As if the sting of the Saddleback Catterpillar wasn’t enough, while walking to check on the blueberries recently I looked down just in time to watch my foot descend while my brain said “That looks like a hornet nest in the ground.” followed by the sound of crunching exoskeletons and the sharp pain of being stung on my leg.  Evacuating the area with due haste, having been swarmed in the past, I attended the sting and returned to the investigate the nest.

If you’ve never seen a ground hornet nest it looks like a small hole in the ground maybe an inch to an inch and a half across, with a pile of dirt around the entrance.  They are easy to spot, if one is looking for them and not stumbling blindly around the yard like I was, due to the flurry of activity that occurs between dawn and dusk.  Get down low to the ground and look out across your lawn.  Provided the nest is more than a few dozen individuals, there will be a small cloud of hornets around the nest as they fly in and out.  This nest in particular was very active, counting over 50 hornets on the ground and in the air around the nest.

Usually I leave wasp and bees nests if they are in a location that where we will not bother one another and can live in harmony.  This was not one of those cases, however, as the nest is in a direct line from my porch stairs to the blueberry bushes, a path my youngest daughter takes when she goes to get a snack.  At two years old I can’t trust that she will remember and not wander over it accidentally.

This meant the nest had to be removed so I began searching for options of which there were many.  Some suggested one of the chemical sprays on the market, other folks suggested pouring gasoline or diesel into the nest late at night and then setting it on fire, and others still used a method of mixing boiling hot water and dish soap together to then be doused onto the nest.  This last option sounded like a nice pesticide free option and I went looking for recipes.  That lead me to this:

Don’t try this if you cannot get away quickly or get a direct shot at the nest.

Also, don’t try this on a huge colony since you won’t be able to hit all the wasps or hornets and you will be attacked by the rest. (emphasis mine)

That last part and my previous experiences with ground hornets, including getting stung over a dozen times all over my body, the chemical-light method was abandoned and a can of Ortho Home Defense Max was chosen because it created a foaming barrier to help keep the hornets in the nest as it began to work.  Late last night I doused the nest and a 10s of hornets were killed within a few moments.  As the foam dissipated other individuals tried to return to the nest and also perished.  The Ortho product was more effective than expected and was worth the $5 price tag for the ease of use and peace of mind in effectiveness.

Today I went back and checked on the nest at dawn and there was no activity of any kind and a pile of dead hornets all around the entrance.  If no more activity is seen after another investigation tonight the nest will be considered destroyed.

Though I don’t like using pesticides and other toxic chemicals due to the impact they have on beneficial wildlife in my environment, there is a balance to be struck when choosing an appropriate technology to solve a problem.  Though I used chemicals this year it serves as motivation to try to find a different solution going forward.

Be safe and enjoy your garden.

This little guy, about an inch long in real life, is a Saddleback Caterpillar.  They are of note for two reasons:

1.  They are a general feeders that will munch on a wide variety of garden plants.  In large numbers, which I’ve had this year, can defoliate a 3 year old blueberry bush in a matter of days.  On doing a garden walk two weeks ago I noticed that all four of the blueberry bushes were in various states of becoming denuded.  A cursory glance at noon didn’t reveal anything so I went ahead and started picking blueberries figuring I would find the predators in the early morning or late evening. That’s when it happened.  I got stung.

2.  The sting.  I’ve been swarmed by ground hornets on several occasions, usually because I ran over a nest with a mower, hit by bumble bees, and fallen into thistle, to name a few ways I’ve been injured by nature’s bounty, and nothing compares to the stings I received from the Saddleback Caterpillar.  I didn’t know what hit me but it hurt like the dickens.  I rushed inside to wash my hand and check the damage, thinking I disturbed a wasp.  There were three stings in total, that I could see, all clustered in the soft part of my hand between the thumb and forefinger.  The pain was like an electrical current pulsing into my hand, and yes, I’ve electrocuted myself before too.

A rash raised up across the back of my hand.  Application of ice took out the peak pain and a follow up with a topical anesthetic made it tolerable the rest of the day.  The next morning the rash and pain were gone.  Though it didn’t last long, it did incapacitate that hand while it lasted.

Control:

I have been hand picking them while wearing a heavy pair of leather gloves and then disposing of them.  This has been fairly successful with only a moderate amount of work.  Though I pulled over 40 off of the 4 bushes the first time out after discovering them, and recovered from the sting, in days since I have only picked another half dozen or so.  Manual control looks to work well, is simple, and only takes a few minutes to accomplish.

From researching it a bit, it looks like they are susceptible to BT if you choose to dust or spray with it.  Be advised, however, that BT will also kill butterflies.

However you choose to handle them, wear protective clothing and be careful.  These little guys pack a powerful punch.

Two years ago we tried our hands at growing garlic here in Central PA and we were astounded with the results.  Growing was easy, harvesting was fun and eating was awesome!  Scott has shared garlic with many online friends and we’ve gifted some to our family and friends as well.  In fact we had enough that we didn’t need to replant until this year.

We get our garlic from Karen and Mike at www.wegrowgarlic.com. They are the nicest people (actually respond to emails themselves) and boy do they grow great garlic!  We’ve found their prices to be reasonable and their selection outstanding.  The first time around we missed out on many varieties because we didn’t order until September.  This year we ordered a week after their shop opened (in July) and we still missed out on some – this stuff goes that fast!

If you have ever wanted to try garlic, make this year the year and go to Karen and Mike’s website here. We grew enough for two years of eating and sharing in a small plot so you don’t need lots of room. Want to know how to do it?  Check out Scott’s post here on harvesting our garlic and you’ll see our tiny plot.  Interplant with marigolds and you barely have to weed at all.  The only thing you really need is decent sun and the plot should not have standing water – the bulbs will rot.

Come on… give garlic a try!

Normally our roma tomatoes do very well, but this year we had a whistlepig eat them during the flowering stage so they have produced very few tomatoes and now are mostly dead.  So sad, but I guess groundhogs need to eat too.

We are lucky though that Spiral Path Farm CSA will be offering 25lbs of organic roma tomatoes for $6 to their CSA members at their next open farm day on August 21st.  We are definitely going to take advantage of that and dry some for later use.

Our dehydrator does a great job with the tomatoes, but if we didn’t have one we’d still be able to dry them in the oven.  For a well done video on how to oven-dry roma tomatoes check out this video by Keith Snow.  He adds thyme to his tomatoes and I don’t like to do that – it can sometimes take on a burnt flavor in the oven.  Better to just store fresh thyme in the jar with the tomatoes I think.  Garlic cloves can work well here too since the tomatoes are to be kept in the fridge or freezer.  Garlic in oil should NOT be left out on the counter or in the pantry.  It can go bad even if submerged in oil.

On this very hot day in May I picked up our second box from Spiralpath Farm CSA.  This one was lighter than last week so I knew it was full of greens – like I suspected last week’s would be.  No picture this week since all you’d see is a bunch of green!

What we got this week was:  3 pints strawberries, 1 bag baby arugula, 1 bag baby spinach, radishes, bunched spinach (it is huge!), red oakleaf lettuce bunch and green boston lettuce bunch.

Lots of salads this week.

We did make the Colcannon recipe last Saturday when we had family visiting and it was a hit.  I used smoked sausage and mild cheddar cheese. 

Basically you make mashed potatoes.  While they are cooking  you cook off some sausage with garlic and onion.  Then you add a bunch of spinach to wilt down.  You spread the sausage/spinach mix in the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan, cover with mashed potatoes and then top with shredded cheese.  Bake at 375 or so until cheese is melted, about 30 min.  It was awesome!

Last week while transplanting my brambles I was able to relax and enjoy nature’s music: birds chirping as spring descends, the stream swollen from the recent rains rushing along the banks, and carpenter bees buzzing among the first flowers.  With the first day of trout season opening this weekend, today was not nearly as enjoyable, or quiet.  Numerous trucks and their inhabitants were cruising up and down the road scoping out parking spaces and deciding where to fish.  Wanting to have something better to listen to than the rumble of V-8s, I grabbed my iPod before heading into the yard.

It wasn’t until I became an iPod owner that I discovered independent media via podcasts.  Now I’m hooked and listen to those more often than my regular music.  Lately, I’ve been listening to a variety of Celtic music programs.  Particularly Marc Gunn’s Irish & Celtic Music Podcast.  He offers up such a fun collection of music across the range of Celtic inspirations.  What keeps bringing to this show is that his music selections, regardless of the genre, all have a similar feel and makes it all flow together nicely.  The audio quality and presentation of the later episodes (2009+) are markedly better than 2008 and earlier, but all are still great so give a listen.

If you like this type of music, other recommendations include, that I listen to, are:

The Cleveland Celtic Podcast
Paddy-Whacked Radio
The 67 Music Celtic Broadcast
Foot Stompin Free Scottish Music Podcast

And there is the question presented in the title: What do you listen to while gardening?

Yes, that is yours truly standing among the heavily mulched strawberries with a shop vac.  What isn’t obvious is why: the several pounds of gravel that was tossed into the bed by the snow plows.  In past years we might find a few stones or a chunk of asphalt tossed into the front yard, but this year was much different.

Shortly before winter came, PennDot tarred and chipped our road in an effort to resurface without laying a completely new road surface.  It was effective until the unprecedented storms that came through this year.  Every plow pass tore up a little bit more which wound up in the yard.

As the snow began to melt I had a nagging feeling that I should get out and shovel off as much of the gravel tainted snow from the beds, but as with most of my efforts, those thoughts turned into action a few days too late and I was greeted by a mess of stone and straw.  Pulling off the straw in sheafs was an impossibility; the stones poured through it like water through a sieve.  Taking my wife’s audible musing, “I wonder if the shop vac will work?” to mind, I was pleasantly surprised that it did.

However, it is no quick feat.  The dust from the stones and the dirt clogs the filter after a few minutes and the straw will occasionally get stuck in the nozzle, but it picks up mostly the gravel and left a fairly clean surface.  The lesson learned? Don’t be afraid to take power tools to your garden to get the job done.

Though the picture isn’t much to look at, that is one of the 7 blackberry canes I transplanted earlier this week. They are part of my Phase I permaculture implementation.  Besides providing habitat and food, it will eventually form a hedge along the eastern edge of the property to help keep the fisherman out of our yard as they walk to the stream.  Should another serious flood occur, they will bear the brunt of the damage and debris coming into the yard.

It has been a nearly a year to get them to this point.  Using directions I looked up on the web last year, I dug out all the first year sucker canes in early April, just as they were coming into leaf.  This was a few weeks late, as Mid-March is about right.

When getting them out of the ground care was taken to preserve as much of the root stem as possible.  I potted each one in it’s own 1 gallon pot with my preferred potting medium: straight Organic Endeavors compost.  Placed in the side yard they received limited full sun and set leaves well through the summer.  No special care was given to get them through the winter and they remained there.  The heavy snowfall Pennsylvania received this year served as good insulation.

As I pulled the pots up for transfer, the roots had snaked out and into the ground around them.  A bit of work was required to loosen them and minimize damage but was promising for my transplant success.  Tossing them in the wheelbarrow and grabbing a digging spade, my little lovelies and I headed to the field.

The warmed, moist soil made digging easy on the warm spring afternoon.  Each hole was prepared and planted individually, with the compost and plant going in together and topped off with the extracted dirt.  These were allowed to settle into the picture you see above.  A few days later they will get a top dressing of a few more inches of compost and a layer of mulch.  What will be used for mulch is up in the air at the moment, but I am thinking leaf mold from beneath the maple or some shredded newsprint.

Potting brambles for transplant provided older canes with well established root systems.  The process was simple and didn’t take too much time.  Though still too early to tell if they will flourish, I have good expectations that they will.

The next stage in this experiment is to transplant freshly dug canes into the field.  I have a few dozen that need to come out of my wife’s flower bed.

In a couple of weeks I will begin my Permaculture Design Certification class.  To get ready I am re-reading Bill Mollison’s Permaculture: A Designers’ Manual and have started reading David Holmgren’s Permaculture: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability.  It’s a great reason to start designing.

We do not intend to live here for more than a few more years.  However, in the interest of continuing my education, I want to begin applying the principles and techniques. This will also provide more food from our garden should our move be delayed.

Below are some sketches I put together while planning the initial round of improvements.  If you have an interest in Permaculture, please leave comments.  I will also answer any questions as best I can.

The first image is a profile of the valley I live in.

To the north is a mountain that rises several hundred feet above my home’s elevation.  Storms usually break over it when coming down from the north, shielding us from the heaviest rain.  However, most of the rain that does make it over the mountain passes through our yard on the way to the stream.

To the south is a wooded ridge that blocks much of the southern sun exposure.  Between the home and ridge is a dam fed, trout stocked, stream. The main road is in front of the house.

Legend:

I,II,III,IV are my Zones.  G/H Garage and House.  PB is a Pole Building.  The Dots/Circles Dots/Double Circles are trees.
Dotted lines divide zones II,III,IV.  The dots to the NE represent a hill of wild strawberries already on the property.  All the black marks are what are currently on the property.  Gray Xs are what I intend to put in.  Gray SW to NE lines (barely visible) are for the area that floods. Circles C are compost bins.

Wind(1) and Wind(2). These are the directions the winds come onto our property.  Because of the ridge, mountain, and tree coverage, very rarely do winds whip in from the north or south.  Instead, it comes in along the road.  1 comes in heading east and causes some disturbance to the front yard, but not much. 2 is the real killer.  There is a curve in the road just past the Eastern edge of the property, causing the Westerly wind to cut directly through the protection of the trees and pound into the Eastern side of the house.

This is my yard as it stands.  This is a rough picture, not to scale, with some trees placed in ad hoc at the moment until I can trek through the snow and get the measurements needed for something more accurate.

Zone I to the west of the house is also the leach field for the septic tank.  This limits any plantings in the soil, but it gets a nice mid-day sun and serves as my nursery/hardening off area.  Zone I in front of the house is the kitchen garden with onions, tomatoes, peas, greens, cucumbers.  The westerly half size bed is a strawberry patch filled with everbearing and day-neutral strawberries.  This mix gives great strawberries from the last to the first frost fairly consistently.

The field to the North of Zone II has been a bit of a problem over the past few years.  The bushes that edge it along the road are forsythia and lilac.  They hold in the summer humidity and have caused quite a few problems with pests, fungus, and disease.  This will no longer be used for planting, but perhaps to hold the chicken tractor or an outdoor grill.

The large tree is a well established maple with mostly bare ground and leaf litter underneath.

The zones for III and IV may seem rather rigidly defined but this does correspond to the way the yard floods.  If there is runoff from down the mountain, it will pool in IV roughly along those lines.  If the stream floods and cuts through the yard, III is very rarely hit, the rest washes through PB, around the trees, and exits off the SE corner of the house.

Plantings for Phase I (2010):

Under the large tree (maple) to the SW of PB, where the 4 Xs are, I want to plant blueberries along the drip line, possibly comfrey underneath as a ground cover, and a border of basil.

Along the eastern edge of the yard, in that long straight line, is for blackberries.  This is to limit debris passing through the yard if the stream leaves its banks, to guide fishermen down to the stream without wandering through the yard (they like to enter on the NE corner of the property but will roam if given a chance), create additional habitat, and begin inviting more pollinators into the yard.

Finally, along the SE edge of II and out along the bottom of IV, will go some Pawpaw trees.  Mostly, I’ve wanted to grow them for ages but also to reinforce the river bank. This edge is currently protected by a retaining wall, but I don’t know how long it will last.  In a good heavy rain there are indications of some undercutting and several of the retaining wall logs have been shifted.

That covers everything for now.

I recently found out that Lower Susquehanna Valley Permaculture is going to be holding a Permaculture Design Certification Course.  It runs for 7 Saturdays and 3 Sundays from April 10th through October .  At the end each of the students who complete the course will be certified in permaculture.

This is a great opportunity for folks located in south central Pennsylvania to learn permaculture for a very reasonable price.  There were only 25 places to begin with in the class and I’ve grabbed one of the spots so register soon if you are interested.