In an earlier article, I discussed the many health benefits of elderberry - especially as it relates to treatment of the flu. In the past couple of years, I have purchased the expensive elderberry syrups (Sambucol) and these seemed to work well when I felt like I was coming down with a cold or flu. This time I decided to try and save a little money and make my own. (more…)
As a follow up to my attempts to repel birds on my fig trees using a garlic and coffee spray, I would say that it was a limited success. In the clusters that I directly saturated, the spray seemed to keep the birds off for about a day. However, on the following day if I did not respray these areas, the effect seemed to have worn off and the figs were once again consumed. In conclusion, it might be worth the effort if you have fruit that is almost ripe and you don’t mind spraying every morning.
As can be seen in this photo of my figs, the birds have found them and are eating more than about half of the rippening figs. In the last few years, I tried hanging CDs from the limbs and only had limited success. (more…)
You can see here that my heirloom bell peppers that were planted in one gallon containers have clearly outgrown them. It’s actually quite amazing that they reached this current height of 2′ and were quite productive in such a small pot. However, the pots were transpiring too much water and the roots had pushed to the edge of the pots. (more…)
I just wanted to post a few photos of the new growth, blossoms, and fruit as spring gets into full swing. To the left is one of my fig trees that is about 6 years old and is starting to leaf out nicely. It is a Brown Turkey and as you can see is quite large. (more…)
I happen to live where there are plenty of squirrels, opossums, and raccoons, such that trying to grow fruit or nut trees becomes quite a challenge! For example, I tried to grow persimmons but before they could even begin to ripen the raccoons climbed the young trees and literally many of the limbs in search for food. (more…)
