I have an O.G. club meeting coming up and have some new O. G. gardeners in it.So I want to provide a list of possible organic gardening books/mags. What are your choices?

Here are some of the ones I use the most:

Joy of Gardening - Dick Raymond

Four Season Gardening - Elliot Coleman

The Apple Grower - Michael Phillips

Rodales Garden insect,disease, & weed ID Guide - Smith and Carr

Gardening in the Lower Midwest - Diane Heilenman

Rodales Encyclopedia of Herbs

And here are some tidbits from my O. G. club mailing,FYI

Garden update: we had an outbreak of bean beetle. We tried a new clay product,Surround, but I’m not pleased with the results. Anyone have a good solution for these pests?

Here’s a helpful hint for you. If you’ve had trouble with cucumber beetles, try row covers next year . It’s the only thing I’ve found helpful. I use old sheer curtains and keep the cuke plants covered til the female flowers appear.

Good Gardening!

-- Anonymous, July 31, 2001

Answers

Hi Sharon, How can any OG live without Rodale's Encyclopedia of Organic Garden? We have alot of problems with cucmber beetle , year before last we got very few cukes because of them. We now plant County Fair from park seed and the beetles leave them alone. We use tule {sp} from the fabric center but think I'll be on the look out at garage sales for old sheer curtains, good tip.. Sherry

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

Step by Step Organic Vegetable Gardening....Shepherd Ogden

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control....Ellis and Bradley, Rodale Books

Lots of OG magizines.

Magic and Medicine of Plants.........Readers Digest

Nature's Design.......A practical guide to natural landscaping......Carol A. Smyser and Rodale.

North American Wildlife.....Readers Digest......the best ever for identifying plants and trees and everything.

Haven't seen any bean beetles. I did put up my old Primestar Satalite dish in the garden facing skyward for a birdbath and feeder. I try to attract the birds to the garden. Lots of times I just scatter corn in the walkways and the birds love it. I toss the mushy strawberries in the walkways for them too.

Those little wasps get all the hornworms for me. After I planted the Zinnias for the first time, the garden has had many, many more good bugs. I have lots of lacewings so I can't even spray with soap and water anymore. Don't really need to anyway. I didn't last year either. I've found by letting it kinda go wild and natural, the good bugs outnumber the bad ones. You should've seen all the different kinds of wasps cleaning the green bean plants last year! They were like little vacume cleaners. I have some praying mantisis, always see babies each year. The only thing I had to pick off so far is a few of the potatoe beatle larva off the tomatoes. (no potatoes) It would be worth it just to grow a small crop of potatoes to get those things off the tomatoes. Sounds like fun.

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

Well,sherry,I have to admit to not having the Encyclopedia.Good suggestion. Guess I better put it on the buy list,too. I tried County Fair too a few years back, but grow Blondie now,plus two others bc they are O.P.Couldn't get seed from County Fair.

Cindy,I have all kinds of herbs and flowers in the garden,and the vegetables mixed up, too,but this year was a doozy for bean beetle for us.Never had them so bad and we missed seeing the early defoliation. I had more beans than normal bc I'm starting a new garden bed,so they had extra oportunity to flourish too. Well,maybe next year.Noone has come up with anything other than rotenone,and I was trying to avoid that.

Thanks for those book suggestions,I'll have to check some of them out. I think I have the natural landscape one,but can't remember for certain.

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

I did a search on google and here's something interesting:

The white geranium lures the hungry Japanese beetle, but after eating the plant, they die.

Below is a list of repellent plants and the bugs they help get rid of.

Tansy: borer, cucumber beetle, cutworm, Japanese beetle, squash bug

Garlic/Onion family: borer, aphids, mites, rabbits, rose chafer

Pennyroyal: ants, aphids

Mint: ants, cabbage maggot, flea beetle, mice

Tomato: asparagus beetle, flea beetle, cabbage maggot

Rosemary: cabbage maggot, cabbage moth, carrot fly, Mexican bean beetle, slugs

Nasturtium: aphids, cabbage moth, squash bug, pumpkin beetle, white fly

Sage: cabbage maggot, carrot fly, nematode

Southernwood: ants, cabbage moth, fruit tree moth

Wormwood: cabbage moth, carrot fly, slugs

Marigold: eelworm, Mexican bean beetle, tomato hornworm, white fly

Petunia: aphids, leafhopper, rose chafer, Mexican bean beetle, nematode

White geranium: Japanese beetle, rose chafer, leafhopper

Castor bean: gophers, moles

Green beans: Colorado potato beetle

Potatoes: Mexican bean beetle

Buckwheat: wireworm

Catnip: cabbage moth, flea beetle

Asparagus: nematode

Borage: tomato hornworm

Knowing what bugs certain plants repel can help one plan and plant a garden. For example, if the potato beetle hates green beans and a bean beetle hates potatoes, it only stands to reason that one would want to put the two near each other. This holds true for tomatoes and asparagus also.

When selecting plants to use as repellents, it is important to study the plant as a whole. For instance, borage may repel the tomato hornworm but at the same time it will attract bees. So before purchasing plants or seeds to fulfill one specific purpose, know as much about them as possible.

Written by Traci Vandermark

-- Anonymous, August 01, 2001

wow, Cindy thanks for that info. boy I sure hope it works, Im gonna buy 100 white geraniums and plant them around my Raspberry bushes next year for those god awfull Japanese Beetles!

-- Anonymous, August 05, 2001