©Deborah S. Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

Butterflies scarce this summer? By following these few tips, butterflies will be enticed to your lawn and garden areas this summer, when butterflies are the most active.

Butterfly Garden Tips:
1. Don’t use chemical insecticides in the butterfly garden.
2. Establish your flower garden where it will receive full sun. Butterflies need direct sunlight for flying power.
3. Like hummingbirds, butterflies are attracted to flowers by color. Group flowers that butterflies favor in clusters.
4. Plant taller species toward the back of the flowerbed and shorter flowers at the front to get the best view of both flowers in bloom and butterflies in flight.
5. Butterflies do not drink from open water, but are drawn to moisture instead. Fill a saucer with potting soil or a sponge and add water to moisten. Place saucer in the flower garden and keep soil or sponge moist through the summer.
6. Set a rock in a sunny place in your garden for butterflies to alight on. Butterflies sun on rocks for energy to fly.
7. What’s the most popular plant used to lure butterflies? The brilliantly orange, Butterfly Weed and Butterfly Bush, of course.
8. Plant botanicals that produce nectar and attract butterflies. List follows.

A garden of butterflies is what you’ll have by planting a garden full of these flowering shrubs, trees and flowers. (The best time to plant trees is in the fall.)

Flowers Butterflies Love:

Ageratum Marigolds
Aster Mexican Sunflower
Bee-balm Milkweed
Black-eyed Susan Nasturtium
Butterfly Weed Passion flower
Chives Phlox
Coneflower Queen Anne’s Lace
Coreopsis Shasta Daisy
Cosmos Sage
Daylily Sunflower
Globe Amaranth Verbena
Goldenrod Yarrow
Hibiscus Zinnia
Hollyhock
Impatiens
Ironweed
Lantana

Flowering Shrubs, Trees and Vines Butterflies Frequent:

Butterfly Bush
Cypress Vine
Mock Orange Tree
Pear
Plum
Redbud
Rose of Sharon
Tulip Tree

An entire chapter on Theme Gardens, which includes: Cut Flower Garden, The Mr. McGregor and Peter Rabbit Garden, Biblical Garden, Water Garden, Hummingbird Garden, and Rock Garden Ideas are waiting to inspire you in Deborah Tukua and Vicki West’s book, Pearls of Garden Wisdom. The book is on sale now to FATV readers. Visit the shop for your copy today!

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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©By Deborah S. Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

Swarming mosquitoes threatening to ruin your cookout this weekend? An even greater concern, of course is avoiding the diseases such as West Nile virus that mosquitoes carry. Mosquitoes are the biggest threat from dusk until dawn. Evenings in the summertime are most pleasant outdoors, but not when mosquitoes are present. While it is unlikely that we will ever be able to eliminate mosquitoes from this planet, there are steps that we can take to avoid getting bit by these bloodthirsty pests this summer.

Step 1 – Ensure That Your Yard is Not a Breeding Ground for Mosquitoes.
· Make sure that there are no buckets or empty planters left where they could collect stagnant water. Empty any standing water found and store empty containers upside down.
· Check the gutter on the house for leaves or other debris blocking rainwater from flowing freely.
· Change the water in the birdbath weekly.
· If you have a pond or water garden, install a pump, waterfall or fountain to keep the water flowing. Mosquitoes require stagnant water to breed.
· Fill in any puddles or low spots in the lawn with soil or rock. Check the area just beneath all downspouts to ensure there is no standing water.

Step 2 – Fighting Off Mosquitoes Naturally·
. Install a bat house near your outdoor living spaces. Bats dine on mosquitoes in the evening and are a beauty to behold in flight.
· Erect bird feeders in your yard to attract wild birds, which feast on mosquitoes.
· Stock the water garden or pond with goldfish or other mosquito larvae eating fish.
· Use yellow bug lights outside on the patio, porch or deck.
· Light citronella candles or mosquito coils when using outdoor seating areas. There are safe, propane and butane operated mosquito traps and devices that can be used when entertaining outdoors.
· Install ceiling fans on your covered porch or balcony and sit beneath them when outdoors at night to discourage mosquitoes from lighting on you and your guests.
· Use an oscillating fan in outdoor living spaces in the evenings.
· Wear light colored clothing with thin, long sleeves, long pants and socks when working in the garden just before dark. Spray a mosquito repellent on top of your clothing.
· There are safe, nonchemical, herbal-based repellents on the market. Most contain plant-based oils such as citronella, cedar, eucalyptus, lemongrass, peppermint, basil, geranium and feverfew, which are mosquito deterrents. These are safe for use on children, who are highly susceptible to mosquito bites when running and playing outdoors at night.
. Taking garlic or brewers yeast supplements is said to deter insect bites.

~Numerous tips for ridding the garden and lawn of pests naturally are found in Deborah Tukua and Vicki West’s book, Pearls of Garden Wisdom. This handy gardening companion is available now at discounted prices to the FATV readers. Visit the shop for your copy today!

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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©By Deborah S. Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

Mulching holds a close second place next to compost as being the organic gardener’s closest companion. Mulching around vegetables, trees, shrubs, and flowers is beneficial in a variety of ways. Besides enriching the soil with organic matter, mulch also aides in keeping the soil temperature even, prohibiting extremes of too hot or too cold year round.

There are two main times in the year when mulching the garden, orchard and flowerbeds is essential. Place mulch around outdoor plants in late autumn to provide a barrier of protection from frigid temperatures and mulch again in summertime to help plants retain needed moisture and to reduce the growth of weeds. In summer, mulch also helps keep fruit and vegetables off the ground and out of standing water, avoiding unnecessary rot.

Mulching Tips:

· Pine straw is the ideal mulch for all acid-loving vegetables and flowers. Place pine straw around tomato plants, roses, camellias, azaleas, and rhododendrons.
· Mulch between rows and pathways in the garden to reduce weeds. After the growing season, organic mulch can be turned into the soil to enrich the soil.
· Organic mulch can be freely obtained by putting to use shredded newspaper, grass clippings, bales of straw, pine needles, wood shavings or chips, shredded leaves and old sawdust. Local sawmills can furnish sawdust, tree bark and wood chips at little or no cost when you bring your own truck or trailer to haul it away.
· Water the soil around your plants well just before mulching.
· Keep the mulch from touching the stems and trunks of plants, shrubs and trees.
· Mulch 2” inches deep.
· The best time to mulch is right after a rain or just after watering.
· When using newspaper as mulch do not use pages with color ink. Newspaper breaks down quickly. Weigh shredded newspaper down with bark or wood chips.
. For inexpensive, highly beneficial organic mulch sure to enrich the soil use these three layers. First add a layer of shredded newspaper. Second, add a layer of decomposed manure and top with a third layer of straw, shavings or chips.

A bounty of garden tips abound in Deborah Tukua and Vicki West’s resourceful guide, Pearls of Garden Wisdom. Make the most of your garden, yard and patio spaces, visit the FA-TV shop today.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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©By Deborah S. Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

Making sugar water nectar for a hanging hummingbird feeder is simple. Since the standard feeder holds about one quart, here’s a recipe for that amount.

Hummingbird Nectar Recipe~

4 cups water
1 cup sugar

Stir sugar into a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow cooling completely before adding to hummingbird feeder.

Hummingbird Feeder Tips:
· Hang the feeder in partial shade to keep the nectar solution from fermenting.
· Tie a red bandana to the top of the feeder to attract hummingbirds.
· Best to hang the feeder from a chain away from any post that ants might crawl up on. Ants, wasps and bees can also be attracted to the feeder. If this becomes a problem, visit your local garden center for a mesh bee guard to attach to the feeder.
. Never substitute honey for sugar when making sugar water nectar.

Deborah Tukua and Vicki West have compiled great gardening tips and age old advice in their lovely, hardbound edition of Pearls of Garden Wisdom. Purchase your copy today at the FA-TV’s shop!

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Slugs are attracted to beer? FACT Leave out a dish, and snails and slugs drown themselves in pure pleasure. This method gets varied results, though; some gardeners report escapees. For optimal results, don’t change the beer daily (the nasty things are attracted to the bloated bodies of their own kind).

The caffeine in used coffee grinds kills slugs and snails? MYTH High doses of caffeine are fatal to slugs and snails, but there is no caffeine in used grounds; the water leaches it out. Spreading fresh grounds won’t work either. There’s not enough caffeine in the grounds, and it could affect your soil pH. All you’d get is hyped-up slugs.

Copper deters slugs and snails? FACT Their slime reacts with the copper to create an unpleasant sensation. Organic gardeners have used copper wire around plants and it has worked for them.

Diatomaceous earth is the best way to rid a garden of snails and slugs? FACT AND MYTH Diatomaceous earth (think ground-up sea creatures) will kill snails. The diatomaceous earth contains silicone , which works its way under the snail’s shell, seperating the snail from the shell and causing it to dehydrate. While it’s unpleasant for the snail it isn’t fatal. Lime, ashes and sawdust act as a deterrent, but they lose their effectiveness when wet and can damage your soil. If you want to go the irritant route, try eggshell fragments.

All commericial slug baits are dangerous? MYTH That was true for years. The chemicals used in slug baits could kill small animals and children. Now, baits using iron phosphate are becoming more common. Escar-Go and Sluggo are popular brands.

Taken from The Progressive Farmer June/July 2006

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Both snails and slugs have gel-like bodies, travel on a trail of slime and have four tentacles - to on the top of the head with eyes on the end and two below the head for sensory purposes. The main difference is the most obvious one: The slug doesn’t carry a shell, although some may have plate on top of the mantle, which is just behind the head.

Now you know!!!

Taken from The Progressive Farmer June/July 2006

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Make your own soothing comfrey soap for the gardener’s hands.

Directions:

Grate a few bars of ivory or homemade soap. Stir in 2 T. baby oats cereal and set aside. Make a comfrey tea by picking fresh comfrey leaves and chop fine. The herb comfrey can be found growing wild in undisturbed fields. Comfrey is very healing to a gardener’s hands. Put 1 c. chopped leaves in a warm jar and cover with boiling water. Screw on lid and let this steep at least 20 minutes.

Add a little of this comfrey tea to the grated soap a little at a time until you can work up a bar of soap. Or place in a soap mold if you prefer. Allow drying completely before using.

Variation:
Calendula or plantain, or a combination of all three herbs, including comfrey could comprise the 1 c. of herb leaves used to make this soap and would produce a great soothing gardener’s soap, as all are of great benefit to the hands.

~Excerpted from Pearls of Garden Wisdom by Deborah Tukua and Vicki West. This lovely book contains over 500 helpful tips, recipes and resourceful ideas. It is on sale now at the FATV shop.

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© By Deborah S. Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

Hummingbirds are beautiful to watch and can be easily enticed into your flower garden.

The first important fact to know is that hummingbirds are attracted to flowers by color. They are particularly drawn to red, orange and pink blooms for the nectar. A second factor to consider is the shape of the flowers. Plants with tubular, bell-like blooms are the hummingbird’s favorite. Tubular flowers grow not only on perennials but also on vines, bushes, herbs and wildflowers. Providing this natural botanical nectar will supply essential nourishment and energy to visiting hummingbirds. To lure hummingbirds to linger long in your flower garden, plant any of the following botanicals.

Azalea
Bee Balm
Bellflower
Borage
Butterfly weed
Columbine
Cypress Vine
Flowering Quince
Foxglove
Fuchsia
Hibiscus
Lilac
Lily
Mock Orange
Morning Glory
Petunia
Phlox
Rhododendron
Salvia
Spotted Touch-me-not; Jewelweed
Sweet William
Trumpet Honeysuckle
Weigela
Zinnia

Deborah Tukua is co-author of the resourceful gardening guidebook: Pearls of Garden Wisdom. This lovely, hardbound book is on sale now at the FATV shop.

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©By Deborah S. Tukua

Roses have long stood as a symbol of love in the gift and ceremonies in which they are integrally woven. Roses retain their preferred standing on the top ten most popular list of flowers for weddings, graduations and special occasions and are popularly used through out all four seasons of the year.

If you are blessed with roses in your garden, here are ten ways to use them to add a special touch to your June celebrations and gifts.
1. Boutonnière – Make memories for years to come, present a rose boutonnière from your very own garden to Dad or your husband for Father’s Day.
2. Add organically grown rose petals to cups of hot tea.
3. Float organically grown rose petals in bridal or graduation ceremony punch bowls.
4. Sprinkle the table with fragrant rose petals when hosting teas or receptions.
5. Decorate iced cakes and cupcakes with fresh, organically grown rosebuds and petals. Cut rosebuds in half first.
6. Make sachets for graduation and bridal gifts with rose petals and lavender.
7. Chopped rose petals add a special touch when making soapballs.
8. Cut tiny rosebuds in half with scissors and glue one half to a place card for each guest at your next garden party.
9. Tie a fresh, stemmed rose around each dinner napkin with ribbon for a lovely token of the event that your guests may carry home. Be sure to remove the thorns from each stem first.
10. Present a rosebush as a gift for Father, the bride or the graduate. Give the gift that lasts, plant roses to commemorate any special event in your family.

~Deborah Tukua is co-author of Pearls of Garden Wisdom. Many lovely ‘Gifts from the Garden’ projects and ideas abound in her book, including the directions for making soapballs and sachets. Purchase a copy today at the FATV shop while on-line. To receive Deborah’s free e-newletter sign-up at www.hollycreekbooks.com

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©By Deborah S. Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com
With an abundance of sugar snap peas in our raised garden bed still producing this month, we’ve frozen some in bags to enjoy later. While I am a proponent of home-canning, a surplus of these peas should be frozen instead of canned. Most freezer preserving guides don’t include sugar snap or snow peas, so we’ll provide the how-to-freeze directions here.

Harvesting~
Both snow peas and sugar snap peas have edible pods. Pick ripe pea pods from the vine every few days to ensure tender, crunchy freshness. Harvest snow peas when the peas in the pod have just begun to form and the pod remains tender and flat. Harvest sugar snap peas from the vine once the peas have begun to fatten, causing the pod to round.

Preparing to Eat, Cook or Freeze~
Pinch off the ends and pull to remove the strings along the seams of the pods before eating or freezing. The fresh peas can now be eaten raw, stir-fried, steamed, stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for two weeks or frozen.

Freezing~
The peas must be blanched before storing in the freezer. To blanch, add 4 quarts of water to a pot and bring to a boil. While water is heating, prepare the pods as instructed in previous paragraph. Add 2 to 3 cups of pea pods to the boiling water and cover. Time for exactly 2 minutes and remove promptly from heat. Drain off water and place the pea pods immediately in a bowl of ice water for 2 minutes. Remove from bowl and dry pea pods on paper towels. Place snow peas or sugar snap peas into freezer bags or containers, seal, label and store in freezer.

~For more food preserving recipes and helpful instructions, you’ll benefit greatly from the resourceful trio set of ‘Pearls of Wisdom’ books by country author, Deborah Tukua, on sale now at the FATV store.

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