Green for St. Pat's day

Okay, this post is a day late, but not dollar short! :-D

And while there are no shamrocks in the pics, there's GREEN in abundance! Here's what's been started under the lights in the basement and now big enough to come out onto to the deck. A nice lettuce mix and 3 kinds of onions: Red Mars, Yellow Candy and White Bunching. There's green stuff on the deck so YAY it must be spring (well, officially on Friday, but today the weather is better than Friday's will, according to the forecast).

Either way, these hardy spring veggies can take the cold and will now stay outside.

Meanwhile, in case you haven't noticed, I've been posting a lot on my "Plant Propagation" page recently. That's because there's so much to do with my GUL (growing under lights) starts that I haven't had much time to do a proper post for the main page here.

As for my WS containers, I'm expecting sprouts today (how's that for optimism?). It's going into the 60s, sunshine, and other WS on the forum in my zone have posted about sprouts. My stuff should be catching the 'green wave' coming up from zone 6 to my zone 5 deck any minute! I'm going to take my cup of coffee outside and wait for it. :-D

Once upon a time...

I know that there will be lots of new and interesting stuff to post when Spring shows up and I get back outside to work in the gardens. But right now we're having another 'rain event' in NE Ohio and it might be a good time to curl up with a nice hot beverage and enjoy a tale from LAST year's garden adventures - before I was blogging. Everybody comfy? Okay, let's go.

Once upon a time there was a gardener who, having decided to turn her place into a pollinator sanctuary, just couldn't get enough of things buzzing and humming around the place. "Welcome, bees!" she sang. "Welcome butterflies and moths. Welcome hover flies and humming birds. Welcome. Welcome." (Oh, puh-leeeze! Act your age for gosh sakes! ) But I, uh, she didn't and eventually the whole insect community got wind of this new venture and before you know it -- surprise!

In a previous tale I've related how this gardener mows her own grass/meadow. By doing so, every inch of the lawn gets inspected on a regular basis and when something new shows up, well, she's all over it (sometimes literally). In the very back of the yard she has to step carefully due to many chipmunk holes. (They are a hazard and wicked nasty to fragile ankles!) Filling them is futile, but sometimes gives a fleeting satisfaction. (Take that, and that, and *thump thump* that...) Anywho, one day she saw a cute little bee fly into one of those chipmunk holes. And look, another! Oh, she thought. This must be a digger bee or some other native bee that uses rodent holes. I've read about them! Yay! she thought again. Her gardens will be a bee sanctuary in no time.

Let us pause our story here, dear readers, to remind ourselves that when our gardener mows her lawn/meadow, she does not wear her reading/close-work glasses. Now, let's continue.

She just couldn't wait to investigate these solitary and docile native bees. She ran got the camera. Before snapping pics, she knelt down and gently laid her ear against the soil, hoping to hear the happy hum beneath, but no. Ah well. Pics were taken and filed away for her bee collection. While walking away, she spied yet another chipmunk hole about 20' feet away with the same kind of bees entering and leaving. She was blessed indeed.

That very night (and readers, these are true facts, not embellished for literary effect), she was awakened by the odd infant-like crying that is the voice of a red fox. Not just a bee sanctuary, she thought excitedly, but a wildlife refuge! She could hardly go back to sleep.

The next day she wandered back toward the chipmunk holes and (oh her poor heart!) found nothing but carnage and devastation everywhere! Oh, the bee-manity!

*sob* Luckily she had her camera and started snapping flash pics left and right. BOTH nests had been dug into and what she naively thought was honeycomb strewn about.

*snap* *snap* *ouch* *OUCH* HEY! HEY! YOW!

Let me tell you, my friends, even with her bad ankle that gal hopped/ran like someone had yelled "free money!" Back safe inside her impenetrable fortress of solicitude, she grabbed her glasses and took a closer look at her digital pics. Hmmm. Then did a little web search. More hmmm. In retrospect, our clueless gardener got off pretty lightly with only a few stings from the ENRAGED YELLOW JACKETS that were LUSTING FOR VENGEANCE that their two underground football-sized nests had been dug up and their lovely plump and juicy larvae had been eaten by foxes!!

Later that same day, our calamine-dappled gardener wondered what to do with those two dangerous half-exposed half-eaten yellow jacket nests? Worriedly she researched about boiling water, cool nights, darkness (they hate bright lights like - flash cameras), etc. But there was little need to worry. The very next night the laughing foxes came back, dug up the rest of the nests and ate everything, even the nest material.

All our gardener had to do was fill in the holes, walk away -- and live happily ever after.

Planting ahead

This winter has been the coldest, longest, snowiest, blowiest that I can remember. Oh, 2002-2003 winter had a lot of snow, especially in February but 2008-2009 has it beat hands down! (Heavily gloved hands, I might add! ) Sure, we had a little mild break a couple of days ago when it flirted with 50. But temps plummeted again and it's 8F right now and only going up to 18. And at this moment a bitter wind is driving from the North at 20-30 mph with higher gusts. So what' a garden gal to do?

Plot and plan. Dream and scheme. And, believe it or not, plant seeds outside - right now!

Remember how late last Fall I stumbled into the GardenWeb forums? My first foray landed me in a real pile of crap - figuratively speaking that is. The Soil Forum is all about compost and never have I met such a nice bunch of wackos (as they affectionately refer to themselves). Near the end of the year you may remember that I next found the Cottage Garden forum. Well, as winter deepened, both forums slowed a bit, so I did some stepping out, checking out other forums. One day I found the Winter Sowing forum. Whazzat?

Come to find out Winter Sowing is a planting method that got its start at the turn of the century. (Kinda weird that 2000 could be referred to like that...all my life 'turn of the century' had always meant the year 1900). But I digress.

I spent a little time reading the wonderfully informative FAQ page on the WS forum (written by Trudi Davidoff of WinterSown.Org) and I was off (even more so than usual *heh*). What IS Winter Sowing? To quote Trudi:

"Winter Sowing is an easy germination method that starts many seedlings for just pennies. During Winter seeds are sown into mini-greenhouses that you make yourself from recyclables. After sowing, the mini-greenhouse is placed outside to wait for the end of Winter. The seeds will begin to germinate at their own right time when weather warms. "

Translation: You make a bunch of mini-greenhouses out of recycled material: milk jugs, water containers, 2-liter soda bottles, lasagna pans. If a container can hold at least 4" of potting mix and you can poke holes in the bottom and put a clear or opaque cover over the top, you're in business. (Be warned - some of us do not seem to have recyclable items at hand, so surprising forays into dumpsters are not unheard of.)

Well, what's not to like? It's got all the elements of a good time: easy, pennies, recyclables. And some real gardening to do in the dead of winter!! Woohoo. And you meet the nicest people - the WS forum gang! Thanks to these kind and generous people, through exchanges and outright gifting, I received a plethora of flower seeds (perennials and annuals), the familiar as well as the unknown to entice me into trying Winter Sowing. Ohboyhowdy!

The result is this nice collection (above) of WS containers now frozen solid on my deck. FROZEN SOLID. And yet, that's the way it's got to be. Lots of seeds need to be winter stratified (freeze, thaw, refreeze, etc.) So how is WS any different than just casting seeds right into the garden in Fall and walking away? By sowing seeds into containers the seeds are protected from critters/bugs that might eat the seed; preventing rain/snow melt from washing away the seeds, bypassing hostile garden conditions (winter traffic, etc), competition from other seeds, stuff like that.

But with bit of WS protection, a high percentage of seeds will sprout. A great bonus is that these seedlings develop into hardier plants than, say, those sprouted in a basement under grow lights then have to be 'hardened' off before going into gardens. WS babies are ready to hit the ground running!

Right now all these containers are sown with hardy perennials - tough stuff that can take winter. In a couple of weeks I'll be sowing tender perennials and hardy annuals. Then the 'regular' annuals...and..uh oh. I think I'm going to need more empty containers.

Dumpster diving - don't leave home if you can't make bail! ;-)

For more WS adventures, visit the "Plant Propagation" link on the sidebar. (Post dates are listed on the link.)

February tease

Remember that nice bit of weather that thawed the snow and interrupted the nasty weather?

Well, boo! Mom Nature found the remote again -- and she's switched us back to our regularly scheduled winter. *sigh*

No Free Lunch

When I sit in the garden and enjoy the bees and other pollinators, there is always so much activity. Not necessarily their numbers, but they are in constant motion, flitting from one flower to another. Now here, now there, now back to here. Originally I used to think that the first visitor had drained the nectar, yet just a second later another pollinator would land on that same blossom and take a sip -- then leave too. I thought, “You guys could save some fly-time if you just stayed longer on one bloom.” Bumblebees seemed to understand this: I’ve seen them grab hold of a zinnia for dear life and stay for hours, sometimes spending the whole night and still be there in the morning. But, for the most part, bees, etc. favor hit-n-run vs. start-a-tab-and-keep-‘em-coming approach to nectar gathering.

I wonder why. A little research turned up some surprising information. In my last post I mentioned that flowering plants and pollinators co-evolved back in the longtime. Turns out that between the two, it is flowering plants that run the show.

Scientists analyzed nectar and found that for bee and other pollinators, blossom eaters and nectar thieves, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Nectar and scent and color are all baits for the real deal: moving pollen from one plant to another, or better, lots of others. This article (one of several I read) explains that flowering plants do not get the best dispersal of pollen if only a few barflies hog the beer so to speak. Plants need lots of pollinators, but too much of a good thing can be just as disastrous as no pollinators at all. If those sweet-smelling blooms are eaten by insects or grazing animals, or taken off the market by the aforementioned barflies, there goes the species. Seems that good bait is a two-edged sword. What’s a pretty flower to do? Simple.

When the mass of the same species are in full bloom, our little flower puts on her prettiest petals, splashes on her most alluring scent, and fills up a nice cup of sweet nectar. Then she grabs a can of Raid….

Raid?? Yep! That baby’s packin’! To discourage the flower itself being eaten, or the barfly effect, plants mix insecticide into the nectar – namely nicotine. The flower-eaters don’t eat many blossoms due to the bitter taste and the flowers are saved. The bees sip the nectar, taste the bitterness, and move on. But they need to feed so they head for another flower where the process is repeated. I would imagine it’s like the quest for coffee. Most coffee smells wonderful, full and rich and inviting. But half of the time the taste does not live up to the promise of the aroma. Do we stop drinking coffee? Nosirree! We keep looking for that perfect cup-a-joe. Pollinators keep looking for that perfect cup of nectar.

So what would happen if bees did find that perfect cup of nectar? Quick, to the lab, Igor! Scientists whipped up a batch of modified plants that wouldn’t produce any nicotine. Results? They found that those plants (placed with normal plants) produced 2 to 5 times fewer seeds as the unmodified plants. Lesson learned: Mom Nature says you gotta take the bitter with the sweet.

Apparently the nicotine does not harm the pollinators; the nectar is still nutritious and good for them. It just leaves an aftertaste – kinda like Aunt Ruth’s infamous soyloaf. A little soyloaf serves a lot of relatives – there's always room at the table as folks move away, sometimes quickly. ;-)

So, when Spring finally gets here and I go back outside to watch the bees and butterflies, I’ll know why those little guys are so busy. And I’ll probably be just as busy, hopefully sipping what might turn out to be that tantalizing, ever-illusive perfect cup of coffee. Until those warm days are here again, cheers! Happy Valentine's Day to all!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!*

Here's what it's been like around here for the past month:



But now -- the MELTDOWN is on!



Tada!


Up to 48F yesterday with a warm and constant wind from the SW. Even the 10” of packed snow and ice couldn’t compete with that. And more mild weather is promised for all this week! Not only are there large patches of grass showing this morning (it stayed above freezing last night), the re-appearance of the new ring garden, but the ice dams in the gutters have melted away. YAY! A day later - all gone! :-) The blood quickens, the heart warms and the senses swim!

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*Title quote: Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll

Lost in thought

I cannot believe how quickly January went. Here it is, already February, and I have not made myself put together a timely post on native bees. Mea culpa! Yes, it’s been a busy January what with the semester starting up again and some family matters to attend to. And when I did find odd moments to pursue the subject, my curiosity always got the better of me. I would read a little, think a little, then go off on a search for more info, read some more. It's a failing with me: a tendency to get lost in the data, swim in the subject, forget I have a goal. It's why my class papers are always late. LOL I feel that there is something more I could find out, or I’d run across some odd bit and want to know more. I'd probably make a decent research assistant, although the researcher would probably tear out their hair as their deadlines loom.

Remember how I was surprised to learn the difference between feral and wild? How ALL European honeybees in North America are non-native? That those honeybees can (and in some documented cases do) have a negative impact on native bees and other native pollinators? That alone has made me re-evaluate the nature of my sanctuary. And now my current foray into native bees (I’ll address other important pollinators in the future) has made me glad that it is winter and there is time to reconsider certain aspects of my plant selections.

Confession time: I thought I knew something about bees. I mean really. Bees? What’s to know? I thought honeybees ruled and big and little bumble bees were cute and fuzzy and carpenter bees drove me crazy chewing up my shed. CCD? I was going to rush out and save honeybees from extinction. Oh hubris! Thankfully my meds kicked in and a cooler head prevailed. (Could be the meds, could be the *#($*@ freezing cold winter we’re having this year! LOL). Anyway the amount of info out there to read (just the online stuff alone) has really shaken up my complacency and gotten under my bonnet. This early research is buzzing like a hive of hornets in my head, still new and undirected, difficult to know where to start. So much I would like to post, but I’m afraid at this point it would read like a biology dissertation (as one dear fan ventured ;-) ). And the last thing I’d want to be is … boring. *arg* (Who was it that said “I’d rather be wrong than boring?” Might have been a politician, can’t remember. *grin* )

So I’ll organize my thoughts, cut the info into some chewable bites and post them as the winter progresses.

Here is the first bite: Apparently there are between 3500 and 4000 native bee species in North America alone (with over 16,000 identified to date worldwide), and each of them evolved along with certain native flora. These essential symbiotic relationships developed well back in the longtime. How long? One type of bee (which has characteristics of the wasps from which bees evolved) has been found in a piece of 100- million-year-old amber. (pic from Google images)

One hundred million years? Whoa! There’s even more to read than I thought. I’m doomed…. Stay tuned. To paraphrase the governator: I’ll bee back…