I could kill the bugs!!!

I went out this morning and saw there were a few broken squash leaves. I thought "oh no I have bugs". The problem was the "bug" stands about 5 foot 8 1/2 inches tall and really resembles my husband. With careful questioning, I found out he had broken the leaves while filling the base that holds water and just "forgot" to tell me.

I would have been angry, but I remember that I have this garden because he has been kind enough to help me. It irritates me that I can no longer pick up bags of soil or anything that weighs more than ten or fifteen pounds. My back will not allow it and I prefer not to aggravate my back, as payback is terrible.

I also see that the tomatoes need some calcium and I had read the lines on the Grow Box instructions too late that the Garden Patch people recommend you put two cups of lime in the potting mix. That still is not a problem and I will add the lime to the water well so that the roots can soak up that good calcium.

Gardening is definitely a science project. You need to know about chemical interactions with plants and the chemicals that they demand. I may even add some of the eggshells that I saved over the winter and add them to the pepper plants. You see eggshells break down into calcium and sulfur. That is the chemicals that peppers like. It doesn't take away the organic element, it is just the way that plants utilize what they are given.

The eggshells have provided a few laughs along the way. I have even called the local Waffle House on the occasional Sunday morning and asked if they had thrown out the eggshells. If you want a quantity of eggshells and don't know where to get them, this is the place. The short order cooks were laughing and thought I was a nut, but I got what I needed.

There are many elements that organic gardeners utilize for their gardens. It can be Epsom Salt for magnesium sulfate or lime for calcium. The one thing every Southern gardener knows that is the best thing for their gardens is lime. Our soil tends to be acidic and it helps to "sweeten" the soil. A $3 bag of lime is a Southern gardeners best friend.

You see some kind of natural element is a woman's best friend. Some women like diamonds, Southern gardening women like lime and some of us like both.