the herb garden for a quick fix to this annoying problem.  First, I grabbed a few leaves to relieve the itching and then a sprig to ward off any future bites!  Yep..it does work but some folks just refuse to believe it!

Serrata Basil grows well in the rainy weather we have been having lately!

My "instant" remedy for the itching of the insect bites was merely a handful of basil leaves.  If the tender plant parts are vigorously rubbed over the bite, within a few seconds the itching starts to abate.  Then after a minute or so, the itching stops completely.  My sweet grandniece, Aero, told me once that she loved my "Magic Plant".  She was here and covered with bites.  I showed her how to pick the topmost leaves and rub them on each welt.  Sure enough, in minutes she was itch-free!  Magic Plants, indeed!

The Thai Basil has flowered and will soon make seeds for next years crop!

The other plant is Rosemary.  I should have had the foresight to rub a bit of this on my arms and face before setting out on my hike.  Usually, a stop to the herb garden can prevent a number of bites from ever happening in the first place.  Rosemary is extremely good at preventing bug bites if it is applied liberally.  Recently, I was told that this did not work at all against fly bites!  It seems that deer flies do not mind the smell as much as mosquitoes!  This evening, I decided to test the Rosemary.  My left arm was covered with the herb while the right was left scent-free.  After strolling about the garden, nary a bite on the left.  The right received five more bites almost instantly.  Ok..enough of that test!  I grabbed another sprig of Rosemary and rubbed down the right arm as well!  I was bug-free and happy! Legend has it that a Rosemary Bush planted by the garden gate will protect the home against evil.  This proves that mosquitoes are evil!  Rosemary does a good job protecting me against them!

Plant a Rosemary Bush by your front gate..legend says that it will protect the home from evil!

Just as a note, the herbs have to be garden fresh.  I have tried the same thing with "store-bought" dried herbs and they fail miserably!  Ahh, the pleasures of having an herb garden!

Them! Again!

Yep..we are back battling the ants, again! As I said in the past, the hill is being overrun by ants..they are everywhere! There is not a safe place in the yard! I am truly beginning to think that this hill is one huge ant nest! Now, I am not one to go dump a bunch of chemicals around on the ground whether it be to fertilize the garden or to kill the pests. I try to by all means possible go a natural route, but sometimes circumstances call for desperate measures and this was one of those times. I needed something..anything..to rid my yard of these biting monsters!

Just when I had about resolved myself to buying some "proven" ant poison, I came across another natural remedy. I was searching the internet for a recipe using quinoa when I stumbled on a "surefire" method of removing ants! I was excited to say the least..no more ants meant no more bites. I would be able to go barefoot again! (Not that I had stopped..I just ended up with lots of ant bites!) This site said to use coffee grounds! Well, now...this was easy enough! I have a lot of coffee grounds! I was a bit dubious at first but then I thought of the compost pile where I usually empty the grounds. There were no ants in the compost pile..which I might add, seems a bit odd since there is a ready source of food stuffs in the bin. But no ants! Perhaps the daily dumping of coffee grounds chased the ants out of the area. I was hopeful! Now I just needed to invite the ants for a cup of coffee and maybe they would leave on good terms. I hoped for the best. The grounds were sprinkled (dumped!) on the first ant nest that I found..about three feet from the front steps! We shall see in a few days just how well this does..I am still doubtful but with a reasonable amount of hope thrown in for good measure! This is supposed to work in about three days..we shall see!

Speaking of ants..I have found two rather interesting things. One that fresh basil can take the itch out of a bite. It does absolutely nothing about preventing the bite in the first place but a good rubbing of a leaf on an ant or mosquito bite usually will cause it to stop itching. The second..dish soap will rid the kitchen of the tiny ants that invade hunting for food and water. A thin coating smeared on the counter top and sink will cause them to forage elsewhere. My first attempt at doing this was a huge mess! I only had green dish soap! My white sink and counters looked like a slime monster had blown up on them! This was not an appetizing sight to have in the kitchen so I promptly got some clear, biodegradable dish soap and the problem was solved! No more tiny ants marching in an endless trail around my kitchen! Plus..no toxic sprays slowly killing me! I have seen nary a one since the application of soap! Now if the coffee grounds work in the yard, I might be ant-free!

Basil Lovers, Beware!

I just read where a fungus is killing off the Basil crops across the country! At first glance, this highly concerned me as I use a lot of Basil. Then as I read down further into the article, it stated that the fungus was not so much a problem for large farms but more for home gardeners and small herb farms. It seems that the large farms have access to fungicides that kill this menace. Ahh, now I feel much better! The commercial farmers can spray a chemical on their plants before sending them to market..wait..do I see any problem with this? Chemical sprays and I do not get along well in the garden. I try to use only natural fungicides and insecticides in the garden as I feel all this use of chemicals cannot be good for our bodies. The article, however, goes on to state that to prevent the fungus, plant the herbs with enough room to provide good air flow. Now that makes sense and no harmful sprays will touch the plants!

While on the subject of Basil, I am "babysitting" two nice large Basil plants for my son and daughter-in-law while they are out of the state. I must say these two plants appear to be quite healthy and well tended. I only hope that I can return all of their plants in the same wonderful condition as they brought them. I believe their Basil is Sweet Basil, the beautiful green-leafed type that is bought in the produce section at the grocery store. This type Basil has a very pungent, sweet taste and is used in so many foods from chicken and fish to soups and pastas (and everything in between!). It is best to remember though, when cooking with Basil, to add it a the last moment before serving as heat will quickly destroy the flavor. It is also a favorite in herbal medicines and is claimed to have antioxidant and antiviral properties. It is used in home remedies to treat stomach ailments, respiratory problems and to reduce stress.

The only Basil that I have growing this year is Purple Basil. My Sweet Basil and Lemon Basil fell prey to the rabbits in the backyard. I have planted more seeds and I have high hopes of having an abundant crop later in the season. For now though I have the Purple. It is mixed in with the flowers because of it showy foliage. Purple Basil, like the Sweet Basil, is edible but has a much different taste. These plants were designed to create a beautiful purple leafed plant but along the way, they have lost much in the way of flavor. It is used more in salads where the color can be appreciated. This plant will run rampant in the garden but is easy to control with a bit of thinning in the spring. They seem to require a lot of water and will wilt flat during the heat of the day if left too dry. A good soaking with the hose will rejuvenate them by the evening though so do not panic if the plant appears to be dead. Soak it good and leave it..it should revive quite rapidly. Another good factor is that this plant tends to reseed itself year after year if allowed to flower. I have had the mine for at least twenty years even through droughts, freezes and Katrina's salt water floods.

Another fine quality of Basil of any sort is that tests show that it is toxic to mosquitoes! I use it as a repellent for these pests and also to kill any itch if I do get bitten. Simply rub a fresh basil leaf onto the mosquito bite and the itch is almost instantly quieted. Something that is important to know when you live on a Bayou!