Companion planting & fall crop veggies

I haven't decided yet if I believe in companion planting. I know that when I plant marigolds throughout the garden I tend to have fewer bug problems.



Most of the information I know about companion planting I get from this website: http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html



For my garden specifically:

Beans like spinach, lettuce, carrots, dill, brassicas, beets, radishes and cukes

Radishes like cukes, lettuce and squash

Asparagus likes: basil, chives, garlic, onion, mint, parsley and marigolds; dislikes dill and beans

Tomatoes: pretty much the same as asparagus

Peas: beans, parsley, eggplant, cukes, brassicas, carrots and radishes, dislikes onions

Onion: cukes, peppers, squash, tomato, brassicas, beets, dill, lettuce; dislikes asparagus, beans, peas and sage

Peppers: same as asparagus

Okra: lettuce, peppers, eggplant, basil, cukes, melons and peas

Eggplants: beans, peas, peppers, spinach, marigold

Brassicas: beans, cukes, mint, onion, rosemary, sage, thyme, marigold; dislikes tomato and beans

Squash: onions and radishes

Cukes: beans, peas, eggplant, marigolds, onion, peas, tomatoes and dill

Basil: tomatoes, peppers, oregano, asparagus

Kohlrabi: cukes, onions, beets

Melons: radish, squash, marigolds

Radish: beets, carrots, cukes, melons, lettuce, parsnips, peas, spinach, squash


Plants that are good for fall crops:

Endive
Escarole
Carrots
Beets
Kohlrabi
Parsniops
Spinach
Also good to know: dill and radishes are good for deterring squash bugs

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Gravity Hills Syrah

I purchased this wine, Gravity Hills Syrah, at the same time as the El Portillo Chardonnay. It is a $20 bottle of wine, that I purchased for $14. This wine is from Paso Robles, CA, and I would drink it again.

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Starting seeds indoors!

Started eggplants and artichokes indoors.

Instead of using potting soil I used organic seed starting mix. Last year I used potting soil and had a problem with damping off. I did some research and many people say the seed starting mix is better when starting out.

I mixed the seed starting mix with water until it was about the consistency of cookie dough- difficult to stir but still sticking together. Then I put it into containers and leveled the top of the mix. The containers I used were ones I saved from last year, when I purchased a lot of the vegetables. I washed out the containers, to get rid of the old dirt, and then soaked them in a bleach/water mixture for about 10 minutes. This was due to some research I did about killing old bacteria that may be in the containers still.

I planted:
Thai Long Purple and Bianca Rosa eggplants
Green Globe artichokes

Tomatoes:
Black Cherry
Amish Paste
Thessaloniki

Peppers:
Red Cheese
Anaheim
Banana
Poblano
Golden Marconi
Quadrato D'asti Rosso

I soaked the artichoke seeds in water for four hours.

Everything (except the artichokes) that I sowed today was surface sown.

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El Portillo Chardonnay

I must say that I am not very good at choosing wines. Mostly because I don't know what I like yet. Therefore, I am starting to buy the same variety of wine, from several different vineyards. This is to see if I don't like the type of wine, or if I don't like the way one vineyard makes it.

I bought a bottle of El Portillo Chardonnay on sale at PFI. I believe it was a $20 bottle regular priced and was on sale for $12 or so. I did not like it. It was very dry and not sweet. I don't like when I drink a glass of wine and it makes the back of my mouth pucker, like I've just ate a lemon drop. I like wine to be smooth. Probably won't buy this Chardonnay again, but will buy another Chardonnay to see if I like it in general.

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