HOME&GARDEN by Kimberly Childers • Mizzkimberly@outlook.com


Santa Rosa, CA. ~ ‘La pluie est magique’ in French means ‘the rain is magic’. Truly it is. Plants grow at a noticeable rate after a rain. Chemicals are put in drinking water to make it ‘safe’ to drink but rainwater has a neutral PH. Not as pure as it used to be, plants are able to absorb and utilize rain water. It has been amazing to have this much precipitation in May. Last rain like this was eight years ago! We are all happy having our plants thoroughly


quenched, eas- ing water bills for our gardens. Think about


getting a Rain Barrel!? This is definitely the time to mulch and lock in this precious moisture. In the garden it’s time to get creative with flowers and herbs and start utilizing their benefits! Their oils and fragrances can help repel hungry pests in gar- dens now. Marigold blossoms come in beautiful oranges and red combinations worth look- ing up on Google, Wikipedia, because they can be used me- dicinally as well but are not to be confused with calendulas


Roasting True


Trade for 27 years! Come in & Pick up a lb. Special $10 Celebrating Life


10 e


which are edible. Marigolds are not to be eaten, even bad bugs won’t eat them in fact, that’s why they are a repellant which makes them so useful in the arsenal against pests! In your gar- den’s defense plant yarrow, Achillea mille- folium, medici- nal and fragrant, full of essen- tials oils as are other herbs. Recognized for cooking, pars- ley, sage, rose- mary, thyme


and oregano when crushed emit an unforgettable fragrance you recognize in pasta, pizza, Medi- terranean dishes. Grow them all near your vegetables. Lemon grass, lemon balm, lavender and mint are all sooooo aromatic. They can be grown in large


pots and placed about your veg patch and in the ground as well, except mint which is utterly invasive! Plant chives for your


Happy Garden Environments damaging pests. Allow them


baked potato, cosmos, larkspur and hyssop for your tall, glass flower vases. Amazingly col- orful and spicy nasturtiums and ‘cucumberie’ blue blossoms of borage, both delicious in salads also attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators, yet repelling


to flower but snip off the seeds unless you are saving them of course. Most pesky insects hate the smell of most of these plants so you’ll want to min- gle them through - out your vegetable patches, raised beds and rows. You can make a gar- lic spray by c hopping


and soaking 4 cloves of garlic in 2 tsp of mineral oil for 24 hours. Strain out the garlic, add one pint of water, 1 tsp of dish soap and dilute as needed. I’m afraid it’s us or them right?! You decide.


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Pg 10 • JUNE 2019 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.


Without my dad, I wouldn’t be here. ~ Maria Sharapova


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