Since I am on the subject of Neem this week I wanted to share my experience using Neem oil extract in the garden.
We have a 5 feet tall broccoli plant growing in mom’s kitchen garden. It’s been giving us delicious mini sprouts year around. But this summer it’s been attacked by bugs, mostly aphids and tiny caterpillars.
There’s also a band of beetles that hang around too, but mom thinks it doesn’t harm her plant. They just hang around to make babies and fly off to greener pastures.
Because the plant looked so bad I had to do something to save them. And I wanted something natural and non-toxic. At first I tried the soap and water spray, mostly to kill off the aphids. It work somewhat but not the other pesky guys.
While shopping at Lowe’s, I saw Garden Safe brand Neem oil extract. I didn’t even know they carried this stuff, so was definitely happy to give it a try.
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I planted this pineapple guava for my mom’s garden last summer. And I’m so happy to see it’s blooming already.
There’s only a couple of blooms and most are still little buds about to open up soon. But my mom tells me her pet chicken (Eliza) has been eating the lower hanging flower petals. It’s been known that birds love to eat the petals too. Let’s just hope they will still bear some fruits in the fall.
The petals are suppose to be great tossed in salads. But I have no desire to eat them. They’re really too pretty to eat and will just let the birds and bees pollinate it.
The common names for this fruit is Feijoa, Pineapple Guava, and Guavasteen. They are native to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Basically most of south America.
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I’ve been wanting to grow Seabuckthorn for years now. So I finally reserved 2 plants in the fall. They came all the way from a nursery in Oregon.
Seaberry is such an amazing plant that bears healthy orange berries. I hope to make jelly, tea, and other yummy stuff with them. But that may take at least 3-5 years to see any fruits from these plants.
The female plant has more leaves and is 2 years old. The male plant just has tiny little brown buds and it’s 1 year old.
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These apricot blossoms are first to bloom in our garden. And it’s starting to feel like spring is not far away.
The bright pink color of these reminds me of quince blossoms. And sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between apricot, peach or plum blossoms.
We had a little sprinkle of rain earlier in the day.
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December is finally here and I found some flowers that are just clinging on before it gets too cold.
I found this pretty plant growing at the shopping center parking lot. This bottlebrush flower is not from the typical bottlebrush tree. It’s actually more of a shrub. I didn’t have my camera with me to photograph the shrub, so I just picked one stem to take a closer look.
These bottlebrush plants are commonly used in both business and residential landscaping. With it’s dark green leaves and deep red flowers, it fits right into Christmas.
Bottlebrush is from the family Myrtaceae, they are also known as Callistemon. It’s an evergreen plant you just put in the ground once and never have to worry about too much. Except for the occasional pruning.
This flower is popular amongst bees and hummingbirds. Especially with all the sweet nectar they find from one brush.
And this is the butterfly ginger flower from my mom’s garden. They were blooming up until the most recent over night freeze. So no more flowers until next year.
Mom’s epiphyllum have been blooming all summer. This one is much more fleeting. It blooms for a day and sometimes just half the day. It’s just a matter of when I get to snap a photo of it. Lucky me, it was blooming on Labor Day.
They are epiphyllums but also known as Orchid cactus, night blooming Cereus, Queen of the Night and Dutchman’s Pipe Cactus.
It gets full sunlight most of the day. But there is a large tree that provides some shade later in the day.
The epiphyllum tend to fall over if you don’t tie them to a stake. As the leaves are long and narrow. The smaller variety would probably be nice grown as a hanging plant.
Click on photo for larger view of the blooming orchid cactus.
These are the buds from my earlier photo taken back in the end of May.
This variety has tiny little prickly spikes. It grows along the edges and is almost invisible. So be careful when handling them !
My favorite version is the large pink variety that bloom for days. They should call these “Joy” flowers since that’s pretty much how I feel when I see them blooming.
This is one of the first few bounty harvested from my mom’s garden.
We’ve always refer to them as Japanese pumpkins. The correct name is Kabocha squash, and it’s a type of winter squash.
The Kabocha squash took only four months to start producing. The seeds came from the squash she purchased at the market. I am always surprised to find that seeds from market produce can grow just as nicely in the garden.
My mom thinks they are one of the most easy to grow pumpkins. She just loves growing pumpkins and has three varieties in her garden.
One of which is almost white in color and grew by accident. But then it became a favorite for it’s taste. Her pumpkin varieties are known to be very creamy, nutty, and sweet. And the Kabocha fits right into the list.
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Since blueberries are in season, I am only buying the fresh ones. They are so good, I don’t even bother eating them with anything else.
These blueberries are from British Columbia blueberries. I found them at our local supermarket. Very plump and tasty.
According to the BC Blueberry Council, British Columbia has close to 17,000 acres of rich fertile farmland ideal for growing blueberries. This makes British Columbia the largest producer of high bush blueberries in Canada and the second top producing region in the world.
Blueberries have gotten lots of attention since being named as one of “superfruits”. Blueberries can help slow down the aging process and reduce cell damage. They are also beneficial to your heart health and brain function.
Here is a list of studies on the benefits of blueberries:
According to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry - wild blueberries are higher in antioxidants than it’s cultivated cousin.
1998 Rutgers University study found blueberries (like cranberries) help treat urinary tract infections.
I’m starting to think any fruit with the deep dark skin or color are all very for your health. Especially purple Acai, purple plums and purple grapes.
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This is my summer flower surprise - a blooming Moss Rose. I had thought they were history after last winter’s freeze. But I was wrong!
M first spotted the young mysterious plant in the Meyer Improved Lemon tree pot. We wondered whether we should pull it out since it’s probably weed. Then we both decided to keep it and just see what kind of plant it would become. And I’m glad we kept it, as it made for a nice surprise.
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These are Mexican Evening Primrose. I planted the seeds last year in my mom’s flower garden. And they finally starting to bloom this summer.
Since it took so long to bloom, I had thought the seeds were dud and I got weeds instead. Especially since the plant just kept on growing leaves for most of the year.
During the spring, I had wanted to pull the whole thing out because I didn’t see any flowers. And I also wanted to make room to grow other flowers too. But I’m glad I didn’t. The Mexican Evening Primrose are especially nice late in the evening when the breeze comes by and it starts to sway.
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