Aphids !!! ahhhh!!!

so a while ago I noticed a massive aphid infestation. Note to self: don't grow things and not check them regularly.

I had tried soap water and did not solve the problem.

I then tried pyrethrum the kill rate was looking promising.

Then the seed pods showed up and time was up, so the seven dust was brought out.

Today I checked on the plants and manually removed all the aphid I could find. Most of what I removed was dead. I have retreated all stems leaves and the ground, hopefully this will give the fruit a chance to mature properly.

Another casualty of this is two of my three beefsteak tomato seedlings. I will replant, but only after a confirmed win in this battle.

The next battle will be with the yellowing, more than likely from mild. So copper sulfate will be added to the treatment mix now. We'll see where it goes from here.

Garden updates

I planted black eye pea seeds from a bag found in a local grocery store on 7-15-13. Today I have little pea pods! Soon I am hoping to make my first picking of fresh food for this growing season.

A moringa branch that broke off one of my trees has started pushing new leaves. I am taking this to mean that it has roots and will turn into a third tree for me.

transplant day

Due to the size of the plants in my starter I had to put them in the ground. For those who may not know; your plants get too big when they touch the top of the starter/green house box.

so the following have been turned loose to the wilds.
4 vates collards
4 red onions
3 cherrokee purple tomato
3 green peppers
2 marigold
1 lemon balm

Sewing

Ahh sewing the quintessential female occupation where one takes formless material and makes something useful .... Drives me bonkers!!! So naturally because it seems to want to defeat me I must not let it win!!! Ha ha!

In all honesty the reason I want to learn to sew is much more than me against the mighty machine and formless cloth monsters. Learning to sew means that I can make clothing that I like and that fits right, well in my opinion.

I must at this point give what I am told a shout out to my Mommy. If it was not for her I doubt I would have mastered the strait seam or as I did today the bias tape snake monster. I know that with out my Momma's quiet assurances and gentle guidance my patience would have snapped and I would have given up. I love my Mommy! Everyone should have one like her!

Through some trial and error and costly mistakes I have stumbled onto an interesting source of cheap practice material ... Old sheets! Sheets are generally made of woven cotton and the style of clothing I like lends its self to that material. Its a two birds one stone. I am making clothing that can be worn while doing things that would stain or other wise damage them and get much needed practice sewing.

and now having read this post I realize how disorganized my thought process is, but I am not changing it one bit.

Good day, hope ya'll got a lol bit of a chuckle and god bless you.

Moringa Oleifera

Is a species of edible tree that is not native to Florida. I purchased my seeds from a grower out of California and so far I am quite happy with them.
Moringa are fast growers, mine were started from seed and have reached a height of approximately 15ft in a year. The moringa is a soft wood though, so if there are high winds that cause more than a 15 degree tilt in the tree for more than about 2 days the tree will kill off branches until the stress is relieved or you can go strip the branches for your own consumption. My trees are spaced about 22ft apart and seem to prefer an east to west growth. In other words, they are growing to resemble a fan opened so that a northern or southern wind would catch the majority of it.
Now for the good part; eating! The immature leaves taste similar to uncooked mustard greens; they have a naturally spicy flavor. The mature leaves taste similar to spinach. I tend to eat them raw or in a smoothie, but they cook just like any green. The branches can also be eaten, I have found the texture not to my liking, so my next research project will more than likely be paper making. The flowers, seeds and seed pods are suppose to be edible as well, but mine did not produce much of these this year, so I have not experimented with them yet.
To store morniga over long periods I have found drying to work the best for me, but be sure to have some means to keep the moisture in the container very low as mold likes to grow on the dried bits. After the moringa a dried I grind mine by stuffing it into a blender. For measuring sake one cup of fresh leaves will finder about 1 tablespoon of power.