Saturday, June 13, 2015

Why did I wait so long?

After the tomatoes expired  should have cleaned up the bed, added a little more good soil and planted some more of anything. The few herbs that were beyond useful took up the space instead. This year I planted tomatoes on either end, with peas, onions and chard in the middle. The webbing I put up to discourage my cat from using it as a bathroom will help start the climbers but they will need more support later on. Last year with shallow wide containers I had almost no luck with radishes, greens of any type or onions. Hoping with deeper and better soil I'll get something to eat.

The next issue will be trying to keep the bugs from eating everything. When white flies attacked the tomatoes last year I tried a commercial spray and a dish soap spray with little effect. That's when I read about Zote, an  insecticidal soap but the tomatoes were too far gone to bother with. I've since made a spray although a little stronger than the Mother Earth News article below. I sprayed some on my Avocado which is getting brown leaves from something.


Planted more tomatoes and Albahaca grande (Basil)

Hoja Santa, next pinapple and a tired basil 

Zote and Fels-Naptha are insecticidal

To make the insecticidal soap spray, shave one quarter of a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap (about 1 inch) into 1 quart of heated water and stir until dissolved. This will be your insecticidal soap concentrate. Put the soap solution into a labeled jar.

To use the soap spray, put 1 teaspoon of concentrate per quart into a sprayer. This insecticidal soap is a contact poison, so spray it directly onto the insects you want to eliminate from your home, garden or orchard. For additional killing power, add one-quarter cup of rubbing alcohol per quart.

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The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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