Hello World!
Spring has come to my home in the foothills of central Maine, and with it has come the time for sowing seeds and planting seedlings. I can't even begin to describe the feeling it gives me when I tuck a new, green plant into the dirt. Or the great pleasure I derive from just watering my gardens and seeing the progress each plant has made.
This connection I feel for the Earth is so strong, so powerful. I can't help but wonder how people can abuse this place the way they do. To me, it's all so beautiful and every bit of it is precious--down to every last cockroach, and mosquito. Yes, even the--gulp--spiders are beautiful (though I can't be held responsible for my actions if they come near me or actually get on me!).
I like to invite bugs into my garden through companion planting, and enjoy the wonder that is life on this planet we call home. Everyone knows about the bad bugs that eat your hard-won vegetables; but when you use companion planting, you can 'invite' predatory insects into your garden to eat the offensive buggers. It's life--but without the man-made chemicals. Also, some plants can be used to repel the party-crashers, like strong flavored herbs, and practically anything in the onion and garlic family.
Planting flowers--particularly those in the 'Aster' family ( ie: marigolds, daisies, chrysanthemums, coneflowers, etc.) gives pollinating bugs food, and draws them through your garden, which helps to increase yeilds. And, adding diversity to your garden also provides places for those beneficial insects to live when they're not dining, not to mention it all looks really great thrown together like that.
So if you're into organic gardening, and you can tolerate a bug or two, give companion-planting a try!
Spring has come to my home in the foothills of central Maine, and with it has come the time for sowing seeds and planting seedlings. I can't even begin to describe the feeling it gives me when I tuck a new, green plant into the dirt. Or the great pleasure I derive from just watering my gardens and seeing the progress each plant has made.
This connection I feel for the Earth is so strong, so powerful. I can't help but wonder how people can abuse this place the way they do. To me, it's all so beautiful and every bit of it is precious--down to every last cockroach, and mosquito. Yes, even the--gulp--spiders are beautiful (though I can't be held responsible for my actions if they come near me or actually get on me!).
I like to invite bugs into my garden through companion planting, and enjoy the wonder that is life on this planet we call home. Everyone knows about the bad bugs that eat your hard-won vegetables; but when you use companion planting, you can 'invite' predatory insects into your garden to eat the offensive buggers. It's life--but without the man-made chemicals. Also, some plants can be used to repel the party-crashers, like strong flavored herbs, and practically anything in the onion and garlic family.
Planting flowers--particularly those in the 'Aster' family ( ie: marigolds, daisies, chrysanthemums, coneflowers, etc.) gives pollinating bugs food, and draws them through your garden, which helps to increase yeilds. And, adding diversity to your garden also provides places for those beneficial insects to live when they're not dining, not to mention it all looks really great thrown together like that.
So if you're into organic gardening, and you can tolerate a bug or two, give companion-planting a try!
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