I intended to post this before we went on vacation to Bavaria but I got to search #3 jala corn and realized that there isn’t much information about this corn online. So I decided I better see if I could dig a bit more good information up on our own before posting this.
- Growing habaneros
We haven’t started our habaneros yet but this gives me a reason to look up proper growing information. I was surprised to find that wikipedia actually has a very good overview of what is necessary for growing habaneros along with the history and other factoids.Habaneros thrive in hot weather. However, since peppers belong to the nightshade family, too much sun can be damaging to the leaves and the plant. As with all peppers, the habanero does well in an area with good morning sun and in soil with an acidity level around 5-6 pH. The habanero should be watered only when dry. Overly moist soil and roots will produce bitter-tasting peppers.
Habanero bushes are good candidates for a container garden. They can live many years in pots or other growing containers at proper temperature.
The habanero is a perennial flowering plant, meaning that with proper care and growing conditions, it can produce flowers (and thus fruit) for many years. However, in temperate climates it is treated as an annual when planted in the ground, dying each winter and being replaced the next spring. In tropical and sub-tropical regions, the habanero, like other chiles, will produce year round. As long as conditions are favorable, the plant will set fruit continuously.
- transplanting lavender bushes
We transplanted one small lavender bush at the beginning of the summer but unfortunately had it out of the ground for too long and lost it when we finally got it back in the ground. We have two other lavender bushes though, one of which is pretty massive – 2-3 feet across. I would actually consider moving the smaller bush because it’s very close to the walking path. In this case we will at least know what we’re doing and hopefully not kill this bush too.Here’s some advice from HelpfulGardner.com:
The best time to transplant a plant is the fall once it becomes dormant.The roots of a plant generally extend out to the farthest reaches of any branches so, I usually start digging a few inches (or feet depending on the size of the plant) away from there.
It’s good to add some liquid root stimulant to the new hole which should be twice the diameter and depth of the root ball. I always water the hole first and add some good compost to it before adding the plant. I also add some compost around the root ball as I am filling up the hole. Some kelp meal helps as well.
Be sure to water again.
If you want to transplant in the summer be sure to water regularly. More plants die every year from people planting them in the summer and then not water them.
- jala corn
Jala corn, also often referred to as Jala maize, is a giant variation of corn. The ears can grow to about 15 inches long (38 cm) and the stalks may reach well over 15 feet. We are trying our luck at growing both Jala corn and sweet corn in our garden this year and did lose a few plants to slugs but now have 3 Jala and 2 sweet corn plants progressing nicely. In fact, the sweet corn seems to be sprouting its first earn already although the Jala doesn’t seem anywhere close.We started our corn indoors in seed starter pods because it was still too cold out to put it in the ground. Corn takes about 90 days from sprouting to harvest so you need to keep that in mind when planting. If you start plants about two weeks apart you can grow for most of the summer without having a large portion to deal with all at once. I think that will be something we will have to try next year.We didn’t transplant our plants nearly quickly enough this year so I don’t think our plants will reach ultimate heights. We planted seeds on April 5th and the plants are now a little over 2 feet tall. One of the three was heavily attacked by slugs and is a bit further behind. But in the initial phases of growth these plants were just exploding.
We do wonder if the flavor will be good of if this is more on of those things you grow just for shock factor. Since this our year of discovery and learning here in our garden, I guess we will just have to wait and find out!
- natural pest control
We have only just begun exploring natural pest control options but something we do use on a very regular basis is cornmeal traps in our garden to help combat slugs. They seem to love this stuff and after eating it, they crawl away and die. All you need to do is fill a glass jar (I use old mayo jars, spice jars, etc) with a spoonful or two of cornmeal inside. Then you lay the jar on its side so the slugs can crawl through the opening of the jar.I usually lay the traps in areas with a lot of plants and leaves around since they hide in there during the day when it gets warm. Many mornings when I go outside to check everything in the garden I will have several slugs hanging out around the jars. We also use beer swimming pools to lure them in but people say you can also just use dry yeast mixed with water to lure them in.If you need other advice to combat pests here are a few more websites to try out:
- Earth Easy – combat ants, dust mites, cockroaches, fleas, mosquitoes, flies, wasps, earwigs and silverfish.
- OrganicDataBank.org – Not only can you find information about natural pest control but there are also lots of other great organic gardening tidbits here as well.
- Extremely Green – This site has a massive lists of garden pests with all sort of organic products you can use as well as insects you can attract to combat certain pests.
- self reliant living blog
You’ve found ours and we like to consider ourselves well on our way to becoming more self-reliant and self-sufficient. But there are quite a few other people who have had similar ideas so we have a link to many other self-reliant blogs on the side of this page. I’ve only just started this list but I think it will start growing quickly…at least I hope to find some other great self-reliance blogs out there to read myself 🙂
