Hi, I have a few questions about your post on 1/27 and the beneficial bug mix in pots - This is the text -
DIANA’S BENEFICIAL BUG MIX:
Cilantro
Dill (’Bouquet’ short variety)
Blue Bachelor Buttons
Orange or Yellow Calendula
Cosmos (any SHORT variety/color)
Persian Carpet Zinnia
Borage (just a little; it readily self-seeds!)
Mix together a standard-size packet of each seed, but go easy on the Borage. Trust me! I start this seed mix in 4” pots than either put a ‘plug’ of them here and there in garden beds or grow four, 4” pots to a big pot situated somewhere in the garden. These varieties bring in lovely things like Lacewings and REAL Ladybugs and other GOOD BUGS that will keep the BAD BUGS under control in your garden.
If you plant extra for cutting, this combo makes for the sweetest, prettiest little bouquet on your kitchen table. It’s a WIN/WIN! :)
My questions - I saved this and would like to try it this year. We don’t really have a bug problem at all but it would be nice to add some color to the garden as long as it is controlled. Do you stick the pot in the ground, do you just start them in pots and then plant the plug? I am leaning towards leaving in the pot and planting it. I have some of the seeds on the list but as the two stores in town that have seeds, everything is Burpee. No borage at all. No bachelors buttons and no persian carpet zinnias. Just tall ones.
I will be heading to a menards next week. I usually grow dill and cilantro anyway. Also would a shot of bloom booster be good or just some miracle grow? Thanks for the advice.
I start them in 4” puts, then either transplant the ‘plug’ into a (south, sunny) corner of a raised bed, or I have taken those 4” plugs and put 3 of them into a larger pot, then nestled that in, somewhere in or near the garden, also in a sunny spot.
The only fertilizer they get is some Miracle Grow in the watering can when I remember it - these herbs and flowers are not fussy at all.
If you can’t find the ‘Persian Carpets’ Zinnia, they are now also calling them Zinnia ‘Jazzy Mix.’ I just saw them offered in the Select Seeds catalog.
You could also substitute the short version of Cosmos, ‘Sunset Orange’ which is an AAS Winner and shockingly bright orange.