Tag: pests
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The Potager in Winter: Cabbage & Co.
Cabbages work well here – at least if planted as late as possible in the fall to grow over the winter. That way they avoid most of the bugs, flies, caterpillars, and slugs that make them look like Swiss cheese otherwise. Of course without freezing temperatures you still have to regularly check the underside of…
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Goji – the Berry from Hell
It’s very difficult to cultivate small soft berry fruit here – too hot, too dry. Goji berries however aren’t scared of anything. Heat? Drought? No problem. Along with their dainty little flowers and pretty berries, they have the personality of a Mongolian conqueror and start spreading everywhere underground. I found that I didn’t really like…
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Acanthus mollis
A true love-hate relationship. I had always wanted Acanthus in the garden for its beautiful flower heads and foliage – until I had one. In our first spring here I discovered it half-hidden under a thicket of painfully spiky and ugly-looking yucca and I really felt sorry for it. Poor thing. No light, no air,…
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Bryonia: Nice name, bad plant.
Discovered totally by chance while cleaning up near the fig tree patch, Bryonia cretica (?) had already formed a thicket of long vines up to four meters long. I filled up a whole big leaf bag with it, tearing out whatever I could see and get to. Bryonia looks pretty but is very toxic when…