Finally, after a long time, I'm back with my SaturdayGardening column!
It's almost October but my balcony is in full bloom! After the too torrid days of this summer, when all my little plants were suffering for the too much heat, now that the temperatures lowered and became nicely warm, all the plants on my balcony started producing amazing flowers!
Usually my gardening posts are about veggies, but this time I decided to dedicate this saturday post to my flowers (well, there is also a pepper, but it was so colourful!), because flowers have a deep importance in calling bees (that we know are so important to our environment!), keeping away harmful insects, and cheering up our mood!
Actually you can also cook with some flowers, in facts there are delicious recipes made with rose and marygold's petals, but for now I just want to enjoy their beauty!
Do you remember the little melange roses that I had for 50cents because the shop wanted to throw them away? Still gorgeously blooming this season too!
This year, marygolds have helped me out incredibly: they have been a real surprise, I didn't know that this beautiful flower can keep away aphids so well! For who has experience in growing peppers, you know that this plant is very easy on getting attacked by aphids, but this time, by chance, I had peppers surrounded by marygolds and guess what, for the 1st time in years, I didn't have to spray chili peppers not even once! Not a single aphid to be seen even nearby 😲 also I've noticed aphids keeping a 30cm distance from marygolds. I did a rapid check online and noticed this special ability of this flowers and now I'm saving all the seeds that I can, because next year I want to surround every single veggie with this beautiful and helpful flowers!
Take a look at the following picture: perfectly clean and healthy chili peppers! Not an aphid!
Also you asked me about the little orchid that I posted some months ago: she has had a hard time a few days after she got to my place but now she's well and she even made new roots and a new little leaf! I guess she suffered the change from the shop to my home. It's the 1st time that an orchid lives so long and so well at my place and I'm so happy!
What I've learned is:
1) orchids love air conditioner's waste water or rain water, and hate the water from my tap
2) their soil must be completely dry before watering again
3) they need a sheltered place, bright but without direct light.
Until now I've kept her outside on a shelf on my north-facing balcony, and she appreciated, but now temperatures are lowering, so I've found for her a similar place inside home, in my kitchen. I hope she will be enjoying this new place too. I'll try my best again to make her survive winter: wish me good luck! 💪
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