Betani's Bureau

One girl. A thousand interests. Unlimited curiousity. And a singular desire to do it all.

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Adventures in companion planting

Having only a balcony for gardening space is very challenging for an ambitious gardener like me. Normally I’d stuff the dickens out of every pot I have, but I’m being a little more conservative this year. The main reason is that I don’t want to deal with powdery mildew, which has plagued me many times [...]

May 21, 2010 · Betani · View Comments
Tags: balcony, companion planting, feverfew, Gardening, kiwi, Lavender, peas, planting, plants Â· Posted in: Gardening

Getting my Green on

My balcony garden is just as eager as I am for the growing season. Behold, my immortal chives: I planted them from seed the first Spring I lived in my current apartment, about 9 years ago, and I haven’t touched them since, except to harvest and occasionally thin out. Good thing I love chives! — [...]

March 30, 2010 · Betani · View Comments
Tags: chamomile, chives, Gardening, houseplants, lemongrass, planting Â· Posted in: Gardening

Why yes, I did just buy worm poop!

Last night I had my own personal Arbor Day. I'd been wanting a lemon tree for ages, so over the Winter I ordered one from Park Seed Co. It was delivered sooner than I'd expected, and caught me without a place to put it just yet. So, off to the store to buy some planting goodies! Over the past few years, I've been slowly transitioning myself to gardening organicly. I'm not all the way there, yet, but I'm getting closer. So when I arrived at the store, I started with the potting mix. (I'd love to be able to compost, but I think my downstairs neighbor would take issue with that.) Bless Miracle Gro for adding organic potting soil to their lineup. The more difficult part was going to be fertilizer. The only organic sources I knew of were really meant for in-ground planting, or came in packages too big to be managable for me. Persistance pays off, though. I looked at every item in the row, and there at the very end was a motley bunch of products from a company called TerraCycleâ„¢ Inc. Something about the packaging struck me as odd at first, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then it struck me: They used old, cleaned out milk jugs and pop bottles! I was completely sold on this company now. Organic plant food from worm castings, and using packaging that already existed! I happily marched home with my treasures and immediately got to work planting my lemon tree. I mixed the plant food with the existing soil, plopped my new tree in place, then topped up with my new gourmet dirt. It's too chilly to leave it outside by itself yet, though. Hmm... What would be a knitterly way to handle this? A sweater? Just kidding ;) I pulled it inside for the night, and will begin hardening it off when the days get warmer. I wish edible gardening could be year-round in my area. It'd be nice to go outside and always have something to pull off the plant and eat. Thank goodness for chives!