Mint

Peppermint & Chocolate: a great Mint combination

I passed some mints outdoors at Longs, and could not resist. I potted them together and they appear to be loving their sunny spot. The darker one is the chocolate, and it does indeed have a hint of cocoa flavor!

Here's the mints right after potting, 4/8/09:

Here's the mint as of 4/24... interestingly, the chocolate mint is a totally different color! I keep picking and munching leaves, but the mints are more than keeping up with the harvests.

Sage

Common sage is in the center of the wine barrel, because it is supposed to grow the largest and stay alive for a few years. I began the seedlings indoors 2 weeks before anything else because I was so impatient.

The sage attracted the first pest... one of the 3 seedlings was leaning over from the weight of a pile of baby aphids at about 4 weeks. I need to thin the seedlings, as there's supposed to just be one every 15".

This is the strongest seedling on easter, along with one of the zinc labels my mom gave me.

Pest Control

I'm sure there will be a Great Pest Battle at some point, but I plan on using purely organic methods, such as soap or garlic sprays, manual work (plucking, trimming, barriers), traps, or ladybugs. This is, of course, in addition to preventative measures using plants such as marigolds, thyme, basil, and nasturtiums to keep bugs off the veggies and herbs. It'll be interesting to see what works.

Pests/methods noted so far:
Aphids:
- Sage, 4/20/09... a pile of babies wilted one seedling, but recovered. Picked off by hand, squished.
- Mint (chocolate only), 4/26/09... oh dear, they LOVE this mint. For three days I've been squishing them, possible 3o total.
- Spitfire Nasturtium, 4/26/09... two babies found here. Squished!
* squishing aphids is supposed to release hormones that both attract ladybugs and freak out the other aphids. I will probably invest in some ladybug larvae a bit later in the season, 'cause for now squishing is keeping things under control but I can see this becoming a large job (not to mention gross).

Slug:
- Spitfire Nasturtium (pests are SUPPOSED to eat this one, it is a trap crop)... ate a third of a seedling leaf, easily recovered. Picked off by hand, tossed over fence (I can't help it, they're cute).
* will try the "stale beer pool" trap if these become a bigger problem.