New England Gardener

Children are fascinated by the life cycle of butterflies, so when two Swallowtail caterpillars were discovered munching on dill in our community garden over the weekend, we decided to hold on to them in hopes of sharing their metamorphosis with the kids in our Garden Explorers program. My friend Christine thrust the dill stem swaying with the weight of two fat caterpillars into my hand saying “just put the stem in some water. They’ll be fine.”

Now, I know caterpillars aren’t as complicated as children or puppies, but so far, I’ve failed completely in butterfly rearing. First of all, they ate through the dill stem in about two hours, sending me back to the garden in the dark feeling around for the right kind of dill. Second, they’re finicky. They wouldn’t touch the basil, carrot greens, or oregano, instead craning their heads away from my offerings like a one-year-old faced with a spoonful of strained peas. Third, like heck they stay put! I found one half way across my dining room floor before I (by “I” I mean my husband) got smart and built a box with a viewing window.

Here’s when things got sad. I found one, not sure if it was Henrietta or Sinclair, hanging off the outside of the box. Those of you who have reared caterpillars are shaking your heads at my stupidity, but I ripped it off the side wondering why it was sticking so firmly to the box. YES, I KNOW THIS INFORMATION IS ON THE INTERNET, but I didn’t know last weekend. Duh. Henrietta was starting to pupate and I interrupted the process. I tried to put her back on a leaf, apologizing profusely, but she wouldn’t attach. Now, she’s laying at the bottom of the box. Sinclair, seems to have attached himself to a stick in the “J” formation so he may be on his way.

Here’s my question for you butterfly pros. Should I assume Henrietta is dead, or as I told my son tonight, is it possible she’s just sleeping, meaning in the early stages of pupating?

What an ordeal!

Here Comes The Sun!

Question:

I just planted outdoors two tall – about 12-14 “- sunflower seedlings I grew from seed. The next day i saw that one of them was knocked over near the ground, the stem almost severed. I watched for a couple days, and the leaves stayed green, so I thought it might be salvageable, but then, after a couple days, I saw that all the leaves were gone! The same thing has happened to me other years with sunflowers. Other plants, right next to it were not harmed, and the other sunflower I planted at the same time, also was not harmed.
Is there some critter – bird or squirrel, or ?, that’s especially fond of sunflowers?
And, how can I protect them?
I have several more that I want to plant outdoors.
thanks.

Ann,

Thanks for your question. I’ve grown quite a few sunflowers because of my involvement in a Children’s Garden in my town, so I can offer a few thoughts. First of all, sunflowers prefer to be directly sowed from seed rather than transplanted. You don’t have to give up on your transplants, just stick some seeds in at the same time. You can also germinate your seeds for a few days indoors to get a head start. Just wrap your seed in a damp (not soaked) paper towel and seal in a plastic zip lock bag. Maintain moisture and after a few days you should see a small root curling out of the seed. Pop in the ground and watch it grow.

Now, to your question about something eating your small seedlings. This could be cut worms, slugs or some other garden pest. Start by planting more seeds than you need. The critters won’t eat everything. You can also protect your shoots by cutting the bottom out of paper cups and putting them over the seedlings. When the plants are as tall as your hand remove cups and watch your sunflowers flourish. Don’t give up. There’s really nothing more delightful than watching a mammoth sunflower sway in a late summer breeze.

–Amy

Move on Charlie Brown. No Great Pumpkins Here.

Crop failure is always a disappointment, but losing pumpkins is a real bummer. I think those bright orange balls ease the transition back to the school year. Their promise of treats and after dark antics helps lessen the burden of homework and diminishing daylight after supper.

Thirty Seedlings. One Small Pumpkin.

The pumpkins were plagued with cucumber beetles, powdery mildew and too much rain this summer, but this isn’t the first year our patch has produced a scant crop. I’m hoping some of you pumpkin pros will have a few suggestions. We usually transplant seedlings into the garden in mid June and I wonder if we’d be better off direct seeding into the garden? Our soil is good, but maybe sidedressing with compost would help? The fact that we have so few pumpkins tells me we’ve got a pollination problem, but I find this hard to believe. There’s a very active beehive about 15 yards from the pumpkin patch.

We promise a “pumpkin for every child” at our fall Harvest Supper. Hmmm. Maybe I should start spray painting the zucchini?

Zach Plants Swendall In The Just Add Water Garden

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We're Livin' Off The Land!

The rains that drenched southern New England all weekend made their way north into Maine today for an all day soaker, but not before our first harvest of the season from the Just Add Water garden.

On Saturday, we picked spinach and radishes. The radishes, Easter Egg from Johnny’s, were fine, but nothing to get excited about. The spinach–Johnny’s Emu–is worth noting. The color and flavor are quite good. The leaves seemed more resistant to chewing insects than others I’ve seen at the community garden. Germination and production, especially from the first planting in early May, were excellent. I plan to save the remaining seeds for another planting in late August.

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Guess Which Tomato I Grew?

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