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Tuesday, June 2, 2020

June 2, 2020 June babies and blossoms



Would you make every month June?  I think I would.  What better month of the year is there?  June is when the roses bloom and the strawberries ripen, and the world is vibrant and fresh, but mature enough to satisfy. I suppose if we had June all year round, we would weary of it.



Today is a beautiful day here.  We had a light rain overnight to refresh the plants and now it’s sunny and just warm enough to be pleasant. I am hoping that now June is here our weather will even out a bit. Last week we had temperatures that swung between 40 and 92 F. The poor plants must be confused. And the hummingbirds- I am beginning to wonder if the cold spell chased them south again.  I haven’t seen any in a few days.

The lilacs and redbud are fading. Bearded iris are beginning to bloom. Our pond has a huge clump of yellow flag iris in bloom. Weigela, dogwood and viburnums are blooming. There are big buds on the peonies, poppies and early roses. My akebia vine is blooming.  And yes, the strawberries are in bloom and I have even seen some tiny baby berries.

The creeping phlox are still pretty but I confess I am thinking about ripping them all out. It is almost impossible to keep grass weeded out of them. I find sitting there pulling long strands of grass out of the clumps of foliage time consuming and frustrating.

There’s lots of weeding to be done here, that’s for sure. I may get caught up if I don’t have to do a lot of watering this week and those stormy waterings we have predicted allow me enough time between them. Grass is my biggest weed problem right now, although burdock and thistle are also growing vigorously.

My planting is pretty much finished. I planted sweet corn and pumpkins this weekend.  Maybe we will get a good crop this year. We raised the height of the wire fence and when the corn gets growing, I will probably hook the electric fence back up to discourage the bad bambi’s. That’s if it makes it through cats scratching it up and the chicken looking for kernels to eat. And it doesn’t get blow over by the wind. I love the taste of fresh sweet corn- but it can be hard to get it to eating stage.

June begins wildflower season in earnest. The yellow flower blooming all along the roadsides and in fields here in the Midwest is yellow rocket. It’s a biannual and dies after setting seed.  The taller purple and pink flowers along the roads are dame’s rocket. The little lavender daisy like flower with the yellow centers that’s blooming everywhere is daisy fleabane. The fields around here are also filled with white ox eye daisies.  



The worse part of June is that the year is half over. The longest day is just a few weeks off and then the days start getting shorter. The days fly by this time of year because they are so perfect.  But maybe getting this year over quickly will be a blessing.

Those in the Eastern half of the country keep an eye on the weather this week. Lots of storms are predicted.


June almanac

June is a wonderful month in the northern hemisphere, the month when strawberries ripen, and roses begin to bloom. Indeed, this month’s full moon, (June 5th), is called the Full Strawberry moon in North America and Full Rose moon in European countries. There probably won’t be any strawberries ripening here on June 5th but maybe there will be some further south. Moon perigee is today the 2nd and also June 29th.  With the first perigee close to full moon the gravitational pull will be stronger. Expect wet weather in many places.  Moon apogee is the 14th.

Meteorically summer begins June 1st. The astrological start of summer is summer solstice on June 20, 2020 at 5:44 pm. EDT. At the time of the solstice the sun is at its highest point and the point farthest north that it gets in the northern hemisphere.  Solstice comes from Latin, roughly meaning sun stands still.  At the solstice the sun seems to pause for a few days, and then slowly reverses its direction, moving back toward the south and lower in the sky.  Sadly, it’s the longest day of the year and the nights start getting longer after the solstice. 

In ancient times this event, the solstice, was always celebrated. Many people are celebrating summer solstice once again. It’s a good day to have a campfire, gaze at stars and wonder at the immensity of the universe and our place in it. After a year like 2020 a little reflection on the state of humanity is very worthwhile.

Back in May I talked about May folklore. The first Ember Day, which is supposed to predict the weather for June, was May 22nd and it was warm and sunny. So according to folklore June is going to be warm and sunny.  So, we shall see.

June’s birth flower is, of course, the rose.  There are 3 birthstones for June (thanks to greedy jewelers), the pearl, the moonstone and the alexandrite. The month of June is named after the Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage, family and childbirth. To marry in June was said to make a couple fertile and blessed with prosperity.

June is National Rose, Dairy, and Fresh Fruit and Vegetables month.  It’s Adopt a Cat month. It’s also Gay Pride month and Fight the Filthy Fly month. 

June 4th is Old Maids Day and the 5th is World Environment day. Flag Day is June 14th and Father’s Day is June 21st this year.  The 17th is Eat your Vegetables day.  The 26th is Forgiveness Day, what a wonderful day to celebrate.


A new disease is killing rabbits

In Europe, China and Australia a viral disease has been wiping out wild rabbits and threatening domestic rabbits for a decade or more. The disease has now reached North America and is spreading in the Southwest. Scientists believe it will soon spread through all of North America.

The disease, rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2, also called L. europaeus/GI.2) is highly contagious and remains viable in the environment for months. It can be spread by rabbit predators and scavenging insects also. If you don’t like rabbit damage in the garden, you may think this is a good thing, but the virus also kills endangered rabbit species and domestic pet rabbits. Rabbits are also part of the food chain and their loss will disrupt many ecosystems.

To learn more, you can read this article.



Mealworms that can eat Styrofoam may transform plastic recycling

Plastic pollution is a major concern for people everywhere. A way to break it down and naturally recycle it would be ideal. Researchers announced last year that mealworms could digest Styrofoam, (considered to be plastic),  treated with a flame retardant called hexabromocyclododecane, or HBCD, and remain healthy. When the mealworms were fed to shrimp, they too remained healthy.

New research is building on this and this year a study has been published that used giant mealworms, (Zophobas atratus) to devour polystyrene. The researchers found bacteria in the gut of the mealworms, called Pseudomonas aeruginosa, that was responsible for breaking down the polystyrene.

Further study revealed that the bacteria produce an enzyme called serine hydrolase that can be extracted and used to digest or dissolve polystyrene. It’s believed this enzyme could be used to break down other forms of plastic. If this enzyme could be produced in quantity imagine what a game changer it could be. Plastic waste could be collected and broken down before it ever reached the sea or the landfill.  Let’s hope technology and science can solve the plastic waste problem while allowing us the many benefits of plastic.

More reading


Bumblebee bites can make plants bloom faster

Researchers studying bumblebees in an enclosed environment were attempting to understand how global warming and plants blooming earlier affect bees. They stumbled upon an interesting phenomenon science was totally unaware of.

When bumblebees were hungry because they lacked pollen they frequently landed on plants and bit or nibbled on the leaves. They weren’t eating them but inflicting wounds. Scientists wondered why they did this and began to study the plants. They found that tomato plants that bees damaged produced flowers 30 days earlier than undamaged plants and mustard plants flowered 14 days earlier.

The researchers next studied bumblebees and plant biting in the wild and found the same pattern. Bee bitten plants were stressed into flowering earlier. That made more food available faster for the bumblebees. It seems to be a behavior that is natural and instinctive by bumblebees and bees bite more species of plants than tomatoes and mustard.

Don’t get the idea that pinching the leaves of your tomatoes to stimulate bee bites will help you get tomatoes earlier. Researchers tried that and found it only accelerated blooming a few days. They now believe the bee bites may involve a chemical secreted by the bees that somehow prods the plants into producing pollen, bee food, faster.  It does suggest that bumblebees should be encouraged to frequent the garden.

More reading
 
Bumblebees on beebalm

Composting doesn’t need to be hard

Every year new gardeners hear about the wonders of composting and want to start doing it. But they start reading about it and get confused because there seems to be so many methods, so much to learn, and it seems like a complicated process.

Here’s the thing.  Composting is a natural process that’s been around forever.  It isn’t complicated, it’s just letting nature do its thing, breaking down waste material into food for plants with microorganisms. It’s happening in your garden right now. Don’t be scared or intimidated by the composting process. Don’t worry about getting it “right.”

Composting can be as simple as finding an out of the way place to dump all your waste garden material, like weeds you pull, and grass clippings and you can add certain food waste items from your household. Just pile it up and let it rot.

Compost can also be made complicated. You can worry about the percentages of browns and greens and the temperature the pile obtains. You can debate over what to add and whether it needs turning. Some people enjoy complicated procedures.

There are things that can help speed up the composting process and there are some things you may want to learn about how the composting process works. There is no doubt that good compost is like black gold for the garden. I’ve written about, taught about, and done my own composting for many, many years.  If you would like to read about a commonsense approach to composting you can go to this page;


Mothballs are hazardous- don’t use them in the garden

Every year about this time people start asking other people how to discourage pest animals. And inevitably someone will recommend sprinkling moth balls around. Here’s the reason you should never, ever use mothballs in the garden.

Mothballs contain one of two (sometimes both) highly toxic chemicals, naphthalene and Para dichlorobenzene. These chemicals are classified as hazardous and a possible carcinogen by the EPA. There are sometimes other hazardous chemicals in mothballs too. The chemicals in mothballs can cause hemolytic anemia, damage to the liver and kidneys, neurological damage, cataracts and damage to the retina in humans and other animals.
Children, pets, people who already have liver or kidney problems or some forms of inherited blood disorders are at special risk. Deaths have occurred from naphthalene and Para dichlorobenzene exposure in both children and adults. The chemicals also pass through the placental barrier and a pregnant woman who handles mothballs or even exposes herself to the fumes for an extended period of time can damage her baby.

If you can smell the mothballs you are inhaling vaporized poison. If a child or pet swallows just one mothball it can cause serious problems and the poison hotline should be called immediately. (1-800-222-1222).  The pesticides in mothballs can be absorbed through the skin by children handling them or pets walking on them.

Mothballs placed outside will dissolve and leak chemicals into the soil. Any food plants grown in the soil will contain the toxins and the poisons remain in the soil indefinitely. The soil where mothballs have been can be considered a toxic waste dump. No organic gardener should ever use mothballs.  No conventional gardener should consider mothballs as safe to use in an off-label manner.

Like all pesticides it is illegal to use mothballs in a manner that is not on the label. Using mothballs to repel animals outside is not on the label. And the irony is they don’t even work that well as a repellant. Mothballs are a hazardous material. Don’t put your health and those of children and pets at risk or permanently contaminate your soil by using mothballs in the garden.

Here’s national pesticide hotline page on toxic effects of mothballs.

What to do with baby animals and birds

It’s June and baby animals are everywhere. Baby birds, fawns and bunnies are popping up all over it seems. What you do when you encounter these babies can make a difference as to whether they live or die.  Our instincts are to help the helpless, but leaving these babies alone is usually the best thing you can do for them.

Many animals such as deer, rabbits and most birds do not remain with their babies constantly, so not seeing parents around is not a sign the babies are abandoned. Deer leave young fawns in a protected spot except for a few times a day when they come to nurse them. A fawn is usually moved to a new resting spot every day or two by its mom but may stay in the general area for days. Twin or triplet fawns are usually hidden in several different places, so if you find one there may be others nearby.

Rabbits also leave their bunnies alone in the nest for most of the day. Other animals may generally stay with their young but may leave them alone from time to time to hunt for food. Some animals leave their young when humans approach hoping to draw attention away from them. If you go away they will come back.

Human scent will not scare the parents away

It’s a myth that human scent will make parents abandon their babies. The mother- baby bond is stronger than that. But when you find babies, or a nest do not handle them if possible. Most baby birds and animals have little natural scent. Human scent may draw predators or disturbing the location may make it more visible to predators. Don’t leave food or try to feed the babies. The scent of the food may attract predators.

Don’t pet babies because they are cute or pick them up to get pictures with them. This can be harmful to both you and the baby and could be illegal in some cases. Taking pictures without touching is fine, if it’s done quickly and then the babies are left alone.

Children should be taught not to pick up baby animals or birds they find but to notify an adult if they think the creature needs help. Children can be harmed by baby animals or their parents and they can also get diseases or fleas and ticks from some animals. They may harm babies unintentionally and may not remember where the baby was found if they move it. Ask them not to show or tell friends where the baby is. 

If pets were with you when the babies were found, or the pet found them, make sure they cannot get back to the nest or babies when you are not there. Even a baby taken from a dog is not likely to be abandoned by its parents if it’s not injured. Cats almost always harm babies if they find them so in this case consider the baby abandoned and probably injured. See what to do below.

Moving babies or nests

Sometimes a baby or babies must be moved to save them from the mower, traffic, pets, or other harm. Don’t worry about leaving your scent on them. Mothers can usually find their babies/eggs if they are near where they left them. When babies must be moved, move them only to the closest spot that they will be safe. If you were going to mow or prune where a nest or baby is, consider just leaving a patch of vegetation around the nest or baby.  It/they will probably be gone in a few days and you can mow or prune.

If you did mow over the nest and the babies or eggs aren’t harmed just leave it. You may want to lightly cover the nest with some pulled weeds or branches for shade and camouflage.

Don’t try to move babies from under a porch or found in an outbuilding unless you absolutely have to. Animal babies grow fast and will generally be gone in a few weeks. Be patient. After they are gone you can seal up or prevent animal access to the spot. Also do not try to move birds’ nests because the spot is inconvenient for you. The babies will be gone quickly, often in days, then remove the nest and prevent access.  

Animals may move the babies if they are disturbed and I have even seen ground nesting birds roll eggs to a better spot. Babies are rarely abandoned if disturbed but eggs may be. Leave the babies alone if you can and they may be gone the next day.

Baby birds can be returned to a nest if they fell out, or a whole nest returned to a spot near where it came from.  Fledglings, baby birds just starting to fly, should be put in a tree or other high spot away from pets and children, but near where you found them. The parents will return and care for them.

Baby birds that are like chicks (called precocious) and running around on the ground should be placed on the ground near where they were found if you know the parent is somewhere nearby. They will call and the parent will answer if they are nearby. Leave if this happens so they can reunite. If no parent answers the calls after fifteen minutes or so, you may want to take the babies to a wildlife rescue.
 
Baby ducks and geese should not be returned to water unless you see the parent there with other babies. Some ducks and geese will accept babies from other parents if they are about the size of their own but try to reunite these babies with their own parent. If a parent or potential foster parent can’t be seen, you may want to bring the babies to a wildlife rescue. Baby ducks and goslings can’t survive well in water on their own.
 
Baby barn swallows make a mess. but they are soon gone.

How to tell if babies are truly abandoned

Experts estimate about two-thirds of baby animals thought to be orphans and brought to rescues were not  really abandoned orphans. Once babies are moved far from home by well meaning people it’s rarely easy to return them to their mother. If you find babies in a nest/den leave them alone. Careful quiet observation from a distance may reveal parents or it may not, even if they are there. If the babies do not appear to be in distress check on them the next day. If they still seem fine leave them alone, if they are gone, problem solved.

Baby animals that are true orphans may cry and make food seeking movements when found. They may be found wandering aimlessly and crying and be less afraid of humans than normal. If they are too young to be out of a nest or den naturally it’s a good sign the parent is missing, but this can also be a sign of disease.

Baby animals that remain still, try to hide or try to escape are usually not abandoned. Fawns that are really orphans may cry and follow pets, farm animals or humans. Ones that stay still or run from you when you find them are rarely orphans. Baby animals may feel cold and shiver if abandoned, but trembling can also be from fear.

Baby birds may cry for food too, but it usually just means they are responding automatically to stimuli resembling a parent’s return to the nest and doesn’t mean they are abandoned. You can look at a bird’s croup, a sack like structure on its neck to see if it’s been fed. The croup will look full if the babies have been fed recently.

Babies found near a dead female are probably orphans, but this happens less often than people think.  Because you saw a dead deer on the road does not mean the fawn hiding in the woods by itself belonged to it.

What to do if they are abandoned or injured

Injured babies and babies you are certain are orphans should always be brought to a wildlife rescue. Do not try to raise baby wildlife unless you are trained and licensed. It is also illegal to keep most types of wildlife and native birds as pets, even if you are just trying to save a baby. Wildlife belongs to the state, even if it was found on your property, that is the law. No one may care if you keep a baby starling, but if you keep a baby owl you may be in for a big fine.

Baby animals and birds can carry disease and parasites. They may have exacting needs you don’t know about or can’t provide. It’s not as simple as pushing worms down a baby birds throat or giving a bottle of milk to a baby bunny. You have to know the right formula to feed and how often, and what assistance the baby needs for elimination for example. Babies must also be raised so that they are not too dependent on and attached to people so they can be returned to the wild.

Baby animals like raccoons can make adorable pets when young but can turn aggressive and dangerous as they become mature.  In fact, baby coons are notorious for this.  Even fawns have been known to turn on people who raised them. Hand raised babies have no fear of humans which can put their lives in danger when they can’t be kept as pets any longer and are released into the wild.

Call your local animal welfare shelter or animal control if you cannot find a wildlife rehab/rescue. They will refer you to one. The DNR office may also be able to refer you to one.  Some rescues specialize in certain animals, but they generally know where to refer you with a species they don’t accept. Most vet offices won’t take abandoned wildlife although some may treat injured babies. Zoos and pet stores also rarely accept baby wildlife.

Most people want to help a baby anything when they find it. But helping often means just leaving it alone. And if leaving it alone isn’t possible always take the baby to an animal rescue.
 
Baby groundhogs

Not till June can the grass be said to be waving in the fields. When the frogs dream, and the grass waves, and the buttercups toss their heads, and the heat disposes to bathe in the ponds and streams, then is summer begun.      
-Henry David Thoreau


Kim Willis
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2 comments:

  1. Love your blog. My hummingbirds disappeared too :( I miss them!! Veggies seem slow to grow so far this year.

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