Mildew on my peony

A few weeks ago I noticed a white, powdery mildew appearing on one of my two peony plants. I adore my peonies and it took two years for them to bloom (I had planted them in pots that were too small) and then they bloomed with big, beautiful blossoms and one got sick.

So I looked up online a home treatment for them. I just sprayed the sick one (I separated them when I noticed the mildew so the other one would remain healthy, which it has) and I'll keep you posted. The advice I found said to spray the affected plant with equal parts 1 Tbs canola oil, baking soda, and dish soap (without bleach) mixed with a gallon of water (not on super hot sunny days). Apparently, the mildew is cause by a fungus which can thrive in, but does not need, moist, shady conditions.

I'm hoping it works. I will post below the blooms that appeared just in time for my baby shower a few weeks ago! Gorgeous.

In general, peonies like a lot of room, acidic soil, and well-ventilated areas with lots of sun. These plants can last you many years, if properly cared for with watering, sun, and fertilizer, and produce the most beautiful, lush blooms in the Spring. They grow from bulbs and will have bushy green leaves the rest of the year until frost when you cut them back and let the stalks die. The leaves absorb sun throughout the rest of the sunny season, providing nutrients for the roots.

Freezing basil

I grow about 3 basil plants each Summer and try to forage as many leaves as possible so we have a supply to last us all Fall, Winter, and early Spring. I plant our basil plants in pretty large ceramic pots- I like ceramic because it traps moisture much better than terra cotta and I'm wary of growing food in plastic pots (although I do that sometimes too).

The pots I use are anywhere from 5-12" across at the top. I mix potting soil with compost and plant as soon as I think we are well past our last frost.

As soon as the plants appear leggy or begin to have large leaves worth storing or using, I take out one of my favorite tools- the herb scissors. I often cut the tops off the plants to encourage bushy growth or if the plants are already bushy, I will harvest about 1 large leaf per set and take leaves from the top of the plant, not the bottom.

When I have a good amount of leaves gathered I rinse, pat dry and then use the herb scissors to shred the basil onto a paper towel. Mark a freezer bag with the name of the herb and the month I'm freezing it (you'd be surprised how quickly you forget and once things are shredded they look the same!). Then push as much air out as I can and pop in the freezer! I will repeat this process until I have enough frozen basil to last us through the colder months. I find it's easier to use if pre-shredded.

Today's bounty & a start

Today I collected one small cucumber, a bunch of blueberries, and a lot of basil from my garden. You may not guess that I live in Brooklyn, NY.

I'm not an expert, but I've read a lot of books on urban gardening and would like to share with you my successes...and failures...at having homegrown grub here in the metropolis of New York.

My first photo of bounty!

More photos of things that I am growing...


Blueberries began to ripen about the 3rd week in June. The trick to getting a maximum yield of blueberries is to have more than one kind of bush in your garden- they need to cross pollinate! Wish I'd read that the first year we had our bush. I'm pretty sure this is a Bluecrop bush... and we just added a Bountiful Blue next to it which is much smaller.

Chocolate mint to be frozen. This mint is so delicious on desserts and in cocktails. Easy to grow, although I recommend growing it in a pot separate from your other herbs and plants...mint takes over a pot easily and will crowd out other plants. Likes part shade - full sun and consistent moisture. I have a very sunny terrace so I water frequently and will put a plastic dish under this pot to collect and hold water during the driest Summer months.

This is our Husky Red Cherry tomato plant! These are large cherry tomatoes. I just ate my first one off the vine and it was soooo good.

This is an Early Girl tomato plant that has TONS of green tomatoes on the vine.

We have a dwarf lime tree, and have had it for two years with little to no success at producing limes...we re-potted it about a month ago into a 20-gallon galvanized steel trash can, added compost and fresh soil... and here comes the largest lime we've seen yet!

I love roses. This bush I trim back severely in the Fall and compost in the Spring...my reward!

Ripened fresh blueberries are hard to beat.