Sometimes pest will leave you a sure sign of damage such as the below girdling on this passionflower vine. I don’t know who did this but I would just consider it a natural form of pruning.
Sometimes they only eat holes here and there and I think; “Why didn’t you just eat the entire leaf?”
Sometimes the look of guilt is just all you need to know that someone is up to no good!
And when you catch them in the act:
They are just too cute to scold!
Just too cute!
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Filed under Pest
I found myself Thursday walking around the NC Farmer’s Market in Raleigh. I was amazed the market was just as packed and busy as if it was a weekend.
Luckily, Blueberry season is in and it gave me an idea! I had purchased a box of fruit pectin on a whim of making strawberry jam but never got around to it during the season. Blueberries would make a fine jam, too. Two pints of organic blueberries were $5.00 so it sounded like a good idea and I have never made jam before. It was an amazingly quick process!
1) Wash the Blueberries and remove any stems.
2) Mash the Blueberries with a potato masher. I left some whole.
3) Add the sugar, mix well and allow them to sit for half-an-hour to overnight.
4) In the meantime, add the fruit pectin to water and bring it to a boil.
5) Boil for about half an hour, stirring constantly and it should become a thick jelly.
6) Pour the pectin over the berries and sugar mixture.
7) Mix thoroughly.
8) Ladle or pour immediately into clean jars. Allow to cool a little before screwing the lids on tight.
9) Leave about an inch and a half room for expansion. It may take several hours to a day for the jam to set and thicken.
10) Freeze if you are not going to consume it right away. Allow the jam to thaw for a few hours before using it.
Adapted from Sure Jell No Cook Blueberry Jam recipe on the Sure Jell Fruit Pectin package insert.
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/surejell-blueberry-jam-51002.aspx
When I purchased this house ten years ago I noticed the back door neighbor and their wild lot of English ivy covered trees but never realized it would be such a problem.
All the trees in their yard next to mine are covered in English ivy. When ivy grows upright it produces mature stems which bloom and produces berries which the birds love.
The vines produce racemes of tiny white flowers in the Fall which in January ripen into black berries the birds attack in flocks. The seeds in the berries pass through the digestive tracks unharmed and are deposited coated in a natural fertilizer.
Along the fence and other areas where the birds rest and defecate, hundreds of ivy seedlings germinate in the Spring.
After several years of neglect this has produces colonies of ivy along the fence and around the bird bath.
I am going to devote an afternoon to pulling up these ivy plants and cleaning these areas soon!
About ten years ago I planted Holly Osmanthus (Osmanthus x fortunei) along the parking area on the North side of the house when I purchased the house. I love the holly-like evergreen leaves and the very fragrant white flowers which are produced in the Fall.
They keep their limbs down to the ground and it was time to limb them up as they were making it difficult to park two cars side by side. In ten years they have grown from about two feet high and wide to about 15 feet tall and as much wide.
I trimmed off all the lower limbs that were making it difficult to park on that area of the drive.
I did find two empty bird nest but I haven’t seen bird activity in that area this season so hopefully I didn’t interrupt any breeding cycles.
Now the entire parking are is open and I can also get under them to weeds out oak and ivy seedlings!
Driving through a neighborhood back from Cup-A-Joe coffee shop today I saw this yarn bombed stop sign!
Love it!
XXX
Arthur in the Garden! 