Thanks to Alfie for clarifying the difference between catmint and catnip; saved me the trouble! Since I have to fence my catnip to allow it to survive the depredations of my own and the neighborhood cats, I have but one plant. However, since the cats care nothing for lemon catnip, and because it self-sows with the same gleeful abandon as the regular sort, and because I much prefer its aroma and taste in tea to the standard (which to me smells like skunk, although I confess I do not find that scent--at a reasonable distance!--terribly off-putting), I have masses of that around, duking it out in one wild corner with the lemon balm, equally enthusiastically self-sowing calendula, and several mullein plants that I encourage for their medicinal properties as well. ANYhow--my point is this: if plain ol' catnip is a good 'skeeter repellent, seems my lemon catnip would be even better, as it has that citronella-like scent, same as lemon balm. We, happily, have not too many mosquitoes this year, but I will sure give it a try tomorrow for the ravenous black flies that have plagued our area the last couple of summers. I have little hope, though, since the lemon balm did not faze them...CK

Do you mind a NH gardener joining this discussion? Megmaine, very impressive successes in your garden. I don't usually use eggplant but your description makes me want to try one from the farmers market to see if I should include next year. I love growing nasturtiums and calendula just for pretty even though I know they are good plants in the garden. Also like marigolds esp lemon gems which have such nice foliage and lemon scent. Is anyone having trouble with plants bolting? Daikon radish is bolting on me. Some pretty young bok choy is also going to seed. Lettuce seems to be doing nicely. Second crop of sugar snap peas (tall variety this time) are coming in but they aren't as tall as I expected. Beans starting. No trouble with zucchini and summer squashes. Last year we also had a lot of rain and a neighbor was shocked that my zukes did well. It was first year in a lasagna style garden. Had first zuke last night. The sneaky curcubit almost got too large. My husband was waiting for me when I got home because he doesn't dare touch anything without my ok. He said it was time to pick squash and he needed more lettuce for his lunches. Cherry tomatos are planted around our kitchen porch but without the extra organic matter that the lasagna beds have. Soil looks too compacted. The peppers are lined up along south wall of our white house. Last year peppers seemed to come in early and turn red early. Right now have some about 2" long - a variety of heirlooms. I can see where black top driveway heat would be a help. Had to re-seed pots of basil. Looked like some damping off problems. Some varieties are doing super but not all. Also, they are already putting up flower stems (holy basil and thai basil). Golden beets planted a month ago looked good. April planting of beets was dismal, maybe one or two plants germinated. Same with chard. (short rows) I think this was the year of re-planting. Confection winter squash looks like it is doing well. Some small squash started. We were very happy with this variety last year once we let it sit a month or so after harvest. It was extremely dry at first but then became the perfect squash. We had a few mold but basically they did well in a box under a basement workbench and we had squash in April. I think I save one for May first just to say it lasted that long.

Just found this thread, and would appreciate advice. I go for a semi-natural lawn: turf grass, but with some wildflowers encouraged. I'm a convert to white clover. It has taken years to get the stuff established in my lawn, which is in thin topsoil over a deep layer of glacial sand - very dry! It's finally spreading in some areas, and I'm hoping will fill in the barest places where grass just won't grow. (I mulch-mow, but don't water as a rule.) I've been mowing a couple of times in the spring, then waiting to cut again until about July. This lets my favorite wildflowers go to seed; then I have a mostly-grass lawn again through autumn. Clover seed is expensive. It also seems that letting it naturalize should encourage the hardiest strains for this plot. So here's the questions: how long after flowering do I have to wait for seeds I've never actually seen seed on the plants; I guess it falls/blows out as soon as it's ripe. I've read that the flowers die as soon as they've been fertilized. Is there some fixed number of days from when the flowers start to wilt until I can mow without losing all the seed? Thanks- Chelydra

Hello, I haven't read all of your intros yet, but I thought I'd ad mine. I am relatively new to permaculture. I took a 6 month long permaculture course online last fall/winter, but didn't complete my own design for my property here. I know a lot of permaculture theory but haven't very much experience at all in putting that theory to good use. I feel that I have a good understandign of the htought process behind it though. We moved into our house last december and the permaculture course definitley informed how I am thinking about the best way to utilize our house and land. We live in a mountain community and have about 1/5 of an acre of pretty steeply sloped land. THe back half has the hosue and is wooded, but the front is pretty bare and gets full sun. THe house is in good shape, but with the front yard so bare (and yes, erosion is an issue) it is UGLY. There are no trees to the south so we get the full force of the sun on our house, something I hope to take advantage of, someday. Mostly what I like about permaculture is how it is based in reality, and my reality is that I am quite lazy. I like phrases like "do nothing", I love the idea that doing nothing is sometimes best, cuase I like to do a whole lot of nothing! LOL. I also like that permaculture looks at the whole picture, and moves slowly, and warns against situations like building yourself a wonderful off the grid eco palace which you then have to commute an hour from in order to pay for the loan you needed to build it, thus cancellign out any benefit to the environment. The challenge for me is that my husband, while supportive of me learnign about permaculute, is not as into as I am. I base a lot of my decisions on what to do with the house on permaculture, but he doesn't, so we clash soemtiems in that regard. This has taught me to be patient (well not really, but it sure has taught me the IMPORTANCE of patience!) and I have to really explain all of the reasoning behind why I want to do it a certain way, in a way that makes sense to him. Our first major project is going to be rebuilding a route from our driveway to the house. On one side of the proposed route is the best place for growing full sun veggies, so eventually I want to terace a part of it for less frequently visited full sun vegetables. THis will be a challenge, because it also the most steeply sloped and currently not very accessible at all. On the other side of the proposed route we get full sun also, but not as much as the other side, whcih gets full southern exposre. This part will not be terraced, it will be developed just enough to be accessible. The areas closest to the entrance of the house get part sun, but it is lovely, filtered light, so i will experiment with growing shade tolerant edibles there. We also have a nice large balcony that I will use to grow salad stuff and other things that should be as close as possible to the kitchen. Well, although I never turned it in, I did work on my permaculture design report, whcih is curently 23 pages long, so before i repeat the whole thing here.... Glad to have this forum!