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It's a good time for fishing with all of these grasshoppers lately, but not so great for the garden. They've been munching on my basil so I thought I would share a few ways to get rid of them in this week's PlantersPlace.com blog.
http://www.plantersplace.com/Community/ViewBlog.aspx?BlogId=4
Samuel earned his first blue ribbon at the Montana State Fair with his entry of "Norland" red potatoes. He helped me plant this spring - which is why the potato "patch" is more like an Easter Egg hunt area. He stashed one here... one there... one in the bug cage! He's also been a great help in watering, one of his absolutely favorite activities. (He's learned that squirting me in the butt with the hose creates a great scream and reaction. Funny kid.)
On Friday, we dug a couple of hills of potatoes, and he entered the red Norlands. I was pleased they looked as nice as they did at this point in the season, and our first dig produced four almost identical spuds, an important aspect when entering a competition. When we took all of our bounty - potatoes, rhubarb, sugar snap peas and red orach - to the fair on Friday he helped set his prizes on the plate... then tried to add the rubber bands and everything else he could grab.
We were delighted we when hauled the brood over on Saturday morning and found five blue ribbons for all of our veggies. Very cool! Sam doesn't realize it, yet, but he's off to a fine start. On Wed. we'll take over more, and see if we can keep this blue streak going!
When Grant moved the hives to the alfalfa fields it became awfully quiet around here. I was very concerned for several weeks that he would have to bring back a hive to ensure decent pollination because the bees were no where to be seen. It would be pretty embarrassing to have beekeepers have to hand pollinate their veggies!
Last year, I planted bachelor's buttons, as well as lots of annual poppies, and they reseeded all over the garden. Of course, since it's against my nature to pull anything that's durable enough to come back we have flowers all over the garden. It's been an enormous blessing because not only are they gorgeous, they're a veritable buffet for the bees. When we go out in the morning the area is literally buzzing with the hard working girls, and they're obviously hitting the veggies, too, since there are plenty of squash and tomatoes setting.
A friend of mine in town is definitely having an issue with the lack of bees, although they have hives just down the road. She's been using the paint brush on the squash blossoms. Where she's done it, they produce. But the ones she missed are dying quickly. There are too many other fun things to do in the summer than to play worker bee at home! So, plant those flowers to bring in the bees!
Jodi Torpey of Western Gardeners (www.westerngardeners.com) asked me to do the first posting of her new feature, Garden Clippings, on her fantastic gardening site geared to those of us in the West. Since wind is a constant challenge here in Great Falls, as well as many areas in our region, I thought it would be good to provide her readers with a few tips on how to deal with it.
Wind is brutal, and I'd say, I've lost more plants to it than even late frosts. It's relentless and more damaging than many realize. My garden is walled in between a privacy fence and the house, but even so, I have to watch where I plant to keep veggies from being pummeled. Check out her site to read my article, as well as a great number of other practical tips.
We have a fine crop of earwigs this summer. They seem like they're everywhere, and it's tough to pick a vegetable without having to sort out the earwigs. A salad doesn't seem quite as healthy when the little nasties spill out when I dunk a bunch of lettuce under water. Even though I don't mind them nibbling on the leaves so much, the feces gross me out. (Anyone want to come over for dinner?)
Since I know I'm not the only way who dislikes these horrid looking little things, I offered a few tips on how to deal with them on this week's Pest Patrol blog on PlantersPlace.com:
http://www.plantersplace.com/Community/ViewBlog.aspx?BlogId=4
It's been a long haul this spring, but we finally have success - Sam and I picked the first couple of tomatoes a couple of days ago. Of course, the 'Stupice' are the winners. I love this variety. Year after year it produces early and often. Friends tell me that they have an exceptional flavor, as well, which is an added bonus since many of the early varieties lack in taste.
The 'Martino Romas' are setting well - there appear to be lots and lots of green ones - I just hope they ripen before we have to enter the fair on the 29th. 'Goliath' in the greenhouse looks okay, but I'm not impressed with the Brandywine so far. I know it needs to be above 50 degrees to set fruit, but even the plants in the greenhouse aren't doing great.
Thankfully, we had a warm weekend, and with plenty of water we should have piles of tomatoes before long.
Just as things were looking bleak for the bee yard, Grant received a couple of phone calls concerning swarms. He's listed on the Montana Department of Ag site for people to call if they have a honeybee swarm. Unfortunately, one was in Cutbank (a bit far to travel), but the other was at the bottom of the hill at a local RV park.
He said it was a small bunch - probably 3000 bees or so - twenty feet up in a tree! The park loaned him a ladder so he could climb up to retrieve them, and it sounds like he drew quite the crowd. Capturing a swarm in a public place is definitely a good place to educate people on how bees do their thing since he got questions on whether he was gathering the honey or if they're "bad bees." The retrieval went well (outside of having to carry a nuc box and smoker 20-ft up a ladder), and it adds one more hive to the collection.
This is actually an odd time of year for bees to swarm, which makes receiving a couple of calls within minutes even more unusual. Bees swarm when they're overcrowded or when the queen is no longer performing very well. (After laying 1000+ eggs a day, I don't know who would be performing at maximum capacity after a couple of years.) Typically, a scout will locate a suitable area, then half of the hive will up and leave. Many times they produce their own queen making them even more valuable. Grant didn't see a queen in this bunch so he pulled a hive full of eggs from one of the established hives, and put it in with the swarm hive so they will hopefully draw out a few queen cells and produce their own.
Being on the list to capture swarms is a huge blessing. Bees can be hard to come by - and practically impossible at this time of year. Plus, they're becoming increasingly more expensive. A 2 lbs. package (about 6000 bees) is nearly $70, and even purchasing a single queen will cost $18 on the low end. (Some are sold for $1500... yes, that's over one thousand dollars for a bee!) So, a quick run up the ladder was well worth it.
This week I wrote a short article on Darla Shine's website (www.happyhousewivesclub.com) on what to put in place of the spring vegetables once they're done for the season. I also recorded a couple of gardening tips for her radio program that airs today so be sure to listen. (It's on 1450 AM here in Great Falls. She has a listing of all the stations in the country on her website.)
The lettuce is still hanging on, but I don't suspect it much longer if the temperatures stay hot. I started broccoli and cabbage seeds in potting mix about 12 days ago so I should have new plants to set in place once I pull the spring veggies. Since my current broccoli crop is down to harvesting just the shoots, and the mini cabbage is nearly ready, it'll be nice to have a second crop of both of them.
In another couple of weeks, I'll reseed second plantings of greens, such as spinach, lettuce and mache, to harvest well past the first frost. If I keep things covered we should enjoy fresh veg until Dec.
Raccoons aren't a huge issue in Montana, although last night at the community garden meeting the extension agent mentioned a homeowner brought in a bag of scat for him to identify (ahhh, the romanatic work of the county extension office). Wade said it was raccoon, which was really odd since it was a downtown location. Either it's a pet that's been released, or a raccoon that's powerfully lost. It should make life interesting for the folks in that neighborhood.
Raccoons are great to watch, but they're destructive as all get out. This week on my PlantersPlace blog I talked about how to fence them out, as well as resorting to more draconian measures.
http://www.plantersplace.com/Community/ViewBlog.aspx?BlogId=4
Grant doesn't like the monster picnic table we bought from our neighbors last year since it takes at least two people to move it, and monopolizes a good hunk of the front porch. I saw it as well built, and something that didn't actually blow away! After looking for a pre-built table, he decided he could build one that would suit our needs better and cost half as much.
My dad was an expert picnic table builder. Every year he built a couple of tables for his class so they learned how to do it (a great math lesson), and then sold them to fund a great pizza party (economics). Students from decades ago still comment on doing it, and many have the picnic tables from their year's project. Dad built them to last, and I can guarantee they'd be hefty enough not to blow away.
Grant found directions on the internet and adapted them to fit our space. He and Sam spent a day putting it together. I doubt if Sam will remember in several years, but he was there every step of the way handing Grant one screw at a time when he needed them, or trying to drill whenever the tool was available. It makes me wonder whether carpentry skills are genetic. It amazes me that Sam knows what to do!
We now have a wonderful new picnic table that allows people to walk around it on the porch, yet can still seat four people on either side. Now we'll see if it stays put!
