Garden Webbed

I always enjoying seeing spider webs in the garden. It means there is some natural pest control happening!

Anything interesting come out of your garden lately?

Invasion!

It's the invasion of the lady bugs! Or really the Asian lady beetle. They are coming! As I write there is one on the windowsill in front of me. These beetles are great in the garden, they eat pests like aphids but when they invade they home they can become a problem. They go everywhere and leave yellow stains behind. Not to mention they shells when they die. As for what to do about them try vacuuming them up or preventing their entry by sealing up cracks around your house. I wouldn't personally go so far as pesticides for them but it is an option. The University of Kentucky Department of Entomology has a great article for more information!

Even the Kitchen Sink

Through the generosity of other gardeners and the creative use of old materials you can do a lot! Last week a friend of my parents was cleaning out their basement and found some things that they passed along to me. One of the items was a kitchen sink. It's really more of a bar sink with a slightly bent faucet. It even has a sticker on it from a past garage sale ($8, it's worth all that and more). All the attached plumbing is still there and appears to be completely functional. You might be asking yourself "Why is he talking about a kitchen sink on a garden blog?" Here's the answer, the sink will eventually be added to my potting bench! I'll attach the sink to the bench then run a hose from the house to the water faucet. The drain pipe will empty into a plastic box underneath the bench to hold the water until it could be reused for watering plants.



Apparently I'm not the only one who is happy about my new sink. Mr. Mantis there seems to be looking for a good place to overwinter. Of course it could be Mrs. Mantis looking for the ideal place for her egg sack.

Her children will always be welcome in my garden!

Smile for the camera Mrs. Mantis!

A Monarch Butterfly Visit

Yesterday we had the good fortune to witness a Monarch butterfly stopping by our 'Clara Curtis' mum for a fill-up.  Monarchs are on their way south now to find their winter homes and have to stop for nourishment along the way.  We usually see them a couple times a year passing through looking for places to lay their eggs or just stopping by for nectar from the flowers.  They love to use Aclepias purpurascens as a host plant for the larvae which is also known as purple milkweed.  It grows native near us but so far we don't have any in our garden.  We do have Asclepias tuberosa or Butterfly weed which is also another viable food source for Monarch caterpillars.

Is it a Male or Female Monarch?

If you look carefully in the above picture you will notice two black dots or splotches near the back of the Monarch butterfly's body.  Those spots mean that this is a male butterfly.  I learned that yesterday in a conversation on The Home Garden Facebook Page.  It's always great to get into interesting conversations!

The 'Clara Curtis' mums are a great last minute source of nectar for these butterflies.  Gulf fritillaries and skippers have been feasting on it's nectar for a couple weeks before the Monarch butterfly visit.  Bees of all kinds have been enjoying it too.  I think it has an advantage over other mums in that it is easier to reach the pollen due to the daisy-like flowers.  'Clara Curtis' also blooms fairly late in the growing season when many other plants have already gone to seed.

Have you seen Monarchs on their migration this fall?

What's Blooming in October?

It's already time for another look at what's blooming in my garden for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. It's mid-October and the trees are just beginning to turn but there are still plenty of blooms to see. And if you're interested in showing off your fall foliage colors then please participate in the Garden Blogger Fall Color Project!

Here's what blooming in our Tennessee garden:

The Pink Cosmos is doing very well right now next to the vegetable garden. I planted a couple seeds in the early summer and now the blooms are showing up in the fall.




In the front sidewalk garden we have mums, a butterfly bush, Russian sage, Gaillardia, daylilies, and a Black and Blue salvia blooming.




Here's the Black and Blue Salvia. It's easy to see where it found it's name.



The Russian sage has been blooming all summer. I'm not sure anything else in our garden has been as prolific. That's just another great reason to plant it. Just make sure your garden has full sun!


The 'Mystic Spires' Salvia is just beginning to go to seed. It was a hummingbird favorite this year that I picked up on the discount rack. It looks like Mr. Bee is still enjoying it.


Here's a 'Stella d'Oro' Daylily that decided it wasn't done yet!



Speaking of hummingbird favorites the zinnias are still blooming. Unfortunately they are starting to get the dreaded powdery mildew. It doesn't bother me too much since we are so close to the end of the 2008 growing season. Time to collect seeds and plan for next year.


This achillea (yarrow) in the rain garden was taken from a cutting near the mailbox garden. Achillea are fairly easy to root.


I still have some sunflowers growing. This one is tucked into the birdbath garden. I planted the seed in the summer to have some blooms this fall and provide the birds with a little more food to eat.


And now you get to see something I've been waiting for, the Monarch butterfly! I was afraid we wouldn't get to see any this year but just recently a few stopped by for a visit on the asclepias.


I think our garden may be along a migratory route. I hope they find plenty of nourishment for the trip.

Thanks for stopping by to see the blooms!

Thank you Carol for hosting GBBD!

Of Bites and the Garden

Last week I walked outside my front door on my way to get the morning newspaper the same as usual. Sometimes I'll go out the back door to walk around the garden to the front yard and other days I come out the front door. There is little rhyme or reason to it, just however I feel like going. But on particular this day something was lying in wait for person venturing to pick up the newspaper. I opened the door without any care in the world and quickly felt a sharp bite on my knee. I looked down but saw nothing on my knee, no bug, no spider, no grizzly bear hanging with its jaws around my knee. It was a very sharp pain with no obvious cause. Something got me. Maybe it was the ground wasp I tested the flying insect killer on the other day, just waiting for the moment to get his revenge. I could rule out spiders since the wound only had a single puncture mark and I could eliminate normal bees since there was no stinger remaining.

Whatever it was the pain dissipated about an hour later.  I resumed my normal day getting the kids their breakfast and getting life going around the house. I even mowed the yard in the evening. The day passed and the next day arrived along with pain and swelling. My knee was red and growing, kind of like a tomato, not the kind of thing you want to see on your knee. I figured I had better get to the doctor.

The doctor looked at my knee and prescribed me an antibiotic in case there was an infection as well as a steroid for any possible allergic reaction. While there at the doctor I decided (at the insistence of my wife) to add on a tetanus shot since it had been eons since my last one. It's a good thing for every active gardener to keep up their tetanus shots up to date. I went by the drug store, picked up my prescription, and headed home to take my first dose of medication and rest my knee.

I kept off the knee as much as I could the rest of the day. Needless to say the garden didn't get much attention. To make things a little more interesting we had a family vacation planned. The swelling went down in time for our trip to Chattanooga where the girls were thrilled by sharks and penguins at the aquarium, but something strange began to happen that I have never experienced in my life to this extreme. I ended up with a case of the hiccups from you know where...

They came unexpected and lasted the whole weekend. Every time I ate food...hiccup. Every time I drank...hiccup.  Every time I tried to sleep ...hiccup. Every where we went...hiccup, hiccup, hiccup. When I slept at night hiccups woke me up on average three times a night.  They were painful, hiccup. I would gladly have taken another bite from the beast that originally bit me if I could have just gotten rid of those hiccups.

The hiccups are finally gone but have left behind an acid reflux feeling in the base of my throat. The crazy thing is I can't remember the last time I was bitten by a bug before last week, at least not any that are of any account. I've had mosquito bites, chiggers, sweat bee bites, and the occasional small spider bite that they give you just to let you know they are there but not anything like this.  I wasn't even going out to work in the garden. All the time I spend around bees and wasps everyday in the garden and I get assaulted while going to get the paper. Next time I'll be more careful when going for the paper but if you ask me which I would rather have, a bug bite or the hiccups, I think I would choose the bug bite!

A Review of EcoSMART Insect Products

As I mentioned in my previous post the folks at EcoSMART sent me four of their insect products to me for testing. Generally I am loathe to apply chemicals in any form on the garden but since EcoSMART products do not leave toxic residues and use natural chemicals and oils I figured it would be worth trying. Please keep in mind that whenever I review a product or book I am sharing my open and honest opinions and experiences. Now on to the review!

The first product I tried and the most effective was the Garden Insect Killer. The active ingredients include several different plant oils like rosemary, peppermint and thyme along with many others. Recently I noticed some fall webworms working their way through one of our birch trees and thought they would be a good test of the EcoSMART products. I adjusted the nozzle to the stream setting and doused the webworms with the Garden Insect Killer. A couple days later I came back with a bamboo garden stake and pulled the web out to examine. 

Only one caterpillar was left alive which of course received the traditional insect squishing treatment. Since the removal of the web there hasn't been a return of the webworms on the birch tree which may be attributed to the natural oil scent the product leaves behind. I would rate that experiment as a success but I haven't tested it other insects yet.

The next product was the Organic Insect Repellent. It was the only product labeled with "organic" and it doesn't contain DEET.  My brother and his family were in town a little over a week ago and I figured I could use them as guinea pigs. Everyone was treated with the repellent except for myself.  Generally I'm very resistant to mosquitoes and other insect bites but I received three mosquito bites that day so they were out and biting. My brother who applied the insect repellent received four and my daughters each received a couple bites. My daughters were swimming that day which may have washed the repellent off. We'll try this repellent again but I suspect its effectiveness varies. 

My experience with the Flying Insect Killer was mixed. I found a giant wasp was flying around our patio which I suspect was a cicada killer (which normally don't attack people but can cause a very nasty sting and since I have two small children I really don't want that thing flying near the sandbox).  I brought out the flying insect killer spray can and aimed it at the wasp then sprayed and prepared to run. I was as close to it as I was comfortable (which was about 5 feet away) and made pretty good contact with the spray. The wasp turned and flew off in obvious distress. Unfortunately I can't verify the wasp's fate but it hasn't been back. It's failure to return could signal its death or just that it doesn't like our patio anymore, I'm OK with it either way! The spray smelled somewhat minty which was a surprise since most sprays smell awful. 

The Home Pest Control product is the only one I haven't found a use for yet. According to the label it will kill and repel insects like ants, beetles, centipedes, cockroaches, crickets, earwigs, fleas, millipedes, pillbugs, spiders, ticks and several others. We've had a couple roach sightings lately and as the temperatures cool this fall quite a few bugs will be trying to enter the house so testing will continue. 

EcoSMART also manufactures weed and grass herbicides which I'm curious about but haven't tested.  

Mr. Tomato, Sphinx Moth, and a Garden Fresh Pizza

Please forgive the randomness of my title for today's post.  It's hard to sum up a weekend in just a few words!  Weekends are always busy times in the garden when the weather is as beautiful as it has been.  Sunday's humidity was a bit high in anticipation of the rain that's falling on the rooftop at this moment, but otherwise the weather was sunny with occasional clouds with temperatures in the 80's - great gardening weather!

In the garden on Saturday we harvested a good batch of tomatoes.  They were mostly Amish paste tomatoes which were destined to become our dinner in the form of pizza!  I skipped a step on my pizza making and completely left off the sauce in favor of sliced tomatoes.  After the dough was rolled out I put a little olive oil on the dough then layered it with tomatoes to completely cover the pizza. It tastes pretty good and is a good option if you don't have time to go through all the pizza sauce making process.  I added some basil on top along with several other toppings.

While I cooked pizza our friend Mr. Tomato watched. He was a good friend and we appreciated his presence in the next two pizzas!

We also discovered a sphinx moth resting above our front door.  Sphinx moths are one of the nighttime pollinators for moonflowers which we have growing on our front porch.  His camouflage would have perfectly hidden him from my view had he been on a tree.  However it isn't so effective on vinyl siding!

Among other garden business from the weekend I prepared and planted a new propagation bed for daylilies and irises.  It's about 12 feet long and four feet wide.  I show it to you later in the week.  There are almost 40 daylily and iris divisions planted there at the moment.  While I still have room for more plants I will need to add more rows very soon.

My next Lowe's Creative Ideas project is coming up.  This month the theme is Mum's!  I need to find and interesting way to display some mums.

Looking ahead at the fall season I still have a lot to do including cleaning up the summer vegetable garden, planting my fall vegetable garden, putting together some new raised beds, and even putting up a small greenhouse.  If only time could freeze so I could get it all done!

Don't forget that the 2012 Fall Color project is underway!  I'll be posting tomorrow with a logo you can share on your blog to help get the word out and I'll be telling you about a cool prize worth almost $100 that we'll be giving away to a Fall Color Project participant!  Get ready to share your fall colors!

EcoSMART Insect Products Part 1

I don't think there is any question that parents want safe products to use in their yards, gardens, and around the home. That's why when the people at EcoSMART contacted me about testing their ecologically safe and family friendly products I was more than happy to give them a try. For this post I interviewed Vijay Das the director of EcoSmart to get some insight into their products and their goals.

Q. What was the motivating factor for developing the EcoSMART line of eco-friendly products?

A. Our founder Steve Bessette struggled with the need to keep his children safe from harmful chemicals even as he wanted to rid his home and lawn of pests.  It’s a motivation that has led him to start this company 15 years ago.  EcoSMART has been a pioneer in this field and we continue to lead.

Q. What types of products do you offer for the homeowner?  

A. We offer a full line of 100% safe consumer insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides for household, lawn, and garden.

Q. What is different about your products and standard chemical products?  

A. We differ in three ways.  First, is the way our products very specifically act only on insects. We have nearly 100 patents for this mode of action.  That’s why people and other animals are safe.  Standard chemical products are broad poisons.  Second, our products do not leave a lasting toxic residue.  That’s why, even for insects in the larger environment, there is not long term danger. And that means that ground water is safe.  And the impact to beneficial insects like bees is minimal. Most standard chemical products are designed to stay broadly toxic for as long as possible.  Third, our products are based on 100% natural essential oils.  We do not synthesize these chemicals but merely mix them in special formulations without altering the chemical structures of these oils.  Most standard chemical products are based on synthetic chemicals and further altered in the lab.  We don’t know what impact this has but if the example of synthetic pyrethroids in California are any indication, this is an area of concern for certain.

Q. Are the EcoSMART products considered organic?  

A. There is some confusion about applying the term “organic” to products that are not meant to be food so we try to avoid that term.  Our products are 100% natural.  If the idea in labeling something as organic is with respect to safety: our products are 100% safe and all of the ingredients we use are considered “food grade” by the FDA and are on their “Generally Regarded as Safe (GRAS)” list.

Q. Are the grass and weed herbicides selective or non-selective?  

A. These products are non-selective and so require selective spraying.  Another thing to note is that our herbicides do not kill roots but instead “burn-off” the weed itself.  We will get rid of the weeds but it may take repeated applications.  It’s an example of the very real trade-offs customers must make in using safe products.

Q. Can EcoSMART products be found in retail stores? If so where?  

A. We are in many of the major chain retailers around the country today.  We will also be making some announcements this year about some very large retail agreements in 2010.  Check our website for more.
Q. Where is the best place for people to learn more about your products?  

A. Visit our online store at www.ecosmart.com
 
Q. What kind of safe products are being planned for the future? 
 
A. We are always exploring products that have special formulations most effective on certain species and also may have special containers needs.  For example, we already have a wasp and hornet spray but we are planning a “spider blaster” as well.  Other areas we are exploring are a sunscreen/repellent combination product and a bed bug travel product.

Q. If you could tell consumers one reason why they should use EcoSMART products over conventional pesticides and herbicides what would it be?  
 
A. We all want to rid our living spaces of pests but we also want to be aware of the dangers of any chemical used for that purpose.  I’d ask folks to consider the question that founded this company:  “How can I get the job done in a way that is safe for my family, my pets, and my world?”.  EcoSMART products fill the bill.

My next post will contain a review of the four products they sent me to test which include two insect sprays (one for the garden and one for indoor use), a flying insect killer, and an insect repellent.

Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus)

I found these little insects today resting and munching on our Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed). They are known as milkweed bugs or Oncopeltus fasciatus. According to the University of Arizona Extension the milkweed bugs feed on:

Seeds and tissue of the milkweed plant (Asclepias spp.). In captivity, the bugs feed on shelled sunflower seeds.

I'm trying to figure out the "in captivity" part. Do people keep these insects as pets? Do they house them for some sort of mad scientist experiments?

Whatever the case these insects eat the juices of various varieties of milkweeds which makes them pretty much unpalatable to any potential predators. This is very similar to monarch butterflies whose larvae also ingest milkweed. Depending on how much you like milkweed (and I don't know anyone who doesn't, maybe I just don't know enough people) these orange and black milkweed munchers aren't welcome inhabitants of the garden.

They are easy enough to pull off or knock off into a container for disposal so they aren't really a threat. They serve to help control the population of milkweed in the wild and while that may be necessary it's hard to look positively upon an insect that enjoys dining on my garden. Of course monarchs of all ages are welcome!

What insects are bugging you?

Fritillary Caterpillar and Butterfly

One of the fun side events caused by the gardening habit is the witnessing of nature's amazing works. Lately I've been seeing quite a bit of the fritillary butterfly in its various stages of growth.  It's probably the gulf fritillary butterfly but there are several different kinds in our area and even though I'm a plant person I'm not necessarily an insect person!  I found the orange with black spiked caterpillars on a passion flower vine in the back near our shed. The passion flower vine is one of several possible host plants for the fritillary butterflies.

I saw this next caterpillar hanging out on a wild white eupatorium that decided to plant itself in my self-sowing garden. It's a pretty wildflower but needs removed before it goes to seed or else it will be everywhere! (which it already is).

Then I found this cool display near my corner shade garden. This fritillary butterfly was just beginning to spread its wings.

It won't be long before this butterfly is flitting among the cosmos!

Enemies and Allies: Hornworms and Wasps

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." This ancient sentiment applies very well to the denizens of the garden. The tomato (tobacco) hornworm in the pictures is a being of great tomato destruction. This larval stage of the five-spotted hawkmoth is able to demolish whole tomato plants in a matter of days if not caught early. It feeds off the tomato plants with a voracious appetite leaving behind bare stems where green foliage used to be. But there is help on the way for the organic gardener. Without using pesticides you can rely on Mother Nature to provide a counter attack for these destructive beasts.

Enter the braconid wasp! And I do mean enter! This parasitic wasp lays it's eggs inside the hornworm where they hatch and eat their way through the flesh of the hornworm. The wasp is harmless to people and animals but is a death sentence to the hornworm. The white shapes covering the hornworm in the pictures are the larva of the wasp working their way out. If you see a hornworm in this stage it is best to let it be and let the braconid wasps do their work. The wasps will continue to grow then lay their eggs in other hornworms which will protect your tomatoes from being unceremoniously snacked upon.

If the wasps haven't assassinated your enemy then you can easily pick up and dispose of the hornworms in a solution of soapy water.

R.I.P. Tomato Hornworm

Sunrise, Plant Propagation, and My Foot

This post is a little bit of a Hodge-podge of topics. A conglomeration of a couple of interesting things and one maybe no so much for you (but something I can whine warn you about!)

Sunrise

This morning we had a gorgeous sunrise that highlighted the early morning clouds.  I snapped I picture from our upstairs bathroom window. It's a small narrow window up high above the tub so I had to be creative with my picture taking but it's what I had to do in order to actually get the sunrise photo from above the neighbor's trees!

Plant Propagation

Today you might say I'm giving you a hand with your plant propagation techniques!  Yes I know that's a bad pun but it was irresistible (and you know the worse the pun is the more irresistible it becomes). What is actually in my hand is a rooted cutting from my winter blooming jasmine.  The cuttings easily grew roots in just a couple weeks with nodal cuttings taken with aerial roots. You can see more by looking at my how to propagate winter jasmine post.  It really doesn't get much easier than this!

Here's a closer look at the roots:

I planted a few winter jasmine cuttings in 4 inch pots along with other cuttings of catmint and hydrangea. The hydrangea was sent as a potted plant from relatives for my father's funeral. I planted the hydrangea for my mom in her garden and took a couple cuttings for myself to add to our garden. 

My Left Foot

Alright, this may be going a little out there for a post about garden but there is a reason for me talking about my left foot. Sunday evening I was finishing up weeding just before I went inside for dinner.  I was back in the shed gardens which was getting choked out by crabgrass, Johnson grass, and all kind of other weeds. I pulled a few weeds from the front of the garden then moved toward the inside areas of the garden where I suddenly felt an extremely intense pain on my ankle.  I looked down and couldn't see anything immediately but I knew what had happened as I heard the buzz of a wasp fly by my head. Apparently I stepped near where a wasp was and unknowingly agitated it, and you know they don't take kindly to agitation. I remembered a similar pain two years ago and raced hobbled inside as fast as possible to get some sort of treatment. I'm not severely allergic to wasps, bees, and other critters but you don't need to be to get this result (please excuse the ugly foot picture you are about to see - farmer's tan and all):

The swelling has gone down considerably after a doctor's treatment and I can walk again without pain.  If I actually was allergic to stings this could have been an awful situation. Just heed this word of warning - watch where you walk in the weeds!

Garden Photography: Asters and Butterflies (with my new camera!)

Thursday I got my new camera and of course I couldn't wait to get outside and take a few pictures to test it! Let me just say that I am impressed with this Nikon D40. The pictures are much more clear and precise. The camera just functions better than our old Olympus. I'll still use the old camera from for pictures on this blog since it can easily be put into my pocket but I'll definitely be mixing in the new cameras photos. They're too good not to!

Take a look at our asters. These are New York Celeste asters that we purchased last fall. I separated them into several plants from the five we purchased but sadly several of them succumbed to a rust. I pulled those and left the healthy ones and now we have these asters to enjoy. Because of the division I made last fall I ended up with six this year despite losing four.


I love the types of pictures I can take with the lenses. The Nikon camera came with an 18-55mm and a 55-200mm. This butterfly would have been quite fuzzy on our other camera.




I took quite a few pictures with the continuous picture mode and selected the one I liked best of this tiger swallowtail butterfly. I can already see a danger with the new camera: picture storage space! Time to look for another hard drive...



I hope I get the time tonight to take some pictures for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day tomorrow!