Country Living Skills

There are not only unwelcome critters in the garden, but also very welcome guests and residents. Beside the many birds that visit our garden regularly, we now have a new resident: a praying mantis !

Since they are notorious for their voracious appetite, we hope that our little friend will get fat on flee beetle, potato beetle and later in the year, Japanese beetle, and then leave many egg sacks behind so that next year, a whole bunch of praying mantises will hopefully live and prey on bugs in our garden area.

It is a good idea to plant carrots and radishes in alternating rows as the radishes come up much earlier than the carrots and will remind you where the carrots were Both vegetables can be planted as early as 25 days before your frost date.

CARROTS IN ROWS:

• 1/4 inch deep
• 1/2 inch apart
• 12 inches between rows

RADISHES IN ROWS:

• 1/4-1/2 inch deep
• 2 inches apart
• 6 inches between rows

As the radishes will be gone by the time your carrots need the space, you can plant the radishes in between the carrot rows, thus saving space.