LD Did you inoculate the seed before planting? I bought an extra pouch of the legume inoculant and tried to apply dry to the seed before spreading. I read somewhere that clover/legumes won't fix nitrogen unless they have been inoculated or if the bacteria is present in the soil.
Stankie Adding that important piece of information might have been helpful, eh? LD's Amateur Hour........ Thanks for the reminder/input! A very important component to add to this class of plants. LD
Chives, Garlic, Scallions and other related plants will bring tons of earthworms to your garden bed. Just don't plant anything too invasive, and avoid and remove natural vines, which can choke out your plants. A perimeter of mixed marigolds (already mentioned several times), and more importantly foxglove, nasturtium and basil will protect you from deer, cats, rabbits, as well as from both slimy, and most crawly/winged pests. This may help as well: Repellent Plants and Natural Repellents: General insects Ants * Pennyroyal * Spearmint * Southernwood * Tansy. Aphids * Anise * Chives * Coriander * Garlic * Nasturtium * Pennyroyal * Petunia * Spearmint * Southernwood * Tansy. Asparagus beetle * Tomato Cabbage maggot * Hemp * Mint * Tomato * Rosemary * Sage. Cabbage Moth * Catnip * Celery * Hemp * Hyssop * Nasturtium * Rosemary * Sage * Southernwood * Thyme * Wormwood Carrot fly * Black salsify * Coriander * Rosemary * Sage * Salsify * Wormwood. Chinch bug * Soybean. Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata * Dead nettle * Flax * Green beans * Horseradish. Cucumber beetle * Radish * Tansy. Japanese beetle * Garlic * Pelargonium geraniums * Larkspur, Rue * Tansy. Leafhopper * Pelargonium geraniums * Petunia. Mexican bean beetle Epilachna varivestis * Marigold * Petunia * Potato * Rosemary * Summer Savory. Plum curculio * Garlic Rose chafer * Pelargonium geraniums * Onion * Petunia. Squash bug * Nasturtium * Petunia. Striped pumpkin beetle * Nasturtium Whitefly * Marigold * Nasturtium * Nicandra (Peruvian Ground Cherry.) Wireworm * White Mustard [edit] Moths and their larvae Cutworm * Tansy Fruit Tree Moth * Southernwood Tomato hornworm * Borage * Marigold * Opal Basil [edit] Parasitic pests Eelworm * French & African Marigold Mites * Chives * Garlic * Onion Nematode * Asparagus * Dahlia * Calendula, French & African Marigold, Salvis Slugs & Snails * Prostrate Rosemary * Wormwood [edit] Mammals Moles * Castor bean * Mole plant * Spurge * Squill. Gopher * Castor Bean Mice * Mint * Neem cake Rabbit * Allium Family * Neem cake
I've got Borage and Yarrow in every raised bed this year with 3 Borage plants in the strawberry & tomato beds. Good stuff! LD
Guys, this is one of the most interesting and resourceful threads I have seen in a while. I have been extremely happy with the results I have gotten in the past from the "usual suspects" on GC and haven't done much to change my "style" in a while. This subject matter really interests me. One thing I would wonder, LD or any of you, what do you think of growing Borage, Yarrow or Comfrey in the Phoenix AZ area. I would certainly have raised beds. Let me knwo if you think the stuff would have a hard time or not. I could get it in a place with only morning light and keep it on a watering system thanks for the info and any info you might have.JaK
JaK Both the Yarrow & Borage would be good candidates for your raised beds. You'll want several Yarrow plants for making foliar teas with. The Borage plant does most of its beneficial work in the root zone through exudes and the exchange of cations from the elements that it pulls from deep in the earth. Borage is a close cousin to Comfrey. The main thing about growing Comfrey is that until the plant is firmly established (about 5 - 7 weeks) you'll want to keep the soil fairly wet out to the drip line. Once the plant pushes the roots down 10' or so you should be able to back-off the watering substantially. That will depend on how shallow/deep the water table is in Phoenix. You don't need or even necessarily want to grow this plant in your raised beds. If you have a place on a side of your home where it gets several hours of shade then that would be an ideal spot. But heat isn't necessarily the issue - it's about water. The growth rate of Comfrey impresses everyone who plants it. That amount of activity requires a lot of water - 95% of a plant's biomass comes from sunshine and water - that's it. You'll be in good shape with all of these plants. The Borage & Yarrow grow to about 3' tall which provides shade for your strawberry plants and depending on whether you planted determinate or indeterminate tomato cultivars you will get that same benefit with them as well. Good companion plant for other plants that would benefit from partial shade during the hot afternoons. Just do what you do with any other plant in the desert sun - water it. Often. Regularly. Thoroughly. LD
Here's a photo of comfrey plants at the Huntington Gardens near Pasadena, California. Planting Comfrey in and around the trees in an orchard and vineyards is something that I found looking at web sites in Europe (England in particular) where there is a long history of using Comfrey as a fertilizer. Same with Stinging Nettle. These plants are in their 2nd year and if you double the amount of leaf that you see in the photo - that's when you take your cuttings. Depending on where you live you can expect to get 4 - 6 cuttings per year. About 20 - 25 lbs. per plant per cutting.
Golden Yarrow (this variety is native to the Pacific Northwest) You'll want to take the flower heads and crush them and add 3x water. Steep for only a week or so and apply to the soil full-strength and half-strength for foliar. Especially for heat stress and general plant vigor.
I also didnt realize how Horizontally the Comfrey grew//I may have planted my plants to close ! To expand on Stankies questions, how big do you let them get before the first chopping? mine are growing like crazy !!
My main information source for comfrey comes from a book titled Comfrey: Past, Present and Future by Lawrence D. Hills. The author is the British horticulturist who developed the Bocking cultivar series in the 1950's of which the Bocking 14 Cultivar was one of 10. Dr. Hills had his nursery on Bocking Road hence the name. As the plant develops you'll want to remove all of the flower stems as it grows which will maximize leaf development. When the plant is > 2' you can take your first cutting. Take it down like you would a kale or chard plant - cut the leaf and leave a few inches of the stem. Like many plants that initial cut will result in multiple leaf development. Kinda like topping. For winter you'll need to figure out how to work it out with the weather patterns in your area. What you want to have happen is that at the end of the season, a few weeks before your first frost, is to have about 12 - 15" of leaf growth. Pack a couple of handfuls of compost or worm castings around the base of the plant and do a heavy mulch with straw or hay. That's it. Same deal as preparing strawberry beds in cold climates. One thing that I found interesting about Yarrow - it's the dried flower stems that are used in traditional Chinese I Ching readings - the odd looking I Ching Sticks. Or as Steve Jobs would call it - "iChing" or something equally annoying. LD
Garlic! I put some clones out for a spring harvest and hid them among the 5 gallon buckets of garlic that I had over wintered (~20). ZERO bug problems! On another site, a guy took it a step further and planted a clove or 2 of garlic in his mj container. Said it worked just as well. I doubt that he got any garlic to speak of, since it takes ~8 months to grow, but sticking a clove or 2 from store bought garlic (I wouldn't use my 'good' stuff), is easy and works. Wet
wongsuxx Horizon Herbs carries the largest collection of medicinal herbs of anyone that I know of. They're down in Williams, Oregon near Wonder, Oregon (i.e. the (in)famous Williams Wonder strain). While not a seed company, per se, they are a working biodynamic organic farm which offers seeds of the herbs that they cultivate. Borage seeds are aviable from any number of seed companies - even mainstream companies like Burpee carry Borage. Yarrow seeds aren't as common but easily sourced from companies other than Horizon Herbs - Mountain Rose Herbs in Eugene, Oregon carry the native Yarrow seeds. Horizon Herbs carries seeds like Dandelion, Stinging Nettle, Valarian, et al. The seeds that I purchased this year from them were > 95% germination rate(s). Good people dedicated to a process and a belief system - I enjoy doing business with them. Same with Mountain Rose Herbs - good people as well. HTH LD
wong Just an FYI - a pound of Yarrow seeds is about 2.5 MILLION seeds!! You'll probably do well with a single pack of seeds this year as next year you'll have enough seeds to plant the entire state of Idaho. Utah. Oregon. Washington. Together. LMAO LD
wetdog Here's one for you - garlic is a perennial. Let a few go for several months - like 18-24 and see what you think! Great source of sulphur and as well as the benefits you already know about. LD
Going to try something like that, letting one bucket mature, not cutting the scapes and will plant the bulbils this fall. Garlic doesn't produce seeds, but teeny tiny plants that take 2 years to mature. All I have to do is keep breathing that long. LOL BTW, Williams Wonder was the first named strain I ever grew. Got the seeds from SSSC in 1989 or so. Really nice, but was about the stinkiest weed I've ever seen. You could smell a 10" plant 50' away, outside. Wet