So, Where are the April Showers?
I thought April showers brought May flowers.
I'm having to water my lawn as if it were a rice paddy, just to keep it looking like it's not desert land.
Not enough rain for April and that's just not normal.
Global warming is kicking our butts.
But still there's good news.
One thing I have discovered that has turned my basil plants into freakish gargantuans with leaves the size of avocados: it's 20-20-20 fertilizer. Fabulous stuff.
I use Miracle Gro on occasion too, but this 20-20-20 stuff is to Miracle Gro as a wine cooler is to a bottle of Bacardi 101.
My basil plants are so huge I could make pesto for a thousand people.
10 comments:
I'll take some pesto..and a book :P
Nah...I don't have any parmesan and not enough pine nuts. Plus it's too hot to use the blender.
20-20-20 is great stuff but be careful cause it'll kick the flower production machinery into high gear. I've always used the Miracle Gro stuff on my herbs but this year I'll give the 20-20-20 stuff a try. Are you using the Peter's formula? Have you ever tried to grow dill? Mine grew so fast and so tall one year I don't even remember harvesting any fronds, but flowers, oh my, I turned my back and when I looked back it was in full bloom! Not long after that, the plant was just a spent husk. I've got to figure out some way to slow it down and make more leaves (fronds).
P.S. I love growing things in the garden. It takes time that would probably be used groaning to myself about politics and writing angry, sometimes humorous comments on blogs. [*wink*]
My dill is kicking ass, but I pinch anything that even looks like it may one day be a flower before it develops. The secret to dill is never to let any stem to get too long, or else it gets straggly. Any dill stem that starts outpacing the rest of them gets pinched to match.
My magenta colored vincas were about the diameter of a half dollar when I potted them, now they are the diameter of a Ritz cracker.
Even my lavender is freakishy full, with each leaf about 1.5 inches long.
I am also using an organic insect killer, because those little fuckers love to eat the basil.
Gardening is a great antidote to political contemplation. Besides, with this economy who can afford to buy fresh herbs??
Thanks for the tips with the dill Karen! You definitely sound like you've developed a nicely sized green thumb. I agree with you about gardening being a great antidote. Even if it's just a houseplant here and there, everyone should garden.
This year, I've let my backyard grow wild. (Well, till the neighbors complain.) It's self-seeded with wildflowers, and although it's not much to look at, cause all the blooms are tiny and white, the butterflies love them! I'm thinking of doing the same with the front yard. Last year it was overrun with dandelions. The trick is to cut the flowers off before they go to seed, or the neighbors WILL get pissed. The yellow is such a nice contrast against the green though, and best of all, it's free!
Listen to y'all... up here in Vt we are at least having the daffodils bloom, the forsythia... but the growing season basically lies before us. Sigh.
Giggle, Lulu!
Y'all have the beautiful fall foliage... imagine how boring watching tumbleweed gets when you can't afford to water the yard anymore.
I have dandelions in my front lawn that have a 7 inch root the size of a small carrot. I have to soak the ground, then excavate them.
My backyard is dominated by a huge pecan tree, along with several renegade hackberry tree seedlings, which are self propagating and can grow from a block of solid granite.
Hackberry trees are useless. Even their bark is ugly and warty.
LuLu is an excellent gardener. I remember back in the 70's we used to eat the tiny sweet strawberries she planted in little clumps all over her yard.
Lark,
20-20-20 is simply amazing compared to Miracle Gro, which is a very good product in itself.
You have to be cautious using it so it doesn't burn tender young plants, but when you follow the directions to the letter, your blossoms and herbs and other plants will get bigger and bushier than you'd ever thought possible.
I should get a digital camera and figure out how to post photos on my blog.
My basil leaves are now as big as mangos.
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