Pest Control: Part 1

It's been slow in the garden lately, but I think I'll post a few things at once that I've been thinking of for awhile. The first thing I've got planned to talk about are my allies in the war on sure plant destruction.

All of the flowers you see here were planted as seeds this year. The lilypad looking leaves with orange and red leaves are nasturtiums. They aren't as impressive as they were last year (I'll look through my old pictures to see if I can find the small trees they grew into last year), but the nasturtiums are very reliable for color and to freak out visitors to the garden by popping a flower into your mouth. The leaves are also supposedly edible, but I've only eaten the flowers, which are peppery and really pretty on a salad. 

According to my reading Nasturtiums are good for the soil, especially planted around apple trees, which I have yet to do with our apple tree, and can be mild pest deterrents. I'm also told to be cautious as they are supposed to be aphid magnets, but perhaps Japanese beetles eat aphids, as I've only ever seen one in my garden. 

Every grandmother in North America will tell you that marigolds are good for keeping bugs away. My grandmother planted them in her huge garden, and Mom planted them  in our previous gardening attempts. Just walking past marigolds in the plant store will give you a good hint at why they're pest deterrents. They stink. In my experience the kind you usually see selling cheap at Menard's stink the worst. I have a few beautiful examples of those types, with great big flowers.

The marigolds in my first photo are French, and I had no idea what to expect when I planted them. It is one of the great joys of planting seeds that they always surprise you. At first I watch constantly, to see any sign of success. Then I don't weed anything for a long time on the off chance that something I pull up are my precious seedlings. Once I see small identifiable plants I tend to forget all about them until they are suddenly gigantic. These marigolds are particularly impressive because they're about a foot tall, whereas the marigolds I'm used to are ground hugging giant spherical flowers. 

I don't know if it's the flowers or anything else I've been doing, but I have had blessed luck with pests not destroying so much that I don't have anything left.