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!

Keep An Eye Out For Late Blight In Your Garden

In order to keep your plants safe, the experts say it’s ESSENTIAL to apply fungicide PRIOR to infestation. That means now is the time to treat your plants. The Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association offers some organic options. The Cooperative Extension Services also provide good fact sheets Here’s another helpful link from the UMass Extension Office.

–Amy

Thanks Paul!

Last week we received a number of ‘Ask The Gardener’ questions that we need some help with. Perhaps some of our readers, like you, may be able to help us answer some of these questions. If you have any help for us, please post a comment below for us all to read.

Pam Chaplin: We have a woodchuck that just loves our bush beans. We have a fence all around the garden and the devil avoids the trap that we have set. Any other suggestions?

Rozetta Hughes: I have a ten year old kousa dogwood that has flowered for the past four years, this year we have not had a flower. The dogwood looks very good.
Why no flowers???

Nicole Inglis: What should I do to keep my roses blooming all summer? How should I prune them to keep them blooming?
Thank you.
Nicole

And we have advice from Muriel:
Hi, Tim Kelley… Really enjoy your “take” on TV… and appreciate your sharing your interest in gardening…
I learned this a few years ago and thought you might like to share it with your listeners (as well as apply it to your garden)!
Keep up the good work.
Muriel Thomas, Centerville, MA
http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/secrdets.htm

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

My local YMCA branch in Freeport, Maine has a lovely hedge of mature high bush blueberries right next to the parking lot and I thought…I can do this at home.

I chose three high bush (cultivated) plants, 2 Bluecrop and 1 Patriot, and 5 low bush (wild) blueberries. I went with Brunswick on the low bush because they’re supposed to provide a dense ground cover. I think blueberries are a great bet in New England because they’re extremely hardy, provide delicious kid-friendly fruits, require little maintenance, and hold their own in the looks department. The leaves turn bright red in the fall which should look just great against our white fence.

The key to happy blueberries is acidic soil…requiring a ph of 4. to 5.5. A more dilgent gardener would have tested the soil before planting, but I decided the blueberries would be ok because they’re planted in the same stretch of soil as my acid loving Rhododendrons. I did, however, augment the soil with an organic compost that’s well suited for berries.

Other great options for front yard foundation plants might be gooseberries and currants. Or, if you’re hoping to keep animals (or neighbors) at bay, you might try growing a thorny hedge of blackberries or rasberries.

This latest adventure reminded me to question my preconceived ideas about gardens. Somewhere along the garden path, I decided food plants belonged in the back yard. Nonsense. Another advantage to front yard edibles…the deer are less likely to go there.

The Season's First Peas-Germinated indoors in a moist paper towel

If you are new to vegetable gardening, I encourage you to check out The Just Add Water layout and seed list on the New England Gardener homepage.
It’s a variation on the 10′ by 10′ plot I grew last year in my local community garden in Yarmouth, Maine. You can copy it seed by seed or improve on it with your own great ideas.
I’ll offer a few simple suggestions for those of you who are growing food for the first time. Start small. Draw a simple plan and stick to it. Leave space (at least 18″) for rows. Work some compost into the soil. Weed and water.
As for what to grow, it’s entirely up to you. I grow food my family will eat and emphasize produce that is expensive or bland at the grocery store. You’ll always find plenty of herbs and tomatoes in my garden.
Other “easy to grow” suggestions include lettuces, carrots, peas, bush beans, tomatoes (from purchased seedlings) and spinach.

The Just Add Water design is similar to last years with a few notable exceptions. I’m growing lettuce, spinach, chard, radishes, tomatoes, cukes and beans again, although in different spots for crop rotation.
For fun, I’m trying melons in the squash patch. I’ve never grown them successfully because of the short season in Maine, but spring is early and I plan to break out some black plastic to heat things up. I also waited much too long to start carrots last year, planting them as a replacement crop after the peas were finished. This year I’m planting carrots early and often.

My first planting of peas, both snap and shell, went in the ground last week. (April 18th) If you haven’t started yours yet, I highly recommend germinating them indoors first in a wet paper towel.
This will save you a few days and ensure better production. My carrots and spinach went in the ground before supper tonight. (April 25th.) I hope to get some lettuce, radishes and chard in, in between the raindrops later this week.

One quick word about the dreaded Late Blight that took out so many tomato and potato crops last year.
The disease does NOT winter over in New England EXCEPT on potato tubers. Check out this fact sheet for details.

Salad days are ahead.

Step 1. Give Timmy a lesson on Clipping.

Step 2. Find the pumpkin (in this case, the pumpkin is hiding in The Japanese Knotweed)
-

Step 3. Clip and Pose.

Left to right: Tommy, Timmy, Max, Timmy, and Sam

It's All Over But The Brussel Sprouts

Just Add Water Garden In August

And Just as we did back in early May, my husband, son and I shoveled manure from a nearby horse farm onto the raised bed. The difference now is that my almost 4 year old has become a farmer. Without questions or whining, Zach went to the shed, grabbed his wheelbarrow and shovel, attacked the compost pile, only asking for direction once with a jaunty “where do you want it, Mommy?”
Now I can’t say for sure that it’s a summer’s worth of fresh organic vegetables that made the difference, more likely the passage of time, but it was a pleasure watching him grow along with the Just Add Water garden over the last six months.
I look forward to gardening with all of you again next spring!

I was very happy to get home from my 3 day jury duty last week to find a Jeep full of Mums. Janet took it on herself to hit up Shaws great selection of mums at a reasonable price to decorate our yard. I am also happy to report that my pumpkin garden produced abut 4 fruits per vine, I had three main vines.

One of the vines, I sent over to our neighbors. I told the kids next door, that any pumpkin on your side is yours. Sam and Max were happy to harvest their shore last Saturday.

Sam was happy to do the snipping. He even named this pumpkin.. “Humungo”. Thanks Sam, but we know in this age of 300 pounders, “Humungo” is just big enough for a cute little Jacko.
A walk around town shows some summer Gardens still thriving, this one is one North River Lane in Scituate MA.

And I Love these fall blooming flowers that look like daisies. I have to get some of these.. what are they called.
I am sure I could find the answer in West Springfield where The Big E is in it’s 92d year of fun and farming.
As October arrives, so does another spotty frost throughout New England. To me Garden Season never ends, the chores just change. Time now to prune the wilted perenniels down to the ground.
Ben will soon be diggiing up the Dahlia Tubers for winter storage here at Barney’s in Duxbury MA.
I am turning over my grass compost to make room for the leaves. All the blighted vines are going to the town grinder. I hear that the blight can heat to death in compost and/or freeze to death in winter. New spores ‘develop’ in the spring.
The forecast also calls for the first touch of snow on our tallest mountains Wednesday. If we get the clouds to break we may have views of Red and Orange Foliage with White on top Thursday or Friday. Bad news is we have a wet forecast Saturday into early Sunday. The sun should return as we hit peak foliage in our mountains early next week. The forecast for Columbus Day Weekend is great color, but we have to wait a bit to make the call on what weather to expect.