Organic Patch Summer gardening

Mosquito repellent: rub a handful of fresh elder leaves on your exposed parts and repeat often! I do this with lavender and it helps considerably with our late summer monsoon mosquitoes.

I don't over plan my garden and take the relaxing intuitive fun out it.

Sustainable living projects

catepillars on grape lvs photo

Catepillars attacked my grape leaves before I moved them to the country home and into a big plastic garbage can as a container with richer soil.

Dipel is one product containing bacillus thuringensis to be used with moderate success against these fast and prolific multipliers.

Make sure the grape vines are in a sunny spot where they don't stay too wet.

Add more soil amendments like fish emulsion so they will be less prone to attack.

My bees need an outdoor fountain that irrigation feeds with shallow tray-like depressions. I can irrigate during winter's warmest daytime hours. I have four bee hives, three of which I captured as each newly ordained queen took her swarm to start a new home with. Ants here are persistent. I use tanglefoot around potted plants, but it's easy to get the goop on me.You need pot bottoms or the ants go in through the drainholes.

HERB FEATURE

Feverfew
Chrysanthemum parthenium

Medical uses for Feverfew are many. It can be used for migraine headaches, arthritic pain, depression, and nausea

Take a week or two at a time, then discontinue for a few weeks, like any medicinal.

Summer's end it drys up completely, but it may return in late winter if the frosts haven't been too hard.

This plant gained significant ground by reseeding itself profusely to the exclusion of other plants that may have volunteered in that bed.

It's spot in my So Arizona garden is partially shaded, but it doesn't seem to be very fussy about anything.

Partially Africanized Honey Bees
More bee adventures
My most aggressive bee colony was amazingly calm when I discovered the whole hive had toppled with open supers of honey strewn about once. They seemed grateful I was putting their house back together. I harvested 4 gallons of honey in the process!
I visited the Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson which is due to be dismantled. I had a good chat with Eric Ericson over there and enjoyed looking at some of the old bee stuff in the library and his office.

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	Mosquito repellent: rub a handful of fresh elder leaves on your exposed parts and repeat often! I do this with lavender and it helps considerably with our late summer monsoon mosquitoes. I don't over plan my garden and take the relaxing intuitive fun out it.	Sustainable living projects
		Catepillars attacked my grape leaves before I moved them to the country home and into a big plastic garbage can as a container with richer soil. Dipel is one product containing bacillus thuringensis to be used with moderate success against these fast and prolific multipliers. Make sure the grape vines are in a sunny spot where they don't stay too wet. Add more soil amendments like fish emulsion so they will be less prone to attack.
My bees need an outdoor fountain that irrigation feeds with shallow tray-like depressions. I can irrigate during winter's warmest daytime hours.	I have four bee hives, three of which I captured as each newly ordained queen took her swarm to start a new home with.	Ants here are persistent. I use tanglefoot around potted plants, but it's easy to get the goop on me.You need pot bottoms or the ants go in through the drainholes.
	HERB FEATURE Feverfew Chrysanthemum parthenium Medical uses for Feverfew are many. It can be used for migraine headaches, arthritic pain, depression, and nausea Take a week or two at a time, then discontinue for a few weeks, like any medicinal.	Summer's end it drys up completely, but it may return in late winter if the frosts haven't been too hard. This plant gained significant ground by reseeding itself profusely to the exclusion of other plants that may have volunteered in that bed. It's spot in my So Arizona garden is partially shaded, but it doesn't seem to be very fussy about anything.
Partially Africanized Honey Bees More bee adventures	My most aggressive bee colony was amazingly calm when I discovered the whole hive had toppled with open supers of honey strewn about once. They seemed grateful I was putting their house back together. I harvested 4 gallons of honey in the process!	I visited the Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson which is due to be dismantled. I had a good chat with Eric Ericson over there and enjoyed looking at some of the old bee stuff in the library and his office.