Spring/Summer Gardening and Plants Thread

Last year I planted a bed of tomatoes (7 beefsteak and 7 cherry), two Japanese eggplants and two cucumber vines (both of which produced unconscionable amounts), a zucchini (2 squash total), and 4 pepper plants (3 peppers each - meh). I also planted flowers - impatiens, a few others I wasn't so crazy about.

This year, plans for the tomatoes remain the same (though I will be better about pruning suckers). I'll cut back to one eggplant and one cucumber, and then try to grow peas in the pod. I'm looking for a couple other veggies (nothing cruciferous! bleargh) to take the place of peppers. And in my flower bed...I'm going all roses.

In pots I'm going to do herbs, lettuce, and I'll give strawberries a whirl as well. Marigolds for the windowboxes.

I get most of my seedlings from Shannon Florist out on Ft Hamilton Pkway.

Right now I have my bulbs coming up - they seem to be doing well. After they're done, it's compost-spreading time, and then in go the seedlings.

I'm interested in the effectiveness of citronella grass as a natural anti-mosquito agent - anybody have any experience there?

I was going to ask the same thing as ljnd - anyone know of any plants that will repel mosquitos? (or whether certain plants attract them and should be shyed away from?)

Also - what do you guys do to keep from squirrels eating your tomatoes?

Marigolds, rosemary, catnip and citronella grass are some plants that repel mosquitoes. But no plant is going to keep you from getting eaten alive here. I suggest talking to your neighbors to see about pooling your money together to by a mosquito magnet like a Defender. The ones that work cost a few hundred dollars but work for up to 1 acre. One of my neighbors bought one for his yard last summer and it really does work. He's my hero.

And to keep squirrels from digging up my garden I run after them and curse them. There's really nothing you can do about them. They suck.

Yeah, mosquitoes are enemy number 1 for gardens here. They're a relatively new breed (I believe these are from Asia) and are much more aggressive than the mosquitoes when I was a kid. And you used to only really need to worry about them at night. But these are out all the time and are very aggressive. I simply cannot express in words how much I hate those damn mosquitoes.

By the way, if any of you have water features or are thinking of installing one there are certain types of fish - such as regular gold fish - that will eat mosquito larvae.

roof = desert