Oregano

Oregano

Soil

Any average, well drained soil in an easily accessible site.

Position

Full sun to partial afternoon shade.

Frost tolerant

Hardy in cold climates provided plant is well-rooted and mulched. If desired, small plants can be potted up in fall and grown through winter indoors.

Feeding

Not generally needed.

Companions

Tomato, Pepper and Broccoli.

Spacing

Single Plants: 7" (20cm) each way (minimum)

Rows: 5" (15cm) with 9" (25cm) row gap (minimum)

Sow and Plant

Start with a purchased plant, or start seeds indoors and set out at about the time of your last frost. Some strains are propagated only from cuttings. Authentic Greek oregano can be grown from seeds or plants.

Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.

Notes

Frequent pinching back helps to keep plants bushy and full, and it delays flowering. Some strains are grown for their pretty pink flowers. Oregano often spreads in hospitable spots. Moderately invasive.

Harvesting

Gather sprigs as needed in the kitchen. Gather stems for drying in early summer, just before the plants bloom.

Troubleshooting

Control oregano's spread by cutting back flowering stems when their colors fade.

Rosemary

Rosemary

Soil

Any average, well drained soil enriched with compost.

Position

Sun or partial shade.

Frost tolerant

Hardy only to about 10 degrees F, though winter protection can help. Where winters are mild, rosemary can grow into huge, shrub-like plants. In cold winter areas, small plants can be potted up in fall and grown through winter indoors.

Feeding

Drench plants with a water soluble organic plant food one month after setting them out.

Companions

Beans, Cabbage, Carrot, Sage and Lavender.

Spacing

Single Plants: 7" (20cm) each way (minimum)

Rows: 7" (20cm) with 7" (20cm) row gap (minimum)

Sow and Plant

Start with a purchased plant, keeping in mind that growth habit varies with variety. Trailing rosemary for walls, or dwarf varieties for containers, are propagated by rooting stem cuttings rather than from seeds. Wild Mediterranean rosemary can be grown from seeds or plants.

Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.

Notes

Frequent pinching back helps to keep plants bushy and full, and it delays flowering. Trailing rosemary is great cascading over a wall.

Harvesting

Gather sprigs as needed in the kitchen. Gather stems for drying from spring to late summer.

Troubleshooting

Plants are often short-lived, so root stem cuttings each spring to always have vigorous young plants. Treat small outbreaks of powdery mildew with a spray made from 2 Tablespoons milk in 1 cup water.

Basil

Basil

Soil

Rich soil.

Position

A sunny spot that is convenient for quick picking.

Frost tolerant

No.

Feeding

Not usually required.

Companions

Tomato, Pepper and Lettuce.

Spacing

Single Plants: 7" (20cm) each way (minimum)

Rows: 5" (15cm) with 9" (25cm) row gap (minimum)

Sow and Plant

Make a late spring planting of seedlings started indoors or purchased. In summer, after the soil is warm, sow more basil wherever you want it to grow.

Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.

Notes

Cover transplants with flowerpots to shade them from strong sun for 2 days or so. To keep new leafy branches coming on, pinch off the upright flower spikes as they appear.

Harvesting

Harvest leaves a few at a time as you need them in the kitchen. In midsummer, cut plants back by half to stimulate new growth, and make big batches of pesto with the trimmings.

Troubleshooting

Plants that slowly wilt to death and show a dark ring on their stems near the soil line are infected with fusarium wilt.

Borage

Borage

Soil

Any average, well drained soil.

Position

A sunny spot where bumblebees and other large pollinators are desired.

Frost tolerant

Seedlings will survive light frosts, but older plants are easily damaged.

Feeding

Not generally needed.

Companions

Tomato, Squash, Strawberry and Pepper. A good companion for any crop that needs strong defense from insects. Borage attracts large buzzing insects that dominate their air space.

Spacing

Single Plants: 1' 1" (35cm) each way (minimum)

Rows: 11" (30cm) with 1' 11" (60cm) row gap (minimum)

Sow and Plant

Plant the large seeds in your garden in late spring. A fresh crop of plants can be planted in late summer for bloom in the fall.

Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.

Notes

Borage seedlings are only edible when very young. Large plants produce edible, starry blue flowers that attract bees in droves. The foliage can be gathered and composted.

Harvesting

Cut back borage plants by half their size in midsummer to encourage reblooming. Blossom clusters make beautiful but short-lived cut flowers or edible garnishes.

Troubleshooting

Beware of sleepy bees when pruning or otherwise working with mature borage plants.

Sage

Sage

Soil

Any average, well drained soil enriched with compost.

Position

Full sun.

Frost tolerant

Hardy only to about 15 degrees F, though winter protection can help. In cold winter areas, small plants can be potted up in fall and grown through winter indoors.

Feeding

Drench plants with a water soluble organic plant food one month after setting them out.

Companions

Cabbage, Cucumber, Tomato and Rosemary.

Spacing

Single Plants: 11" (30cm) each way (minimum)

Rows: 11" (30cm) with 1' 3" (40cm) row gap (minimum)

Sow and Plant

Start with a purchased plant, or start seeds indoors in early spring. Plants started from seed may not bloom their first year.

Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.

Notes

One-year-old plants nursed through winter produce beautiful blue flowers. Sage grown in containers can be kept in a cold garage through winter.

Harvesting

Gather sprigs as needed in the kitchen. Gather stems for drying from spring to fall.

Troubleshooting

Plants are often short-lived, so root a few stem cuttings each spring to always have vigorous young plants.

Onions

Onions

Soil

Fertile, well drained soil with compost dug in. In clay soil, grow in raised beds or rows.

Position

Full sun.

Frost tolerant

Yes.

Feeding

Mix a balanced organic fertilizer into the bed or row before planting your onions, taking care to get it into the soil below the plants. Do not feed plants that are nearing maturity if you want very sweet onions.

Companions

Beet, Chamomile, Carrot, Lettuce, Strawberry, Tomato, Garlic, Scallions and Cabbage.

Spacing

Single Plants: 5" (15cm) each way (minimum)

Rows: 3" (10cm) with 7" (20cm) row gap (minimum)

Sow and Plant

If you don't start your own seeds, set out sets (small dormant bulbs) or pencil-size seedlings in spring, while the soil is still cool.

Our Garden Planner can produce a personalized calendar of when to sow, plant and harvest for your area.

Notes

Onions respond to changing day length. Grow short-day varieties in southern latitudes. Long-day varieties work best in northern areas. Try growing different varieties from seed to explore differences in bulb color, size and shape.

Harvesting

Harvest young onions as scallions. When bulbs form and the tops of the plants fall over, pull them and cure in a warm place for about 10 days before storing.

Troubleshooting

Weed early and often to keep onions growing strong. Seedlings are less likely to bolt (produce flowers) compared to bulb onions grown from sets.

DIY Landscape Design

The key to landscaping design 

If you want to incorporate only the best landscaping design then you need to start thinking along the lines of unity. This is key to your landscaping design success and it will need to be applied to your entire yard, all around your home. Your entire properly will need to have a similar feel and look, if you have this your home will have a balanced look of symmetry and this will add all kinds of beauty to your home. 

You can create a wonderful sense of unity to your landscaping design in a few different ways. The most common way of bringing harmony to your landscaping design is with similar types of plants and trees. This is easy to do and it will look fantastic. There is another way to get unity to be a basic part of your landscaping design and this is with heights. By having even different plants and trees of the same or similar height you will be bringing the whole design of your yard together like you never knew you could. It will look wonderful and it will be so easy! 

Your landscaping design should make use of much more than just plants and trees. Flowers look great but they generally only bloom for part of the year so you need to find some other landscaping design elements that will look perfect all year round. To do this you will want to look at landscaping stones and rocks, or even wood chips just to name a couple of things. You can even use granite and marble in your landscaping design. You can have nice little stepping stones, some statues or displays in your landscaping design or you can just have pretty rocks. 

A theme can go a long way towards making your landscaping design gorgeous. If you love butterflies or hummingbirds then choose plants and flowers that will attract them to your yard and garden. This is a glorious way to showcase your design and you will always have something pretty to look at. You can talk to those at your local plant store about which type of plants and flowers will work best for this where you live. 

In the end your landscaping design needs to be balanced and whole looking. You can do anything you want with your landscaping design, you can design it yourself or you can use a landscaping design that you have seen in real or in a book. No matter what you decide to do, as long as there is unity your landscaping design will look perfect. 

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Earwig: Forficula auricularia

Earwig

Forficula auricularia

Earwigs are an interesting insect, they can be considered beneficial insects, but they can also be considered a pest, they have scary rumors going around about going into yours ears at night to do who knows what, and they can look pretty scary . Earwigs can be a common sight in garden areas and if you are wondering what they are doing there, this post will tell you.

Well, when it comes to being a beneficial insect, Earwigs are a predator to aphids which are a common garden pest that tend to deform new growth and buds on many plants including roses. They also largely consume decomposing plant material.

On the other hand, the pest side of things, if they find a plant they like, or are forced to find above ground shelter because of rain, they are known to eat  dahlia, chrysanthemum,clematis, seedlings, potted plants, basil, leafy greens, fruit trees, and occasionally strawberry, raspberry, nectarine and apricot, you will find the plants have been devoured over night, some leaves being ripped to shreds, others partially eaten through. They may leave small black particles of excrement behind as well. Avoid growing susceptible plants close to hedges and walls covered in ivy as these can house a large numbers of earwigs.

Earwigs are rarely seen during daylight unless a rock or other hiding place has been disturbed. They can be found in dark damp places like under rocks, in dense plants, mulch and compost piles.