Quote For the Day

Ahhh Daffodils. My Favoirte

"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make a change" - Michael Jackson

Blueberries Jubilee

Picked this recipe up at the Pepper Place Farmers Market from a blueberry farmer in Mt Olive.

1 C Fresh (or Frozen) Blueberries
1/2 C Apple Juice

1 Tbsp Cornstarch

1 Tbsp Sugar

2 Tsp Lemon Juice

3 Tbsp Brandy

1 C Nonfat Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt

Cinnamon

Combine apple juice and cornstarch, stirring well. Pour apple juice mixture into a medium skillet. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add sugar, lemon, cinnamon, stirring until dissolved. Gently stir in blueberries.

place brandy in a small saucepan, heat until warm. Pour brandy over mixture, and immediately ignite with a long match. Let flames die down.

Scoop ice cream / yogurt onto 2 dessert bowls. Spoon blueberry mixture over ice cream. Serve immediately.

Oxmoor House, Jan. 1995.

Halloween Cuisine

A few of my favorite Halloween inspired treats. Would be great for a party. A MUST is squeezing in dry ice somewhere.

RIP Pudding

Witches Fingers -- P/B Cookies with almonds

Coconut Panna Cotta on raspberry syrup, kiwi iris, and soaked raisin pupil

Eyeball Caprese - Basil, Tomato, Mozarella, Green Olive, & Black Olive (poked with tip of straw)

Eye Of Newt - Devilled Eggs

Goolish Green - Brocolli Soup With egg and olive eyeballs

Jack-O-Lantern Cheese Balls

Stuffed Jack-O-Lantern Bell Peppers

Mashed-Boo-Tatoes

Meat Feet Meatloaf

Mummy Cupcakes

Oreo Owl Cupcakes

Guacamole Pumpkin Puke

Frozen Boo-Nana Pops

Witches Brew Punch

Pumpkin Ideas

New Pear Trees And Blueberry Bushes

Ayres Pear

This weekend we planted 2 Europian pear trees: Ayres & Warren as well as 3 transplanted rabbitteye blueberry bushes from our apartment: Tiftblue, Premiere, & Climax. All of our other fruit trees have been semi-dwark (15' X 15') but these 2 pear trees are standard (40' tall x 25' wide), so they probably will look a little different and take a little longer to mature. 

Warren Pear



Southeaster Native Wild Flowers

This site is a great reference to Alabama native wild flowers: http://www.floraofalabama.org/

Botanical Name	Common Name
Cheiranthus allionii	Siberian Wallflower
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum	Ox-Eye Daisy
Cosmos bipinnatus	Wild Cosmos
Cynoglossum amabile	Chinese Forget-Me-Not
Dianthus barbatus	Wild Sweet William
Eschscholzia californica	California Poppy
Gysophila elegans	Baby's Breath
Hesperis matronalis	Dame's Rocket
Lavatera trimestris	Rose Mallow
Linum grandiflorum rubrum	Scarlet Flax
Linum perenne lewisii	Blue Flax
Lobularia maritima	Wild Sweet Alyssum
Lupinus perennis	Wild Lupine
Lupinus texensis	Texas Bluebonnet
Oenothera lamarckiana	Evening Primrose
Papaver rhoeas	Red Poppy
Rudbeckia gloriosa	Gloriosa Daisy
Asclepias tuberosa	Butterfly Weed
Chamaecrista fasciculata	Partridge Pea
Coreopsis lanceolata	Lance-Leaf Coreopsis
Coreopsis tinctoria	Plains Coreopsis
Echinacea purpurea	Purple Coneflower
Eryngium yuccifolium	Rattlesnake Master
Gaillardia pulchella	Indian Blanket
Ipomopsis rubra	Standing Cypress
Liatris spicata	Blazing Star
Lupinus perennis	Wild Blue Lupine
Monarda citriodora	Lemon Mint
Phlox Drummondii	Drummond Phlox
Ratibida columnaris	Mexican Hat
Rudbeckia amplexicaulis	Clasping Coneflower
Rudbeckia hirta	Black-eyed Susan
Salvia coccinea	Scarlet Sage
Tradescantia ohiensis	Spiderwort

Companion Plants For Fruit Tree Orchard

Our ground is pretty low in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus (poor fruit trees), sandy, and very acidic (4.6 pH). We've added a little lime to help the already planted fruit trees (probably not enough), and we are now considering soil building companion plants. To top it all off, we live near a deer hunting camp.

Other considerations are plants that are low growing, attractive to beneficial insects, and suited to the hot humid summers and cool winters of Alabama.

With that in mind, I've come up with the following list of companion plants for fruit trees from unverified web pages and books.
---------------------

ALFALFA: Nitrogen fixing, perrenial, deep rooted plant that draws nutrients from deep in soil and brings to surface. Cheap.

BASIL: Bees love Basil, while Aphids, Fruit-Fly, White-Fly, the House-Fly & Mosquitoes hate it.

CHIVES: May help keep aphids, Japanese beetles and carrot rust fly away. Planted among apple trees it helps prevent scab.

CLOVER: Long used as a green manure & plant companion. Especially good to plant under grapevines. Attracts many beneficials. Useful planted around apple trees to attract predators of the woolly aphid. Increases predator ground beetle populations.


Perennial	pH	Seeding Vigor	Poor Drainage	Drought	Acidity	Seeding Rate (lb/acre)
White	6-6.5	E	F	G	F	8-15
Red	6-7	F	G	F	F	2-3
Annual
Crimson	6-7	E	P	F	G	20-30
Rose	6-6.5	P	P	G	G	15-20
E=Excellent; G=Good; F=Fair; P=Poor

Field Of Comfrey

COMFREY: has deep roots that don't compete with fruit trees. Accumulates calcium, phosphorous and potassium. Likes wet spots to grow in. Good trap crop for slugs. Excellent compost activator, foliage spray, nutrient miner.


GARLIC: Repels aphids. It also benefits apple trees, pear trees, peas, and lettuce. Plant under peach trees to help repel borers. Garlic accumulates sulfur: a naturally occurring fungicide which will help in the garden with disease prevention. Garlic is systemic in action as it is taken up by the plants through their pores and when garlic tea is used as a soil drench it is also taken up by the plant roots. It has value in offending codling moths, Japanese beetles, root maggots, snails, and carrot root fly. Researchers have observed that time-released garlic capsules planted at the bases of fruit trees actually kept deer away. Concentrated garlic sprays have been observed to repel and kill whiteflies, aphids and fungus gnats among others with as little as a 6-8% concentration! 



LAVENDER: Repels fleas & moths. Nourishes many nectar feeding & beneficial insects. Lavenders can protect nearby plants from insects such as whitefly, & lavender planted under & near fruit trees can deter codling moth. Use dried sprigs of lavender to repel moths. Start plants in winter from cuttings, setting out in spring. Lavender is a general Insect Repellent, good to use as a border for the Garden. It attracts many Bees to the area. 

LEEKS: Use leeks near apple trees and onions which will improve their growth. Leeks also repel carrot flies. Avoid planting near legumes.

Calendula

NASTURTIUMS: Drougt resistant flower thriving in poor soil. Deters wooly aphids, squash bugs, whiteflies, & pests of the curcubit family, & improves growth & flavor. Great trap crop for aphids (in particular the black aphids) which it does attract, especially the yellow flowering varieties. Some believe planting nasturtiums every year in the root zone of fruit trees allow the trees to take up the pungent odor of the plants and repel bugs. Studies say it is among the best at attracting predatory insects. It has no taste effect on the fruit. Nasturtiums can have a tendency to grow abundantly, but are very easily controlled. Orange coloured Nasturtiums will deter Aphids, Squash Bug & Striped Pumpkin Beetles, yellow ones tend to attract the beetles! So plant orange Nasturtium close to your garden to deter insects, & plant yellow Nasturtium far away from the garden to attract the insects.

TAGETES: ?

TANSY: Tansy is a good all-round bitter Insect repellent. It concentrates Potassium in the soil, so benefits any plants nearby! Plant it for protection against Japanese Beetle, Striped Cucumber Beetle, Squash Bug, Cut Worms, Cabbage Worms, Ants, Flies, Mosquitoes & Fruit Moth. It is noticeably helpful under Peach Trees, which it assists greatly by warding off flying insects & keeping Borers away. It's a yellow, arguably ugly, perennial flower and a very vigorous spreading invasive weed. Has a lot of history too.

YARROW: Drought resistant deep rooted perrenial herb. Insect repelling qualities & excellent natural fertilizer. A handful of yarrow leaves added to the compost pile really speeds things up. Attracts predatory wasps & ladybugs.

Clover underplanting

FRUIT TREE SPECIFIC MATCHES:

APPLE: Calendulas, Tansy, Clover, Chive, Garlic, Leek, Southernwood, Daffodils, Comfrey, Horsetail, Foxgloves, Wallflowers, Yarrow, Wormwood, Nasturtium. Don't like potatoes and tomatoes.

APRICOT: Basil, Tansy, chives, Southernwood. Don't like potatoes and tomatoes.

CHERRY: Yarrow, Garlic, Onion, Tansy and Nasturtium

Tansy

GRAPES: Lucerne, Geraniums, Oregano, Hyssop, Mustard, Tansy, Basil, Clovers

PEACHS & NECTARINES: Nasturtiums, Lemon Balm, Marigolds, Yarrow, Mustard, Spinach, Basil, Tansy, Chives, Grapes, Southernwood, Garlic, Onion, Asparagus. Don't like Potato, Tomato and Raspberry.

PEAR: Garlic, Chives, Mustard, Yarrow, Southernwood, Tansy, chives, Nasturtium. Don't like grass.

PLUMS: Southernwood, Yarrow, and Tansy and Chives in summer. Don't like grass.