Neem - the miracle cure all?

neem for plants and humans and the humble marigold

Neem tree is a tropical tree that grows plentiful in India. The trees are everywhere but I am not really sure if it enjoyed the cult like all powerful status, it enjoys now among the farming community or perhaps I simply had no clue.

The tender leaves are chewed if you had bugs in the tummy, or the paste of the leaves are used for skin ailments, the small twigs are used for brushing the teeth which provided a medicinal cleaning of the teeth. No need for a dentist :). People who used these twigs primarily amazingly had brilliant teeth and no gum disease.

Believe it or not that even the breeze of the neem tree has healing powers and not to forget the housing it provides for numerous birds and other living things and the shade of a neem tree has to be enjoyed on a stifling 100F day to be appreciated.

Fast forward a few decades, neem and neem-based products as organic pesticide finds a very important place in sustainable practices the world over. Even if in the western world using neem is fairly new, in India it has been used to control pests for well over a century.

I have a neem tree in a pot that was grown from a seed. Besides being a majestic handsome plant, even this plant provides a lot of the benefits mentioned above. I would never trade that plant for even a pot of gold. Just seeing it sway in the breeze gives me immense calm.

Marigold - the other unsung hero is the marigold plant. I have seen plenty of these too all over in India. They are offered as flower offerings for God and how wrong I was to think that that is all it was used for.

Marigold plant is another important pest control measure for a lot of organic gardens. I have read it repels bugs away from the vegetable plants. I plant them among other plants for precisely that reason. Unlike neem, this truth is harder to diagnose. It is a magnate for pollinators and other beneficial insects. Even if it does not repel bugs its presence is a beautiful sight for the eyes in any garden like my friend told me.

In my vegetable patch they have found a prominent place among the brassicas. We will also be planting them strategically among all the other vegetable plants we have been busy planting over the last few weeks.

Vegetables for the upcoming week:

We have been harvesting kale, chard, spinach, broccoli and cauliflower. If interested in any of these vegetables, please contact me. We also sell pasture raised eggs.