July 13 – Don’t Mess With The Spotted Cucumber Beetle!
We are back to gardening after some extended down time in the land of columbines and hummingbirds. Our garden sitter kept all things green and growing and a nice rain helped to ease the daily chores. The view from my window as I write this morning confirms that there is nothing wrong with the gardening world in western Kansas. Putting the right plant, in the right place spells success.
Shirley's summer garden
But it does take some effort and there are some challenges along the way. One of them is bugs! The longer I garden, the easier it is to co-exist with a few bugs, if at all possible. However, there are a few insects that I have zero tolerance for. One of the most destructive garden pests here in our area is the spotted or striped cucumber beetle. About the size of a lady bug, it can be as destructive as a herd of grasshoppers! It can wipe out a garden even if you haven’t planted a cucumber. This benign looking bug carries a virus called Bacterial Wilt that attacks many types of vining veggies. The adult beetles feeds on the leaves, stems and flowers. Larvae chew on the roots. This physical chewing damage is actually minimal. The virus that is left behind will cause the entire plant to wilt and die in a short time. After the plant is sick, there is no cure. Row covers will keep the bug away but must be removed to allow pollination of the blossoms. I use pyrethrums and Sevin in the late evening to avoid the butterflies working during the day. If you have ever observed a sudden wilt and early death of otherwise healthy plants in your garden, blame a visit from the spotted or striped cucumber beetle.
Subscribe to the comments for this postJune 30 – It’s Cherry Picking Time!
Growing fruit in Kansas is a bit iffy. This year we hit the jackpot! Orchard growers are picking apricots, the sour cherries are showing up in pies, cobblers and freezer bags. Peaches are peeking through the branches and if every pear grows up to be big and juicy, surely the tree will crash. We are relishing all the good eating to come and grateful we hung on during the lean years.
Spent a good part of this week in the cherry tree, a ten year old Montmorency that produces a good crop four years out of five. It isn’t that I don’t have the cherries, but beating the birds to the ripe fruit is an uphill battle. This year we got so desperate we draped several bull snake skins through the branches. Everything works for awhile. Then soon the bright orange and black orioles and the reddish brown thrashers figure it out. Netting works well if you have a large net, a small tree, two or three people to make it work and can tie it shut around the trunk. Haven’t been able to put that all together for several years. My twenty foot tree defies any attempt to confine it in a net, so we pick on one side while the birds are sneaking the forbidden fruit on the other side of the tree.
Sour cherry trees are self pollinating, meaning you can harvest a crop from a single tree, no need to have two. While Montmorency may be the most popular pie cherry, North Star Pie Cherry will give you plenty of bragging rights also.
Courtesy of bunrab.com
Although most of my pickings are headed to the freezer for winter pies and cobblers, I’ve also made cherry jam; just follow the directions on the pectin box. Years ago, I had a cherry pitter, a metal contraption that clamped on a counter edge and the handle turned like an old fashioned meat grinder. The cherries somewhat resembled a mutilated raisin after a trip through the pitter. Nowadays, I laboriously pit each fruit by hand, using a straightened paper clip.
June 25 – The Wrens Have Hatched!
I pulled weeds this morning and keeping me company were my favorite gardening friends, Walter and Wanda Wren. We meet every morning about in the same spot and the conversation is about the same, although it never gets old. My friends are tiny, plain brown and you sure wouldn’t pick them out in a crowd if it wasn’t for that song! Their effervescent voice ranges from an exuberant “Hallelujah” to “better back off, you’re getting too close” and everything in between. Up high, secured on the honeysuckle trellis is their three unit apartment building. Mama choose one for housekeeping and seven tiny little freeloaders have hatched. You can hear their peeping from the house, all in a thither because brother didn’t share or sister got a second helping. It’s a big job to keep these kids growing.
Baby Wrens in our wrenhouse
House wrens are found from Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. They nest inside tree holes, nest boxes or old cans, boots or junk laying around. The wren weighs about as much as two quarters, however size isn’t everything. They are fierce competitors for nest boxes, attacking bigger birds for squatters rights. Wrens eat bugs, spiders, beetles, caterpillars and sometimes the more mobile insects such as flies and mosquitoes. They forage in low tree branches and shrubs. I watch as Wanda Wren hops along the ground looking up into the dense foliage of the monarda. It isn’t long before she flits up into the canopy and drops back down to the ground with a tiny speck of squirming lunch in her beak.
A couple of households of wrens may be all the insect control you need for a small garden. Provide the nesting boxes and they will come. They bless you twice; with bug patrol and that unforgettable song. You gotta have a wren.
June 17 – The Tomatoes Are Showing Off!
We can grow a great tomato crop here in Kansas, with some diligence and Ma Nature on our side we will be picking those red orbs in less than a month. I plant enough for a years supply of tomato juice, stewed tomatoes, a bit of taco sauce and plenty of plain sauce.
Photo courtesy of Landscape Design
We all have our favorite varieties, mine are Romas and Jet Star. I’ve quit planting a few of everything, only to be disappointed with most of them at harvest time. Figure out what grows for you, and stick with the name. I choose Jet Star because it produces and also has good disease resistance.
We can run into trouble with various diseases and insect infestations, but careful scouting and early intervention will put tomatoes on your table. I envy those who grow their tomatoes all tied up and pruned, fit for a catalog picture. I hate to admit it, but I’m a sprawler, leaving the vines to crawl along the ground wherever they choose to. They take up ten times the space they would if they were staked. I rationalize that I have more space than time. I read some research results once that comforted me a bit. Staked tomatoes produce a bit smaller crop but the fruit is cleaner, blemish free and less loss to rot and varmits/insects. Sprawling tomatoes produce more fruit but there is a greater fruit loss to rot and critters. I once noticed some varmit was eating large chunks out of ripe tomatoes and finally found the guilty one….a feasting box turtle was happy with his banquet table. So I take my losses but still end up with a cellar full of winter eating.
Spider mites, tomato horn worms and fruit worms frustrate many gardeners, but it is the leaf and fruit diseases and disorders that put some out of the tomato business. A K-State publication from the Hort department written by Megan Kennelly comes complete with colored pictures for identifying and treating many tomato troubles. You can print off this publication found at the K-State Horticultural site on the internet.
June 11 – Welcome To The Bumble Bees
I love my bumble bees and so far, they love me! The welcome sign is always out for these big, slow, bumbling black and yellow giants. They are the flying pollinators that keep the flowers and veggies on my table. I have worked side by side with them for many years and never have seen any aggressive behavior or been stung. When considering the size as compared to other bees, they are BIG! About ¾ inch to 1 ½ inch long, they move slowly and deliberately, milking each bud for all the pollen it can carry. There are really about 50 different kinds of bumble bees here in North American and each kind has it’s own preference for nectar and flower varieties. They are an important part of the fruiting process in the veggie garden and home orchard. We wouldn’t eat without them.
Bumble bees have very few enemies other than an ignorant or frightened gardener armed with an insecticide can. Skunks are their largest and most destructive natural predator. Ignoring the pain of stings, they dig into a bumble bee nest, relishing the larvae and adult insects. Bumble bees do not die after stinging their enemy as some bees do.
Photo courtesy of ascendworldwide
Bumble bees usually nest on the ground, under a flat object. Rodent holes are used if they are underneath an old tarp, stone or even your deck. I have never come across a bumble bee nest in all my fifty years of gardening. They must tuck them away very carefully. They never use the same nest again next year, preferring to start from scratch each spring.
Afraid of bees? Yellow jackets and wasps are to be avoided but the big fuzzy bumble bees are there to do a job. Give them flowers to sip on and keep the welcome sign out!