Since my first blog on fighting aphids almost two years ago (When Aphids Attack) I have received dozens of questions on how to kill the critters when nothing else works.

So, if you’re suffering from an infestation, you’re not alone!

In May, one of our readers, Janie Iglesia, of Fisher Island, Florida, wrote:

"I have a young plant of 'Ají cachucha' (also known as sweet pepper) that was given to me to grow and to use for condiments. I got the plant in great condition free of any bugs, so I bought two bags of dirt to be used for vegetables at a local Home Depot. I planted my 10-inch tall plant in a big pot.

"A few days later, I noticed millions of white little bugs that will not go away. I was told to spray the plant with a water previously prepared using 1 gallon of water and 1 tap of Clorox—this did not help. I also sprayed the plant with Sevin ready-to-use, and still nothing. I was reading your article about using rubbing alcohol, which I will try today, but I wonder if these are in fact aphid pests?"

BEFORE: Reader Janie Iglesia noticed millions of white little bugs on her sweet pepper.
Photo by Janie Iglesia

Janie included this picture and, as you can see, this plant is, in fact, infested with aphids. The white “bugs” are actually skin casts from the growing creature. Creature is too nice of a word—these bugs are a nightmare!

Because she wasn’t having luck with any chemical solutions, I suggested that instead of using the rubbing alcohol mixture, which I usually suggest for small infestations, Janie experiment with ladybugs—the most natural and effective means of aphid, scale, mealybug and mite termination. After almost three months she reports that her plant has been saved!

AFTER: After three months of experimenting with ladybugs, Janie's plant was saved.
Photo by Janie Iglesia

In an effort to secure the ladybugs on the plant and prevent them from flying away, Janie created a net using tulle and two metal hangers opened up to create two arches that poke into the soil.

Ladybugs are cheap, effective and better for the environment than pesticides.

You can buy 1,500 live ladybugs for under $15 on Amazon. (Check out The Lost Ladybug Project.) You must release them at night at the base of your plant. If there is ample food, they will stay and even lay eggs killing every bug in sight. Genuine ladybugs will not harm your plants; however, you should always wash leaves any insect touches before consuming.

Lastly, if you are currently suffering from an aphid infestation, you may appreciate this bit of information I just found online: “A [ladybug] larva uses its sharp jaws to crush an aphid's body and sucks out the aphid's juices.”

Wicked, but somehow pleasant. Good luck!

Someone once told me that, in any good relationship, there is a gardener and there is a chef. If you have read anything I've written you probably understand that while I can tell you that asparagus is spindly in its first few years, a long time ago, when a friend handed me a butcher knife and said, "Take. Cut. Prepare." I shrugged out a nervous giggle before trying to explain that I wasn't even really sure which end to eat.

Thankfully, now when I am confronted with a new vegetable I have grown but never before prepared I respond with, "You know, someone once told me that, in any good relationship there is a gardener and there is a chef."

I am a single man. A bachelor. And while I have given it many honest attempts, I've only ever had one really successful relationship. I am not proud of this fact, and while I have a number of good friends who CHOOSE TO BELIEVE it was "them" and not "me," I can't help but feel a little guilty for morphing into a total bat when I become involved. But, eventually, when things do come to a close, for better or for worse, I pick myself up, dust myself off and hope that the next attempt will bear much sweeter fruit.

It's important for me to tell you before I go on, that at this moment in the game, I do not go on blind dates and say, "You know, someone once told me ... that in any good relationship, there is a gardener and there is a chef. So, c'mon, quick, which are you?" But I will admit to you, that everytime I meet someone for that nervous first dinner or that awkward first movie, I always sit and think to myself, "I wonder what this person would do ... if I handed them an artichoke."

For the record, I have since learned how to pick and prepare just one asparagus dish. And here, I'm sharing with you, my simple little recipe that any gardener without his chef could easily make. I hope that in return, in the comments section below, you leave a little recipe you think even I might be able to handle.

Photo by Esteban_Cavrico/Courtesy Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36179943@N00/

The Asparagus Recipe Every Gardener Should Have

• 1 bundle asparagus
• 2 cloves garlic
• Olive oil

1. Pick up a bundle of asparagus with unwrinkled stalks and tight leaf tips. Smell the heads: Good bundles will have a fresh clean smell, while spoiled or aged bundles will have a fishy odor.

2. Take one spear from the bundle and snap off the woody end. (This is usually where the stalk turns from green to white.) Put it back with the rest of the bundle to use as a guide point, and chop the rest of the spears for quick preparation.

3. Lay spears on a cookie sheet and drizzle them with olive oil. Sprinkle chopped garlic cloves, salt and pepper and mix with your hands. Bake at 325 degrees until tender with a fork. Eat and enjoy!

About asparagus: Asparagus enjoys a long herbal history as a plant with plenty of nutritional purpose. It is said to help prevent heart disease, aid the digestive system, re-energize the body, and serve as a low-calorie, healthy source of folate, potassium, vitamin C and beta-carotene. Asparagus also pairs well with tomatoes in companion planting, both preventing eachother's most common pests.

Garlic is easy to grow, and while it is relatively hassle-free, you will reap some pretty awesome rewards at the end of the growing season. 

There is no time like the now-time (late fall) to think about planting your bulbs, and I have a couple quick tips to get your garlic garden started!

1. Get the grocery store goods: You could pay a bundle for a bulb or two of garlic at your local nursery, and it might grow.  But, if you just want to have some garlic to spice up your kitchen and are unconcerned with knowing the exact variety, there is a much easier and cheaper way to get started.  Go to the grocery store!  All you need to plant garlic is a garlic bulb, and you can buy a pack of 10 or 11 for under a buck, or buy a string at your local farmer's market!  But, make sure to pick the organic variety - other bulbs may have been grown with artificial fertilizers or be pumped with hormones that prevent new growth.

The garlic you buy in the store is a garlic bulb. Buy an organic bulb, and you're well on your way to growing garlic! Here are some I harvested this summer that came from an organic Mexican variety.

2. Split up the bulb: A garlic bulb is typically composed of about 8-10 cloves. Split up the bulb and set aside the smallest cloves for kitchen use. With your four or five remaining UNPEELED cloves, head out to the garden and find an optimum spot that gets plenty of sun.  Most of garlic's growth is vertical, and it can get quite tall, so cloves can be planted near eachother - about five inches apart without issue. It's important to plant garlic in the late fall or early winter (in most climates) because it needs a very long growing season. In the winter, it can work on developing its roots and forming its bulb and in the summer, it will begin to grow.

3. Plant the cloves: Dig a small hole 6-8 inches and, with the pointy end up and the stout end down, push the garlic directly into the soil. If you have any leftover coffee grounds, a handful on top of the clove will help it grow, as garlic likes an acidic soil pH. But, if you are not growing the garlic near a sidewalk, a foundation or in a rocky area, this shouldn't be a concern. Cover the clove with soil and a bit of mulch to keep it insulated over the winter. 

4. Sit back and relax: Garlic needs very little attention except attentive weeding. Move the mulch aside when temperatures are warm. Water it normally, holding off in times of rain. Garlic flowers are large, beautiful ball-shaped blooms, but if you let your plant flower, the bulb will likely not grow as large, so cut off flower stalks as you see them.You may notice over the winter that bulbs may begin to sprout - but do not be concerned. Even if they die down in the frost of the winter, they will come back next spring, and will be ready to harvest in the fall.

5. Harvesting time: When the leaves have yellowed and died, it is time to dig up your cloves, which are now ... tada ... garlic bulbs!

Garlic flowers are very beautiful. But if your main concern is harvesting the largest possible bulb, you should snip off flower stalks so the plant can focus its energy into bulb growth. I plant several cloves each year so I can enjoy both the beautiful flowers and the larger bulbs.

And it really is just that simple. Garlic may very well be the easiest herb to grow.

For more information about garlic, read these Herb Companion articles:

• Dancing in the Kitchen with Garlic
• Garlic Obsession
• The Goodness of Garlic 

If you've got a question, I've got your answer! Shoot an e-mail over to tmiller@ogdenpubs.com.

Scented geraniums are rooted deep in the culture of herbal tradition, finding their prominence in 17^th century homes freshening hallways and masking body odors. Think of them like Old Spice with flowers.

Their varied smell and relative growing flexibility make them a favorite amongst herb enthusiasts, and not only is their aroma inviting, but many types can be used to flavor your home and your food. For those especially interested in herb gardening, scented geraniums, or more accurately pelargoniums, were the 2006 Herb of the Year.

You may have heard someone speak of a plant as being a “tender perennial.” This means that that particular plant is likely to overwinter well, either by bringing it indoors as a houseplant or sitting it in a cool, sunny window in a garage to rest for the winter.

Geraniums can even be dug up or removed from their pots, shaken free of soil and hung upside down in a cool, humid place to encourage plant dormancy over the winter – but this can be a fairly difficult process to master, and you’d have to be willing to take the risk. Every few weeks, the roots should be soaked for a few moments in water.

Having said that, it’s important to note that most geraniums grown originally outside will do only moderately well inside your home. But with a little bit of determination and a couple bits of advice, you can enjoy these beautiful aromatic plants all winter long.

1. The single most important thing you must do when you transition outdoor plants indoors is to thoroughly wash them. When a plant is outdoors, even if it is infected with insects, it’s likely the pests will be kept in check by natural predators.

When you bring a plant indoors, you create a dry and warm environment ideal to most household plant pests especially aphids and spidermites, which are very likely to hitch a ride on your plants and pots. So use an insecticidal soap not only on the top and undersides of all your leaves and stems, but also on the soil surface and the pot itself.

2. If your geranium is planted in the ground, uproot it and plant it in a very normal potting soil, but one that doesn’t boast any kind of amazing fertilizer power, because you want your plant to have nutrients, but not be overfertilized. In most cases, you’ll fertilize your plants half as much in the winter as in the summer, because plants will naturally go into a dormant phase and fertilizer is more or less unnecessary. 

Most potted plants will also need to be transplanted as they have depleted the nutrients in the potting soil you used at the beginning of the growing season. However, in neither case should you use garden soil.

3. For the winter, most geraniums will like a cooler temperature with ample humidity and plenty of light, so placing a tray of pebbles filled with water under your planter will help keep the moisture consistent. Make sure, however, that your pot is not sitting in the water, but rather elevated above it. To do this, you can fill a large saucer with pebbles and water, turn over smaller terra-cotta saucer, and set your pot and its saucer on top.

Or, if you have a sunny bathroom window, that would be an ideal spot to raise your geranium.

4. Finally, cut the geranium back to 1/3 its original size and plant in a pot an inch or two larger than the rootball to allow the roots to spread. If you do not cut it back, leaves, stems and flowers are likely to become spindly and make for a homely-looking plant.

While most will be successful using these tips, it’s important to understand that gardening is often just a gamble, and results will be impossible to predict.  Do not be discouraged if at first you don’t succeed – just try, try again.

Economic and financial issues plaguing the globe have spawned a new wave of interest in sustainability, fostering the need for more urban gardeners. For those living in such a densely populated area, growing space is often limited, and you need to think creatively and maybe even squint your eyes a little to make it work.

Such space concerns are why vertical planters are becoming increasingly popular. A year ago, I picked the top Top 8 Gardening Products for Fall 2008, and among them listed the Living Wall by ELT.

This year, another company sent me a different kind of wall-hanging potter called the Woolly Pocket, which prides itself in adding a touch of class to any home (and it does). The long, almost windowsill-type potters are made out of a dense fabric that feels like a wool peacoat, and they come in coated and uncoated varieties, depending on if you’re planning on using it indoors or out.

I requested the coated version so it would not leak, but opted to set it up outside for the summer – and maybe clean it for reuse indoors for the winter. The Pocket was easy to install and within a few months tomatoes were producing and producing well in the Pocket compared with those on the ground. This is a major advantage if you’re wanting to keep animals away from your plants, especially indoors where most common houseplants are toxic to your pets.

The Woolly Pocket website gives detailed information on all of their planters with colorful photos like this one that make you see both the company and the product as unique. While the imagery with the naked people doesn’t really bother me, nearly every plant shown in this photo is toxic to animals (we’ll hope the dog wasn’t hungry), so I wouldn’t recommend using a sitting planter if you have an indoor pet.

The fabric of the Pocket, unlike with the Living Wall, prevents scratching on your walls and is a better safeguard to leaking because of the inner-coating. The coating covers the inside of the planter, protecting your walls and floor from leaks that may come from overwatering. However, this is a particular concern, because those of us that tend to give our plants more water, will be more likely to kill a plant or create an environment susceptible to root rot.

So, if you were planning on using the Pocket indoors, I might suggest lining the bottom with 2 or 3 inches of Perlite for the best possible drainage.

Other than that, the Woolly Pocket, which comes in many shapes and sizes, would make a great gift for anyone and everyone with a bright, empty wall considering starting a new garden or consolidating some of their favorite houseplants.

It may be the thought of winter – the death, the icy roads, the erratic temperatures … the ridiculous decorations – that makes me want to protect my garden indoors every autumn. The thought of that perfect pot of mint, that fragrant rosemary or even those tangy chives sullied and soggy under the lush Kansas snow is too much. Woe is winter.

But I’m a realist – there are only so many things that can survive indoors, and without a lot of experience or a gardening expert on your side, it can prove difficult to predict what will and what will not work.

Fortunately for us, we live in the golden age of technology, and there are tools in our belts fit for such a project. Meet EasyBloom, your plant diagnostician in a box.

The premise is easy – plant, plug and play. Plant the EasyBloom anywhere in your garden, indoors or out, for 24 hours, plug it into your computer, and download a reading of all the environmental conditions for that particular spot, including soil moisture, light exposure, humidity and average temperature.

Then, EasyBloom’s website will generate a list of plants that would grow well in those conditions, helpful when you’re planning for next year’s garden. Explore thousands of plants in its extensive database and connect with other like-minded gardeners from amateur to extraordinaire.

After you’ve downloaded the information from one spot in your garden – say, where your mint pot lives – then, try different sites inside your home that might be environmentally similar. You will not find conditions that are exact and you are bound to lose some plants no matter what you do. But with the EasyBloom you can figure out where in your home might provide you with the best probability for survival or where to shelter your plants for the cold to come.

Cool, huh?

This late in the summer, conditions are ripe to begin testing environmental conditions indoors and out, so you can plan on starting the great plant migration in late September and early October.

The EasyBloom is easy-to-use and relatively affordable, considering how much you have probably already invested in your plants, and it could only be improved with the ability to test soil acidity or pH. But, all in good time, I suppose.

The EasyBloom retails on the company’s website for $59.95 and makes a great gift for any age.

For a full list of tips and tricks on indoor gardening, check out my post, Five Tips for Indoor Gardens, or, for any gardening question, shoot an e-mail over to tmiller@ogdenpubs.com.

I think I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m an awful cook.  Desperate, really. But with a backyard of herbs, it’s tough not to do some experimenting and, with me, desserts are the way to go!

Here are some great recipes I’ve made, perfect for any mint-grower. And believe me, if I can make them, you can too!

Candied Mint Leaves:

Serve these easy-to-make candies as an after-dinner mint or a garnish to a sorbet. They’ll leave you with a surprisingly refreshing taste like you’ve never experienced.

My candied mint leaves were a big hit at my 4th of July party. I served them aligned in rows on a platter I bought from Natural Home magazine (which is now on clearance!)

• 1 egg white
• Small amount of water
• Handful of rinsed mint leaves (chocolate-mint, spearmint, peppermint, lemon-balm, orange mint and/or cinnamon-mint)

1. Beat egg white with water.

2. Dip or brush mixture on to mint leaves.

3. Coat mixture in granulated sugar.

4. Cool in refrigerator for one hour and serve. 

“Hint of Mint” Dark-Chocolate Truffles:

So easy to make and always in demand, these dark chocolate truffles can be a bad-cook’s best friend!

Inspired by truffle mushrooms, good chocolate truffles should have a fresh-from-the earth look. Pictured here are a few of my truffle variations rolled in cocoa: mint, orange-almond and coffee. I served them with a sprig of chocolate mint and I used a recycled glass bowl from Natural Home magazine (which is also on clearance!). 

• 1 large handful of freshly-cut chocolate-mint leaves (substitute peppermint leaves)
• 1 pound dark chocolate baking chips or baking chocolate bar, chopped
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Rinse mint leaves and crush in a mortar and pestle until smooth. You can also chop them using a food processor or  just crush them with a spoon.

2. Pour chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate bars) and crushed mint leaves into a mixing bowl

3. Bring cream to boil in saucepan and immediately pour over chocolate chips. Let cool for 60 seconds

4. Next, take a whisk and, beginning in the center, very gently stir the mixture at the surface in small circles. As the cream melts the chips, you can continue to stir deeper and more quickly until the mixture is even and shiny. This smooth, almost pudding-like mixture is called a ganache.

5. Now, you should let the ganache chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. When you remove the mixture, it will have firmed and can be sculpted.

6. For my truffles, I used a small melon-baller to scoop spheres and rolled them in cocoa powder as a coat. You can also roll in crushed cookies, graham crackers, hot chocolate powder, or you can coat with chocolate syrup that hardens.

Substitutions:

By simply substituting other ingredients for the mint in this recipe, you can completely transform the flavoring of your truffles for a wonderful mixture of candies.

- Lemon Truffles: Substitute lemon balm and a pinch of lemon juice for the chocolate-mint leaves to punch up a citrusy flavor.

- Lime Truffles:  Peel, chop and mix-in half a lime and all its juice.

- Lavender Truffles: Crush and chop finely a handsome bunch with a touch of mint leaves to taste.

- Orange-Almond Truffles: Substitute freshly-chopped orange zest or orange oil extract and a small bag of chopped almonds.

- Coffee Truffles: Use instant coffee and a bit of cinnamon to taste. A little can go a long way in terms of flavor.

- Spicy Truffles: Add a few shakes of cayenne pepper (I would half this recipe with another variation of truffle if you’re not sure you’ll like it).

The variations really are endless, try ginger, white-chocolate and saffron, peanut butter, etc. Any basket of truffles would make for a thoughtful, homemade gift.

If you've got a question, I've got your answer! Shoot an e-mail over to tmiller@ogdenpubs.com.