Garden Update #1 6/30/17
Greetings, Steemians! I originally planned on doing this post at the beginning of the week, but well, life happened. As it often does. Even the best laid plans often go awry.
I've actually had several rather interesting things going on in the garden this week that I wanted to share with you all.
First up, a bit of good news. I've had a batch of swallowtail butterfly caterpillars in my carrots. They're getting really close to being mature. I expect most of them will be gone by Monday. Off to find a place to build their chrysalis. I took this picture earlier today.
I love these little guys so I have tons of pics that I plan on using for a future post.
More good news, the bees have finally started finding the Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia). They seem to really love the flowers on this plant, and visit them in droves, hopping from flower to flower. I keep trying to get pics of them, but still haven't managed to get any good ones. Honey bees seem to be the most numerous bee visitors, but there are a few larger species of bees that visit them as well.
Next up is a bit of bad news, I've had wasps trying to dig holes to nest in, in the "soil" around my plants in the garden, YIKES. I keep flooding the entrances until they fill in and then using a mulch fork to try to disrupt any tunnels. But new ones keep popping up in other beds. If you look closely at the base of the white sign in this pic you'll see one of the holes I'm talking about.
And I know that it's wasps because I keep seeing them emerging from the holes shaking dirt off their wings. Have I mentioned that I have a bit of a wasp phobia? Oh and that the owner is actually allergic to wasps?
Bright side, I've had a feathered friend nesting in the potting shed this year that appears to have served as a deterrent in regards to wasps building nests in there.
I've just left it alone after discovering the nest. I prefer the birds be in the area anyways since they help with pest control. If you're wondering what is in the bottle, it's a basic root stimulator. I'm not super happy with them nesting next to it, but I'm concerned that moving it may make them abandon the nest.
The rest of the pics are just stuff around the garden that is setting fruit or starting to produce.
Like the scarlet runner beans I experimented with this year. I've been really happy with the way they've turned out. And they're producing some really nice looking pods. I actually have a future post about the different bean varieties I've been growing this year planned and will be giving more info and pics on this particular variety there. (I have a purple podded variety I'm trying out this year as well)
Thanks for visiting my post. As always, if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc. leave them below. If you liked this post please consider upvoting, following, and resteeming.
Until next time
Was enjoying the content as usual so sent a randowhale your way :) nice additional touches to your posts btw.
oh wow! Thank you!
Garden is looking good. Do you just let those swallowtail caterpillars eat your carrot tops?
I do actually. And I generally let them eat on my parsley as much as they want to as well. I knew there was a chance I would have them in the garden again this year so I planted extras of the plants I knew they tend to end up in, like carrots and parsley. I expect the carrots to recover rather quickly since they were fairly well established by the time the caterpillars showed up.
My carrots were infested with them so bad one year they ate practically all the tops to the stems before I even noticed them.
Oh no. I've never had them do enough damage to actually affect my harvest. Like even if they decimate the carrot tops over the weekend, the carrots are already ready to be harvested at any time, so it's not really an issue.
Yes that's true if they are mature carrots but it will affect your harvest if the carrots are still young. In any event, now that I know what they are I don't kill them. I just relocate them lol.
I had no clue what they were the first time they showed up. Had the hardest time trying to identify them until they got bigger. I actually started my carrots in cold frames back in April. And I had a container full of parsley grown in the greenhouse that I set out as soon as the weather allowed. I was actually trying to entice them back to the garden again lol They seem to prefer the carrots to the parsley. Only had one or two in the parsley this time, and I think something actually got them.
I never saw them in my gardens until maybe 5 years ago and I've been gardening for over 35 years. Now that they discovered my garden they seem to be around every year.
Your garden is probably helping to sustain a local population. If it's too late in the year when they form their chrysalis, they'll actually overwinter that way and emerge in the spring. You probably have some of the later generations overwintering nearby each year and then finding your garden shortly after emerging in the spring.
What a nice garden my friend! hope to see some Irish pints soon!
Thanks!