Hi Gardeners
 |
| Tulip Virichic and hosta |
I know there are readers of this blog out there in many states-
and other countries. You all have your
weather woes. Our weather here in
Michigan has been very challenging this year and I think it’s been the same in
many other states. We went from a cold wet spring with everything behind
schedule to - boom- July weather- and way too hot for new plants just put in
the garden. It is also way too hot for
gardeners trying to get that planting done and for greenhouse owners trying to
sell plants before they burn up.
It was 95 here yesterday.
The last 3 days have all had high temps over 90. It’s 11 am here and the temp is 87 so we are
on track for another day above 90. (3 pm it’s 94). Some areas of Michigan had
heavy rains this past week, but we have had only light showers, so things are
drying out quickly in the heat, which means watering twice a day. All the newly transplanted seedlings and the
container plants need it to keep them from wilting. All that watering takes
time from planting and weeding.
I spent a lot of time on my butt planting the small transplants
from my little greenhouse into my butterfly garden space. That’s zinnias, marigolds, tithonia, 4
O’clocks, Maltese cross, blue lace flower, garden heliotrope and assorted other
things. Fighting mosquitoes off me and
keeping kittens and chickens off the little plants is a lot of hot, frustrating
work and they better make a nice showing this year.
I still have lots of planting to do so I have been working outside
in the early morning and then in late evening and it’s still hard for me. When the plants are in the ground and watered
frequently they are growing quickly, that’s one good thing I can say. I put a single
water hyacinth plant in my little ornamental pond just last week and it has
already morphed into 3 plants.
My peonies, weigela, Siberian and bearded iris are beginning to
bloom. The lilies of the valley, dames
rocket, cranesbill geranium and mayapples are blooming. My bristly locust is blooming. The yellow Harrison rose is blooming, and there
are buds on the other roses, and clematis.
The Korean lilacs are getting ready to bloom but the common lilacs have
just about finished blooming. Autumn
olive is blooming and say what you will about it being an invasive plant, it
smells wonderful in bloom and the bees are ecstatic about it.
Most of my houseplants have been moved outside, just a few odds
and ends to go out still. The weather
has been hard on them too. Usually I am
worrying about putting them outside when the nights might still be too cool, or
a frost might still happen. Not this
year, now I’m worried about them scorching and whether they have enough shade
and water.
It’s the full flower moon tonight.
The weather pattern is shifting back to normal. I don’t know – maybe I’ll be worried about
frost next week.
Buttered
Popcorn plant, peanut butter plant (Senna
didymobotrya) or (Cassia didymobotrya)
If you like interesting and different plants in the
garden you might want to try this plant.
It has pretty yellow flowers but much of the interest surrounding the
plant comes from the smell when the leaves are brushed or crushed. It’s variously described as buttered popcorn,
burnt popcorn, peanut butter, mouse or wet dog.
Senna
didymotrya also has the common names of popcorn cassia, peanut
butter cassia or African senna. (It was reclassified from Cassia to Senna in 1982,
although as usual it may still be labeled Cassia
in commerce.) It’s native to Africa,
where it’s sometimes considered a crop or rangeland pest. It’s also used as green manure crop as it
fixes nitrogen from the air. Senna has become naturalized in Australia and some
other tropical areas.
 |
| A small plant of 'Buttered popcorn cassia' |
The plant becomes a large shrub in good conditions and it
grows quickly, becoming 3-4 feet high in its first season and 6-8 feet high
where it’s warm enough to be perennial.
It can get equally wide. It has
compound leaves consisting of rows of rounded leaflets opposite each other. The leaves remind me of sensitive plant,
although they don’t respond to touch. Leaflets can be 3 inches long and whole
leaves up to 18 inches long.
To me popcorn cassia leaves smell like buttered popcorn,
you may have another idea when you smell it. You might think it smells like peanut butter
or worse, like wet dog. The smell is
fleeting when you crush a leaf or handle the plant and you won’t notice it most
of the time.
Popcorn senna has black buds that open into bright yellow
flowers in spike-like clusters that can be a foot long. The didymus in the
scientific name refers to grapes, and the buds do look like round grape
clusters. Each flower has 5 cupped petals and is about 2 inches across. It starts blooming even when plants are small
and blooms all summer. Blooms open at the bottom of the cluster first and
proceed upwards. The flowers don’t have a scent.
Senna is in the legume family and if you look inside a
flower you’ll pea pod like structures that are the female parts of the plant,
some frilly pollen bearing structures and two odd brown “horns” sticking
out. The “pods” are seed pods filled
with round brown seeds when mature.
Cassia or senna is used as an ornamental in many places
where it’s not hardy (hardy to zone 8 and above). It’s usually treated as an annual where it’s
not hardy. I haven’t heard if anyone has overwintered a plant inside. It’s evergreen and perennial so that might be
an option. Maybe I’ll try it.
Popcorn cassia likes full sun and heat, don’t plant it
outside until after all danger of frost has passed. It needs consistent
watering for good bloom but make sure it has good drainage because it doesn’t
tolerate wet soil. For best bloom fertilize with a liquid fertilizer every
other week or use a slow release granular fertilizer in containers.
Outside of it’s native range popcorn cassia has few pests
or diseases. Animals don’t eat it and
it’s said to repel them, although that’s not a proven fact. It seems like the
popcorn scent would attract them but maybe animals smell something we don’t.
It’s best used as a container plant – remember it gets
large though and make that a big container.
Gardeners in zone 8 can probably plant it in the ground. Gardeners should start with a plant although
if you get seeds on that first plant you can save some and start them inside 8
weeks or so before your last frost next year. Senna can also be started from
cuttings.
 |
| LARGE PLANT OF SENNA OR CASSIA |
Because of the scent people may think the plant would be
good in children’s gardens but I would use caution there. It’s probably fine if they don’t eat it,
touching and smelling it doesn’t cause harm.
But ingesting the plant might, I could find little on toxicity although
it’s listed as poisonous to animals. http://wric.ucdavis.edu/PDFs/plants%20reported%20to%20be%20poisonous%20to%20animals.pdf
Little is known about medicinal qualities. It is used in
some African folk remedies, I saw it was mixed with milk as a laxative and used
to cause vomiting. It was also mixed
with milk and given to expel worms. Some
references list it to induce labor- as many strong laxatives can do. I don’t
think it’s a medicinal plant I would experiment with.
Many garden stores sell this as a novelty plant and if
you like unusual things popcorn cassia may appeal to you. It would look good paired with purple plants
such as a purple calibrachoa or
maybe a dark sweet potato vine. In my
case I paired it with a yellow bidens plant I overwintered.
Help!
somethings eating my veggie plants- what to do about cutworms
Vegetable gardeners have been asking me what could be
eating their seedlings and transplants.
They describe plants cleanly cut off at the soil level and lying on the
ground. This is very discouraging to
gardeners and deadly to the plants involved.
The answer is 99.9 % of the time is that you have cutworms. But don’t worry it’s simple to keep them from
getting your seedlings and transplants.
 |
| Cutworm - en.wikipedia |
Here’s a link to a page where I describe cutworms and
explain what to do about them. The
answer simplified is that you create a barrier between the worm and the
plant. Paper and cardboard are quite
effective, you just wrap plant stems with a strip of paper or put a cardboard
collar around a seedling or transplant.
You can read more about it in the article.
Help!
Somethings eating my trees
If you have been outside looking at your trees and found
them being eaten by a big hairy caterpillar you are not alone. Gypsy moth caterpillars are having a good
year in some places and Forest Tent Caterpillars and Eastern Tent worms are
also munching away.
Identification
The gypsy moth caterpillar, (Lymantria dispar dispar),is gray-green and has five pairs of bluish
bumps followed by six rows of red bumps running down the length of its back. There’s a white line running down the center
of the back and the caterpillars appear hairy. Gypsy moth caterpillars
begin hatching in late May and early June. Adult female moths are white with
brown markings and males are gray with black markings.
When they are small gypsy moth caterpillars go high in
the trees and feed in sunlight. Later as
they get to be big fat caterpillars up to 2.5 inches long they prefer to munch
at night. These caterpillar spin silk
threads which they use to climb up and down trees and when the caterpillars are
small the silk even acts like a parachute, floating the babies from tree to
tree. They don’t make tents or
webs. Gypsy Moths are an invasive,
non-native species.
 |
| Gypsy moth caterpillar - CT.gov |
Gypsy moths feed on a wide variety of trees including
evergreens. They seem to prefer oaks,
gray birch, willows, poplar, hawthorn and apples. They eat day and night.
The Eastern tent caterpillar (Malacosoma americanum), is a native pest. It’s also hairy looking, it’s black with a
white stripe down the back, brown and yellow lines along the sides, and a row
of oval blue spots on the sides (not bumps and not on the back). It hatches out earlier than Gypsy moth
caterpillars, about the time tree leaves are first opening. Adult moths are
reddish brown with yellow diagonal stripes on the wings.
Eastern tent caterpillars are social creatures and like
to feed in large groups. They build a
web in the crotch of a tree which they expand as they get bigger. The web does
not enclose leaves. (Don’t confuse them with fall tent worms, whose webs are at
the end of branches and enclose leaves.) They come out to feed in early morning
and evening and hide in the web when it’s rainy or too hot or cold.
When Eastern tent worms are finished growing they wander
away by themselves to make a cocoon, often on the ground. In the wandering
stage they don’t eat and are picked off by birds and mice.
 |
| Eastern tent caterpillar |
The Eastern tent caterpillar prefers to eat wild and
domestic cherries, apples and crabapples, pears, plums, peaches, hawthorn and
occasionally maples.
The forest tent caterpillar (Malacosoma disstria)
is dark greenish -black, with a line of white “keyhole” spots on its back and
yellow and blue stripes down the sides and is covered with whitish -yellow
hairs. There is a lighter green version in some places. It is the larval stage of a furry, tan
nocturnal moth.
It is very similar to the Eastern tent worm but unlike
the Eastern tent worm these little buggers don’t build a big messy cobwebby
tent in the crotch of a tree. They may
build a small patch of webbing on a flat limb to hide in at night but mostly
they travel in gangs looking for food and adventure.
The Forest Tent caterpillar eats a wide variety of plants
from trees to roses as it travels. Its favorite food is Quaking aspen but it’s
also fond of popular and willow. They do not eat evergreens and are rarely
found on red maple or sycamore. They are
also a native pest.
 |
| Forest tent caterpillar - ectotherm wiki |
Caterpillar
damage and control
The caterpillars listed above all have populations that
vary from year to year. The reason for large populations one year has to do
with the previous year’s weather, this year’s weather and other factors. When populations are low, little damage is
done to trees, although they may not look good for a few weeks.
Generally,
these caterpillars eat for about a month and then the damage will be over. When there are light populations of
caterpillars the gardeners best bet is to do nothing but remove any egg masses
that adult moths leave behind.
When they occur in high numbers caterpillars can strip
the foliage off of your trees entirely.
This is much more serious for the trees but even so most trees mange to
survive. But more than one year of heavy
damage can prove fatal to a tree. When numbers are high caterpillars also drop
down on decks and cars to make a mess and their excrement can also make a nasty
mess.
So, what should gardeners do to help the trees in their
landscapes? First do not take a blow
torch to tent caterpillar nests. Don’t pour gas on them and light them. This
hurts the tree more than it helps them. It’s
also illegal in most places.
 |
| Eastern tent caterpillar web tent- wikipedia |
If you see the caterpillars on a tree, the first course
of action is to knock all the caterpillars off if you can. Rake open the
netting of Eastern tent worms. A hard
stream of water from a hose could help. Then smash them or drown them in a
bucket of water with a cup of cooking oil added or some soapy water. Very few
of these caterpillars make it back up the tree when washed or knocked off. Birds,
frogs and mice devour them when they can see them, and many caterpillars just
die from exposure.
You can also spray favorite trees with insecticides. Caterpillars under webbing are protected from
pesticides so the products must be sprayed when they are out feeding. Systemic insecticides that you pour on the
ground around the plant don’t work as well as insecticides you spray directly
on the caterpillars. With systemic insecticides the caterpillars need to munch
on the plants before they die and when numbers of the caterpillars are high
even a couple bites from each caterpillar can do a lot of damage. Look for pesticides that list control of the
caterpillar type you are fighting on their label and follow directions. You could also contact the local county
Extension office and ask for a recommendation.
Many municipalities did aerial spraying for gypsy moth
many years ago when the invasive creature first took hold but, in most places,
this is no longer done. There’s a lot of fear and protesting against aerial
spraying and a cost involved. Plus,
natural predators and diseases have evolved to help limit populations.
Many gardeners are against commercial pesticides and mix
up various concoctions of household products they read about. None of these are effective and are a waste
of time and money. There are however, some natural disease and parasite
controls that can sometimes be introduced. Eastern tent and forest tent
caterpillars have natural controls that help limit the population and there are
now similar threats to the Gypsy moth.
For Gypsy moth caterpillars which may travel from tree to
tree and which go to the ground at night when they are larger, using a band of
tape around the trunk covered in a sticky product called ‘Tanglefoot’ can help.
This helps control forest tent caterpillars too, because they also roam. You can also use plain petroleum jelly on the
band. Duct tape works for the band.
Don’t put the sticky products on the trunk directly. The
caterpillars climb up the trunk and stick to it. You’ll need to discard it and
apply a fresh band every few days. A piece of burlap or other material used as
a trunk band and sprayed with a pesticide can also work. The caterpillars crawl
across it and are poisoned.
Gypsy moth can be killed by a virus called nucleopolyhedrosis
virus. A caterpillar infected with the virus will die hanging from the
tree in a V position- attached by the middle legs. Don’t touch caterpillars you see like this
because leaving them will spread the virus and kill other caterpillars.
Also, don’t touch caterpillars of any type if you see
small white “eggs” attached to their backs.
These are usually eggs of parasitic wasps and you want hem to hatch and
attack other caterpillars.
When gypsy moth caterpillars turn into moths you can buy
or make traps to kill them. This helps
prevent next years infection. The moths
lay eggs covered in fuzzy brown material on trees, posts and buildings. These
should be scraped off and destroyed.
Eastern tent caterpillar egg cases look like a piece of
brown, varnished foam encircling a twig of a host tree. These are more easily seen after leaf drop in
fall and should be scraped off and destroyed.
Forest tent caterpillar egg cases also encircle a twig and look like a
bunch of tiny hard brown cells banded together. Kill them too.
 |
| Eastern tent caterpillar egg case USDA Forest Service |
Forest tent caterpillars make very obvious fuzzy tan
cocoons in tree bark crevices, on house siding and other places. That’s where they
turn into moths. Scrape these off and destroy.
The cocoons of the other caterpillars are less noticeable.
Trichogramma Wasps and BTK sprays (Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki) can be used to
control all caterpillars but they won’t completely eliminate populations. You
can buy them from some garden stores.
A fly called the Friendly fly can help bring the forest
tent caterpillar under control. The tiny
Friendly fly lays an egg on each forest tent caterpillar which turns into a
maggot which eats it from the inside.
Natural fungal diseases affect both forest tent and
Eastern tent caterpillars and wet/ humid weather helps the fungal diseases
spread. Keeping favorite trees watered
and even spraying tree canopies could help spread the caterpillar fungus.
Helping
trees recover
All of these caterpillars will stop eating in a month to
6 weeks and then trees will begin to recover.
Keep trees watered if it’s dry while caterpillar feeding
is going on but don’t fertilize. You
don’t want to encourage energy to be spent on new leaves which will be quickly
eaten. After feeding has stopped, a tree fertilizer can be used to encourage
new leaves. Keep trees watered if it
gets dry.
Make sure to remove any egg cases you find. After a heavy
loss of leaves in one year it’s a good idea to fertilize trees the next year in
early spring.
 |
| Gypsy moth egg masses NJ Great Lakes |
Help!
mosquitoes are eating me!
Over a
great deal of the US it’s been a warm, wet few weeks here at the end of spring
and mosquitoes are out in force.
Swatting mosquitoes as you garden is annoying and we all know mosquitoes
carry several deadly diseases. So, what can gardeners do about mosquitoes?
 |
| Mosquito- CDC public health |
If you have no problem applying make-up, sunscreen,
or using over the counter allergy medications you should have no problem using
a good commercial mosquito repellant on your skin. Deet is the most studied
insecticide in the world and has been used for over 50 years. It is a synthetic chemical product but if
label directions are followed it is extremely safe, probably safer than some
sunscreens. Since mosquitoes can carry
deadly diseases, keeping them from biting you is extremely important.
To keep from getting bitten the CDC suggests using
these products on your body and clothing. Products with DEET including Off!,
Cutter, Sawyer, and Ultrathon brands. DEET also repels ticks.
Some other recommended mosquito repellants are
products with Picaridin, also known as KBR 3023, such as Bayrepel, and
icaridin, Cutter Advanced, Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus. Products with IR3535
such as Skin So Soft Bug Guard Plus, (another formula), Expedition, and
SkinSmart are also good. Products with oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE) or
para-menthane-diol (PMD) such as Repel are fairly effective.
Along with repellant, wear long sleeves and pants
when working in mosquito infested areas, especially at dawn and dusk and on
cloudy days. Some mosquitoes bite right through clothes so a repellant
safe to use on clothing should be sprayed over clothing in high population
areas.
You may want to avoid floral scents on your body
and clothes and drinking alcohol before going out to garden. Research has
indicated these things attract more mosquitoes.
If you are sitting on the porch resting after
gardening one of the most effective and safe mosquito repellants is a simple
box fan, with the air turned right on you.
Mosquitoes won’t fly into a strong “wind”. This is very safe and effective when
protecting infants from mosquitoes.
Can plants be used to repel mosquitoes?
First, there are no plants that you can just sit on
the patio or plant around the house that will effectively repel mosquitoes,
despite all those advertising claims. No
objective studies have ever found a plant that will do that. The chemicals that repel insects must be
extracted from the plants in some way and applied to the skin. Even burning the plant oils in a candle or as
incense has little effect. Most studies
find that burning a plain candle is just as effective as burning a citronella
one.
There are some plants that have some success at
keeping mosquitoes at bay if the plants are processed, usually an oil is extracted,
and then applied to the skin. Even soy
oil is mildly mosquito repellant. Here
is some information on those plants.
Citronella
True citronella really does repel mosquitoes quite
effectively, when an oil is distilled from it.
It is a rangy, rough grass like plant that grows in tropical areas. It can grow up to 6 foot tall. Citronella is cultivated in several areas of
the world and the oil distilled from it is processed into a variety of
products.
Fresh citronella oil has a somewhat lemony
scent. The active ingredient in
citronella oil that repels insects is citronellol. Many other plants also contain this chemical
in lesser amounts. In several studies a
10% solution of citronellol was almost as effective as DEET in repelling
mosquitoes- for 15 minutes.
That is the problem with using citronella as an
insect repellent. It must be used in a
very strong concentration and the effect wears off quickly. Citronella is only effective if applied to
the skin. That causes another problem,
many people are allergic to strong concentrations or their skin becomes
irritated. Citronellol is absorbed
through the skin and some studies are linking exposure to the chemical to liver
damage and cancer.
Most citronella products you buy at the store are
so diluted that they contain almost no active ingredient. It is a waste of money to buy citronella oil
or candles to burn unless you just like the smell. There are some good, herbal preparations for
repelling mosquitoes that include citronella in their ingredients, but all must
be applied frequently.
Citrosa, Mosquito Plant
The citrosa plant (Pelargonium citrosum ‘van
Leenii’) sometimes advertised as Mosquito plant, Mosquito Shoo, and other
assorted names, is useless as a mosquito repellant. No plant repels mosquitoes just by sitting
near you. This plant is a scented leaved
geranium and it does have a very small amount of citronellol in it just as many
other plants do. You would have to crush
the leaves and rub them on your skin for it to have the most fleeting effect.
Thousands of these plants are sold each year, even
though they don’t work and don’t even have a pretty flower or form to redeem
them. Common Lemon Balm has 3-4 hundred
percent more citronellol than Citrosa. But remember, planting lemon balm in the yard
won’t repel mosquitoes.
Geraniol
Geraniol is not a plant, but a chemical found in
many plants, including citronella, lemon grass, roses, geraniums etc. It is used as a fragrance and as a flavoring
ingredient in a number of products. Experiments
at the University
of Florida
Celery
An extract from dried and powdered celery seeds,
(extracted with hexane), and mixed with 5% vanillin proved very effective in
repelling mosquitoes in some studies. It
was also found safe to use on human skin.
This does not mean eating celery, making a tea with the seeds or
planting it around the deck will repel mosquitoes.
Soybean Oil
Surprisingly enough, soybean oil is a pretty
effective insect repellent and doesn’t cause the skin irritation like some
other chemicals do. The effects do not
last as long as Deet, the gold standard for mosquito control. It stains clothes and feels “greasy” so some
people object to it. Some soybean oil- based products are now on the
market. If I were going to make my own
mosquito repellent, ( I use a DEET product), I would start with a soybean oil
base.
Other Plants with Insect Repellant Properties
Some plants have chemical ingredients that when extracted, do have mosquito
repellant properties. The problem is
that the active ingredients are costly and hard to extract, or they have some
serious side effects. A chemical found
in mints for example, is effective as an insect repellant but some studies have
found kidney damage and genetic damage when it is used. Lemon Balm, Eucalyptus, Lemon Thyme, Catnip,
Agastache, Marigolds, Rosemary, olive and coconut oil have also been found to
repel insects to some extent.
A mixture of several essential oils from the plants
listed above and some soybean oil might make a fairly effective insect
repellent. You would need to apply it
frequently.
Before using home brewed remedies on large areas of
the body I would try it on a small area to test for an allergic reaction or
irritation. There are several “natural”
insecticides now on the market that vary in effectiveness.
 |
| Lemon balm won't keep mosquitoes away if it's just planted in the yard |
Other ways to control mosquitoes
Keeping the grass and vegetation around the home
trimmed and emptying all places where water could stand and allow mosquitoes to
breed, reduces the population. All water
that can’t be emptied should be treated with BT, a naturally occurring bacteria
that kills mosquito larvae and is harmless to humans and animals. - It comes in
floating briquettes or granules to use on large areas of water and can be
bought in most garden centers.
Other things that do not work to control mosquitoes are ultrasonic devices and light
traps. Some traps using carbon dioxide
and pheromones show promise but are expensive and each trap appeals to
different species of the hundreds of mosquito species in the US
More reading about mosquitoes and the diseases they
carry. ( References)
Should
you keep bees?
 |
| Ornamental and useful beehive. |
You may be thinking about placing a beehive in your own
yard. You may have heard about the
scarcity of pollinators in our world today and want to help restore them. Or you may want to produce some of your own
food and like honey. Either way a
beehive can be a fascinating hobby as well as providing food and
pollinators. But not every area or
everyone is suited to beekeeping and you should carefully think about your
decision before jumping into getting a beehive.
The first thing to consider is whether you have the legal
right to keep bees. Some municipalities
have laws that don’t allow hives in residential areas. Check with your city, township or village
authorities to see if a hive in your yard would be legal. If anyone in your
family is allergic to bee stings then it may not be a good idea to put a hive
on your property. Honey bees aren’t too
aggressive, but they can sting when alarmed.
If you live in an area where neighbors are close, then you may want to
see if any neighbors have allergies to bee stings.
Unless you live in an area without close neighbors your
beehive should be in a fenced area. In an urban area with the neighbor’s
children and pets roaming around a beehive can be called an “attractive
nuisance”. Children who are curious may get too close or even deliberately
provoke the bees leading to numerous painful stings and a legal complaint
against you.
Bee hives can be decorative and can be incorporated into
the landscape with little trouble, but they should be in an area where the bees
are relatively undisturbed. Preferably
there will be lots of flowering plants in the area for the bees to gather
pollen and nectar. Inner city areas
where there is more pavement than plants may not be ideal spots for a hive.
If you have the place to put up a hive safely there are
some other things you need to consider.
A beehive is a moderately expensive hobby; you will need to purchase a
couple hundred dollars of equipment and the bees to get started. You don’t just put up a hive and wait for
bees to occupy it. And you will need
certain supplies and equipment to collect and process the honey and or wax the
bees produce.
You will also need to be a person who is prepared to
learn about beekeeping and carefully follow directions on beginning and
maintaining a hive. It is strongly
recommended that you join a beekeepers club.
At least look up a successful local beekeeper and ask if he or she can
be your mentor in starting a hive.
Bees are able to find most of their own food but there
are times when you will need to provide water or supplemental food. And there are tasks that need to be done
regularly in beekeeping you will need to attend to. Bees don’t really learn to recognize you as
their owner like other pets and certainly aren’t cuddly. They are not a good
substitute for a puppy if your child wants a pet.
If you are a person who uses a lot of pesticides on the
garden and regularly has the lawn chemically treated and spraying done around
your home’s perimeter for pests then keeping a beehive on your property may not
be a wise choice. Bees are very
sensitive to pesticides and you may never maintain a successful hive under
these conditions.
 |
| Honey comb |
Are you brave enough to handle the bees? With protective clothing and a calm, slow
approach to working with the bees you will rarely get stung. But if you freak out when a bee lands on you
beekeeping may not be right for you.
Producing honey, beeswax or other bee products is not a
way to get rich quick either. Some
people supplement their income with honey sales but it takes some time and
experience and a lot of work to get to that point. Don’t go into beekeeping in too much depth
until you see how you like caring for one small hive.
Bees swarm as a way of dividing the colony when it has
reproduced itself to the point that it is getting crowded. A swarm is a close cluster of hundreds of
bees around a new young queen. They leave the old hive and gather on a tree or
other object while scouts look for a new home. They are pretty docile in this
stage but the swarms scare people.
Making the decision to keep bees is the first step. Next you need to do your homework and learn
what supplies you need, how a hive is set up and how to care for bees and
finally how to harvest honey.
Three
great marinades for grilling meat
Take a cheap cut of meat and marinate it for a few hours
and it will taste expensive. Take a good
piece of meat and marinade it for a few hours and get something fantastic. If the summer weather has you yearning for a
good meal from the grill here are some great marinade recipes. Please use locally grown or made products
whenever possible.
Whenever you marinade meat the meat should be totally
covered by the marinade mixture and kept refrigerated. Larger sized zip close plastic bags allow you
to soak the meat in the marinade without any messy containers to clean up.
All marinades should be discarded after one use and not
used to flavor meat after it has been cooked.
If you want to serve a similar sauce over cooked meat make a fresh batch
of marinade.
Spicy
beer marinade
1 cup of beer- any brand
1/2 cup of tomato juice
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of Worchester sauce
4 teaspoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
Mix all ingredients together well. This is enough for about 2 pounds of meat;
beef is the best choice for this.
Marinade for 2-24 hours in refrigerator.
Michigan
Cherry marinade
1 pint size jar of cherry preserves (12 oz.)
1 cup of red wine- cherry preferred
1/2 cup of Italian salad dressing
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt- optional
Blend ingredients well with mixer or by hand. Marinade chicken or pork for 2-24 hours in
refrigerator. This is enough for about 3
pounds of meat.
Tropical
marinade
1 cup of Italian salad dressing
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 cup unsweetened orange juice
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon red pepper
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
Blend all ingredients well and marinate meat for 2-24 hours
in refrigerator. Suitable for any
meat. Will cover 2-3 pounds of meat.
Keep
cool and hydrated out there and keep an eye on the sky.
Kim Willis
And So On….
Find Michigan garden events/classes
here:
(This
is the Lapeer County Gardeners facebook page)
Newsletter/blog information
If you have a comment or opinion you’d like to share, send it to
me or you can comment directly on the blog. Please state that you want to have
the item published in my weekly blog if you email me. You must give your full
name and what you say must be polite and not attack any individual. I am very
open to ideas and opinions that don’t match mine, but I do reserve the right to
publish what I want. Contact me at KimWillis151@gmail.com
I write this because I
love to share with other gardeners some of the things I come across in my
research each week. It keeps me engaged with people and horticulture. It’s a
hobby, basically. I hope you enjoy it. If you are on my mailing list and at any
time you don’t wish to receive these emails just let me know. If you know
anyone who would like to receive a notification by email when a new blog is
published have them send their email address to me. KimWillis151@gmail.com
