A little while back, during the last warm day we had, I found this guy as I was moving potted plants… a Red Back Salamander.
This is the type that can lose its tail when caught by a predator, then grow another one back. He was only 3 or 4 inches long.
I didn’t try to see if it would work, I just took his picture and let him go back home into the woods nearby.
Bob
A couple of days ago our spring bulb order arrived.
These are the flower bulbs that bloom in the spring, so they must be planted now, in the fall. Planting them in the spring will not work, because they need a cold period in order to flower. Besides, you can’t buy them in the spring anyway.
Our order this year consists of mostly Tulips, Daffodils, and Grape Hyacinths with a few other bulbs tossed in for good measure.
This year we are planting only 10,000 bulbs (10,460 to be exact). We have planted as many as 20,000 and as few as 7,500.
I understand not everyone goes to this extreme. Even a couple of dozen can be used to create an effect. However, as you can tell, I believe that when it comes to bulbs, more is better!
This is what a pallet load of 10,000 bulbs looks like:
How does one or two gardeners plant 10,000 bulbs in one season? Check back in later to All Things Green and I will post some photos and more details.
I can hardly wait to start planting!
In the meantime, we need to put them into the cooler for safe keeping.
Bob
It seems that as soon as the weather turns a little cool, everyone wants to come into the greenhouse.
I believe we may have caught a pair of chipmunks, male and female . The male first, then the female on the second day.
I know they are cute but they can cause some real havoc in a greenhouse.
They like to tear open my seed packets, then bury the seeds all over the place in random pots throughout the greenhouse.
They also run up and squeak at me like they own the place.
Well, now they have to adjust to their new home…three miles away!
Bob
It’s supposed to get colder later this week. That means its time to start moving in some of the potted plants we intend to over-winter.
Some of those plants that can be seen here include (from left to right):
Valencia orange tree, Hibiscus, Brugmansia, Asparagus Fern (barely visible), Bird of Paradise (on cart), Colocasia (Elephant Ears) and Olive Tree.
Most of the plants I’m moving today can be over-wintered in someone’s house. Some of them would need special conditions such as a bright, sunny, south window; for example the Orange tree, Brugmansia, Hibiscus and Olive. By the way, the Hibiscus and Brugmansia can both be pruned back to fit the space you have in your house… that’s what I’m planning to do.
The Asparagus Fern and Bird-of-Paradise would probably do fine in average light.
Colacasia does fine under somewhat lower light conditions, however, if you don’t have the room, you can simply store the tuber (root) like a sweet potato in a cool but not freezing dark spot.
There are still plenty more plants out here to move into the greenhouse!
Bob
First of all, its been about a week since my last post, my apologies. Our computer had broken down and we just got back on line.
I’d like to report that the lettuce looks like it doing great as you can see here:
However, during the time we were off line, an enemy had invaded the garden. It was an aerial attack! Hundreds of small white butterflies were gracefully flitting about the garden. It was so lovely…
I knew what they were as soon as I saw them. They were the adults of the Cabbage Looper. One of those species of green caterpillars that chew holes in cabbage and other related plants such as broccoli or cauliflower.
I thought we were pretty much done with Cabbage loopers for the season. We still have some broccoli out but our main crop has already been cut and eaten, so I wasn’t worried very much about that. The cabbage is fully grown and will be harvested this week, so, no problem there either. The Brussels Sprouts didn’t seem to attract many butterflies, so I’ll just keep an eye out for any problems on them.
What I wasn’t ready for was the sneak attack on our lettuce!! Yes, the loopers are eating the lettuce. This group of worms seem to be even more voracious than the summer worms.
I found them on all the varieties of lettuce, but they seem to have a preference. The Romaine has the worst infestation followed by the Black Seeded Simpson leaf lettuce. The Butter Crunch has a few and the Iceberg has none that I can see.
Since the loopers are the same color as the lettuce leaf, they can be hard to find. There is no mistaking the frass (the scientific term for caterpillar poop) they leave behind. (by the way, I wonder if I can say p**p in a family oriented blog?) Look for the frass and you will find the problem maker.
They are easy to control with an application of Bt insecticide, or other garden bug killer.
Better check your lettuce if you haven’t done so since the weekend. The summer-like weather we recently had, really made those loopers grow. The bigger they get, the more they eat!
Bob
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