We ended up purchasing a few more plants, so we now have three tomato plants (one that will produce cherry tomatoes and two that will produce larger tomatoes), two pepper plants (banana peppers and red bell peppers), and one citronella plant.
Are any of you familiar with citronella plants? The fellow at The Home Depot told me that they will repel mosquitoes up to 10 feet. As I child, I also remember my mom rubbing the leaves on our arms and legs to keep bees at bay while we played AYSO soccer. I am considering buying some herbs, although I may have to wait until next year, as it is late in the season.
Ayla
Lavender plants repel mosquitos too. If you have a deck, you can plant them around it.
Anonymous
I don't think that plant will swat mosquitoes for you. Best thing to do in your yard is to make sure you have nothing that collects water where they can breed. They can even use a bottlecap full of rainwater as a nursery.
I would toss some 10-10-10 granulated fertilizer on the dirt around those plants and scratch it in, if you haven't already. Don't believe "Miracle Grow" when they say the soil feeds the plants for months. In a container, you're washing & draining the nutrients away all the time. I can tell by the color of your pepper plant leaves that they need some help.
Anonymous
Herbs are good! Like basilikum, mint, rosemary… To have them fresh instead of bottled makes such a huge change in your dishes! ๐
Having a few of these plants myself, I really enjoy a lot of dishes and beverages more: for example I put mint in my fruit smoothies and it's really tasty and refreshing!
nashvillewife@gmail.com
I've never thought to put mint in smoothies, but I'm sure that would taste delicious. Thanks for the idea.
Ellie
Anonymous
Your pepper look good
nashvillewife@gmail.com
Thank you! ๐
Ellie
Anonymous
I don't know if the citronella plant will do much, but citronella candles are very effective!
nashvillewife@gmail.com
That's good to know. Thanks!
Ellie
Anonymous
I have used the Miracle-Gro soil and plant food and both have worked well for me also. When using the soil I still do use fertilizer regularly. I agree that the pepper plant looks like it is doing very well. How often do you see a vegetable plant that has absolutely no flaws? If it is producing healthy looking fruit, I think that is what matters.
Anonymous
I do have citronella at home. It does help a little bit but not as much as a citronella candle. The smell is not strong enough unless you have a lot of plants. But I put one next to my kitchen window, and it smells so good when the wind blows!!!
Anonymous
Those pepper leaves do look yellow. Often a plant in distress will accelerate fruit/seed production, knowing that it is struggling. It's one last attempt to leave its seeds behind before it dies. After all, that is a plant's ultimate goal, to produce offspring to propagate itself. Pine trees do this with excessive pine cone production when diseased (a sign of stress), and a tomato can lose all its leaves but hold onto its fruit for last. So you can't judge plant health by amount of fruit being produced alone. You have to look at the overall color & vigor.
Pepper plant leaves are some of the deepest green & most shiny & leathery-looking leaves of all the backyard garden plants you'll have. Healthy pepper leaves are a deep blue-green, not yellow-green, and there will be a lot of them on each plant. Look at images online, if in doubt. A balanced vegetable fertilizer with nitrogen and phosphate will darken those leaves up and you will see new flower buds follow shortly, meaning more to pick. This advice comes from a life-long gardener who also grew up with a forester in the family.
Jenny N
Creative garden. well done.
Larry Trover
I was thinking of growing citronella plants on my balcony for a while now. Thank you for posting this, you gave me courage to try!
mininely
am gonna try this goo stuff