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Tuesday, May 29, 2018

May 29, 2018 Kim’s Weekly Garden Blog


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 found it quite effective at repelling mosquitoes.  The problem is once again, that it causes skin irritation and it also irritates the eyes.

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….

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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