Chacha Cha CHIA

My toddler's have grown straight into teenagers, ready to hit their sexual prime. they have flower buds that should open any day. I cannot Wait to see how they turnout , finding picture of these guys is hard. so far I have 5 almost bloomed Plants from my original planting. But I also have 3 "elementary Schoolers" in my okra and 2 in my 'maters. I plan On weighing each seed I harvest so I Can decide If it was worth it- these seeds are expensive. I f I can get at least a pound from the cup or so of seeds I've used I would be happy.

GALECK, GALECK

Garlic, if there was ever to be an alien space invader made of kitchen tools I hope they have tons of GALECK

But in the mean time I preparing for my first garlic winter.  I grew garlic once in Fl. It was initially an amazing success, followed closely by unmitigated disaster. Not a single garlic in the pots or garden. However the year after I moved to Tucson my old roommate called me up "Hey, remember your garden? Garlic and Peppers seem to be growing like crazy over there!".  So while I did not get to enjoy the bulbs of my labor at least I know they were delicious eventually. Garlic makes my favorite i feel like crap dinners , Sopa de Ajo (from my FAVORITE cookbook, Clarita's Cocina-check it out) so I am definitely motivated to try again.

I started out at the AZGardenForum.  http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/azgard/msg0920362827535.html Turns out there is a bunch that goes into garlic. I am planning on doing a grocery store planting since so many of the garlic I buy already sprout when I forget them in the fridge.  So I'm pretty sure they are not sprayed with any retardant. So while my formal plan is to just shop and plop  I thought it would be nice to find some more out about Garlic to help with good planning on where it should go.

AH: Mother Earth News Fill us in: what do you know, the best kind for braiding :) Turns out these babies won't be ready till next summer.  Harvest time is when about half the leaves turn a yellowish color.  I need to figure out how to mark these guys as different from my chives, because they look similar. (My second test to identify plants after looking is tasting and they taste too similar for me to accurately identify between the two with any confidence)

Companion Issues: (and my NEW C.P. List) Plays poorly with Peas/Beans (Hmm, my chives are near the mystery beans, note to self to check on that later!) But it also plays VERY well with other plants turns out it is a "natural fungicide"  It is often grown with Roses to combat Aphids (see pests). It is also grown with fruit trees! (Who knew? not me!) They also support a lot of winter veggies, beets, and cabbages.


Pests: the reason Garlic is such an awesome companion plant is because it is supposed to help repel insects.  In fact in the War on Aphids, I considered making a Garlic Spray as one of my attempts to combat the gross lil devils. (I ended up making Tomato Spray because that was what was in the house). The lady at Arbico-Organics noted that the small flowers on herbs tend to attract lots of beneficials so I bet Garlic would as well.

Aphid elimination???

A whileback I noticed this guy in my plants 

I was worried that he A.) Might be another aphid destroyer bug, and I killed him with the neem oil  or B.) this is some other kind of terrible pest sent to destroy my beautiful garden.  Well it turns out my worry was unfounded. Turns out that little guy is a Syrphid Fly or Hoover Fly. This guy goes CRAZY  for aphids when it is a nymph then turns into a pollinator machine.  My worries of eradicating my entire beneficial population was also unfounded. Upon closer inspection among my melon and cucumber (i.e. worst hit by the aphid apocalypse) are tons of aphid munchers!

 See that guy?

they are not as gross when you think they are saving

your butt!

Mystery Beans

They are getting bigger and definitely some sort of bean.  I love pea/bean flowers. They are so delicate and dainty. They also offer up a nice change from all of the yellow of the summer veggies (think squash, melon, cucumber).

 They also have some beans. Problem is they are sort of a mystery plant. I got a little crazy and I planted a Bush bean, some Pinto beans and black beans at various times. However I did not label any of them, and they took FOREVER to come up.   I have no clue which ones these are!  I've tried a bite and they seem a little small and too furry to be edible at this time.  So maybe I have my first home grown frijoles!

Savers: Melon eddition

Not only did I make dinner tonight, I grew our salad.

pretty huh

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit I have already lied. I did not grow the cucumbers, they were a gift from a friends garden.  But everything ELSE was all me.  We have Mint, (yup THIS mint, more on that front in another post)  Basil, Cucumbers, and Melon (don't ask what kind...I REALLY need to invest in some kind of labeling system!).

Along with making a yummy salad I thought I'd show you how to use your delicious melon to extend your garden.  So follow along with another SAVERS: Melon Edition.

Step 1. Start with your melon: 

Step 2. Cut it in half:

Look at all them seeds

Step 3. Start Scoopin'

Really get your hands in there...Gross

Step 4. See all that goop? Rinse it off, and let dry! TADA!!!

oh yea...goop

Step 5. And then I check to see if they are "filled".  I'm not sure if this is totally "scientific" but the way I check the seeds to see if they were from a "mature" plant is crack one in my teeth and see if there is a seed pod inside. Sometimes if you picked to early the seed sheath on the outside is all you have but the inside is empty.

If you look REALLY close you can see the "outside" of the melon seed (testa) and the seed guts (endosperm) on the inside. 

From this whole melon I got a whole handful of seeds.I just saved a few dollars on a new envelope of melon seeds. This handful is only from one melon, another melon in the garden and I will have enough melon seeds to grow a garden of melons!

Not a mystery-and part of the war on the aphids

Well look what I found.  I initially thought I had an M3 here; (mystery plant #3) but upon closer inspection I found a seed casing on one of the leaves.  I looked through my recently planted seeds and Viola! It appears my Cosmos have sprouted! (I really need to start labeling shit around here)

so cute and pretty

I planted these guys a few weeks ago in my battle of the aphids. These guys will grow tall and set out some beautiful white flowers. See it's the baby lace wings that are voracious carnivores as adults they are strictly vegetarian.  The Adult Green Lace Wings eat nectar from the flowers. Since I have PLENTY of nymph food (aphids) and hopefully I will soon have lots of adult food the plan is that they will then stick around the garden to lay their eggs. These guys are way to small to explain the sudden increase in beneficials at this time but should they survive the winter I have a jump start on the spring planting and bug control.

The first Official Beneficial (Aphids Cinco de Octobre)

Well, back from vacation and things don't look much better..

In fact the aphids look worse. But wait, Look Closer

And Closer

Mummies and Parasitic Wasps. I returned to Arbico-Organics to confirm that what I had was finally a breakthrough. IT WAS! My first OFFICIAL BENEFICIAL.  These guys are also really awesome. They are stingless wasps that lay an egg INSIDE of the aphid. That "mummy" in the second picture is actually a swollen aphid that has turned into a cocoon! A second wasp will be flying out of a hole in its belly some day soon. (Nature is SO gross)

I was also confirmed that the aphid infestation is bad, really bad.  So I picked up bottle of Neem Oil to spray down some of this invasion. I have some mixed feelings about this move.  I was told not to worry too much about harming my wasp-he has wings so he will fly away.  Plus Neem is pretty natural stuff, in fact its the original tooth-stick .  It will also work as a fungicide, one of the side effects of aphids sticking their little mouths where they don't belong, is the introduction of fungus into your healthy plants.  So I will be using the spray but I will only be spraying the neem oil in a few of the MOST infested parts of the garden. Just enough to knock down the numbers and give these wasps a second to come through.