Battling Japanese Beetles
- On August 11, 2017
- By Meleah
- In Bugs, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Soil, Uncategorized, What In Tarnation?
- 2
In the last half an hour since I came in from the garden, at least two Japanese beetles have flown out of my hair, headed for who knows where in my house. But that was nothing compared to the one that just crawled boldly out of the waistband of my jeans. I squished it. Just one week ago I was breathing a sigh of relief that our Southwest Minneapolis neighborhood seemed, once again, to be mostly dodging the Japanese beetle plague after being hit really hard in 2011. And then I spotted them on my roses, and the Virginia creeper and the grape vines and the river birch trees. Soon they will move on to other plants they love, including my basil, and I will hate them for that, especially.
I have been battling Japanese beetles in earnest for five days now and, as you probably already know from having experienced them yourselves—I am losing. There are a lot of reasons for that; the biggest being that they are demons from hell and there is nothing mortals can do to stop them. But that aside, I also don’t like to use chemicals outside or inside, so my strategy for getting rid of them amounts to going around knocking them off of my plants and into a plastic bowl filled with soapy water. Yes, I do wear a glove on the beetle scooping hand. I have heard anecdotally that the beetles can bite, but that has never happened to me. I just prefer to keep them off my hand skin whenever possible.
Before I say more about how to deal with these gross creatures, let me first explain a bit about Japanese beetles for those who have been living in a cave or condo for years, and/or are just new to the perils of gardening. About the size of a dime with futuristic-looking, gold and green bodies, Japanese beetles are actually kind of attractive if you’re into metallic bug robots. They were first spotted in Minnesota in 1968, but with the exception of a brief period in 2000 and 2001, they didn’t become much of a problem until about 2005.
Though the Japanese beetle life cycle is a short 60 days or so, they can do a lot of damage in that amount of time. Females lay eggs beneath turf grass in the summer, and around June or early July the following year their offspring emerge and fly off to their favorite plants (they are attracted to about 300 different plant species) where they mate in zombie-like orgiastic piles while skeletonizing leaves and pooping everywhere. Pheromones released by the beetles during this whole scene, which I swear I am not exaggerating, attract more and more beetles, and in a short time the areas where they gather are both denuded of foliage and reeking to high heaven, as my grandma used to say.
Anyway, let’s get back to how to get rid of them. Because the pheromones they release attract more beetles, it’s best to reduce their numbers if you can. So, as I said earlier, I go around murdering them every day with a glove on one hand and a bowl of soapy water in the other. I do this by slipping the bowl under a bunch of them, and then I gently brush the beetle piles into the water and move on to the next spot. Even when they are not enraptured by beetle sex, these are not fast-moving creatures—unless they start to fly—so it’s pretty easy to knock hundreds of them into a bowl of water in about 20 minutes.
Here’s a tip—don’t get super ambitious like I did today and try to brush a wide swath of them into the bowl at one time because loads of startled beetles will fly up and into your hair, your shirt pockets and your jeans—one even ricocheted off my lips. And here’s another tip—don’t hang up one of those Japanese beetle pheromone traps because they do work by attracting lots of beetles. The problem is they attract a whole lot more beetles to your yard than that trap will ever be able to deal with. Study after study has shown this and yet hardware stores keep selling out of these traps. Spread the word.
If you don’t handpick Japanese beetles or use ill-advised traps, all of the other reasonable-sounding ways to control them involve insecticides, either synthetic or organic, and most, if not all of those are toxic to pollinators and other living things in one way or another. I love my gardens and it pains me to see them torn apart by ravenous, sex-crazed beetles. But, it doesn’t make sense to me to resort to chemicals that are known to be harmful, even when used according to their labels, which often advise spraying at night so the product will hopefully be dry by morning when bees start visiting plants. What? No. I can live with a few beetles in my hair.
Go Goats!
If you read my column even occasionally, you’ve likely gleaned that I’m not very keen on the Minneapolis Park Board’s outdated, chemical-laden approach to managing our public parks, ball fields and other outdoor spaces under their control. Today, though, I want to acknowledge something they did recently that was actually good.
If you haven’t already heard, in late May, Minneapolis joined other cities, including St. Paul, Minnetonka and Northfield, in using goats to help manage invasive plants, like buckthorn and garlic mustard. My husband, Mike, and I saw the goats in action near Cedar Lake’s east beach (Hidden Beach) a few weeks ago. And I have to say that one week into their 10-day stay, those goats had pretty much denuded the 6-acre area they were corralled in. It was wonderful to see and hear them as they wandered around with their babies munching on greenery. Apparently their next stop will be the northwest portion of Wirth Park in late July.
Rented from Diversity Landworks of La Crescent, Minn., the goats were protected by two layers of fencing and an on-site shepherd, Jesse Dale. While the creatures can’t control invasive species in just one visit, the hope is that repeated visits will at least keep problem plants in check. It the Park Board sees positive results they say they may cut down on the amount of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) and other herbicides they are currently using. Let’s hope that’s the case. Go goats!
Free Seeds Still Available
- On June 07, 2017
- By Meleah
- In Annuals, Herbs, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Seeds, Uncategorized
- 0
The Little Free Seed Library at my house (on the boulevard on the corner of 45th Street and Washburn Ave. South) has been busier than ever this year. People have donated so many seeds; I’ve had to put them out in batches because there isn’t enough room to hold them all. A few weekends ago, when we were out gardening, we lost count of the number of families who came by, often sitting down on the sidewalk together, to sort through the seeds packets and decide what they wanted to take home.
“Mommy, make sure you get some red peppers,” one little boy yelled. At suppertime, a teenage boy and his mother showed up because he had walked by earlier and seen that the library also included free seeds. “I went home and told her that we had to come back because this is so cool,” he said. All of this happiness made us happy too, so thank you to all of you joyful people who came by to get some seeds. And thank you, too, to everyone who has brought over seeds to share.
What’s in the Little Free Seed Library is always changing, but with all of the donations it’s safe to say that there is a still a big supply of vegetable seeds, including several varieties of corn, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, squash and lettuce. There is also a variety of herb seeds, as well as a wide variety of flower seeds, including lupines, snap dragons, morning glories, zinnias, coreopsis, Shasta daisies, Echinacea, moon flower, impatiens, delphinium, foxglove, four o’clocks, bachelor buttons and many more. Come by and take what you need, or drop off extras you’ve got!
Tips for Growing Food in Cold Climates
- On May 16, 2017
- By Meleah
- In Books, Fertilizer, Organic Gardening, Seeds, Soil, Uncategorized, Veggies
- 0
I’ve been growing vegetables, fruit and herbs for years and I have to say, I learn something new every season. Just when I think I’ve mastered the art of growing beets, I get a crop of teeny tiny ones for reasons I don’t understand. Sometimes the potatoes I plant don’t produce well, and then there are the years when the carrots just don’t grow or the squash just dies on the vine.
While I feel pretty confident in my ability to grow non-edible plants, I still struggle to turn out consistently usable food crops. I’m probably doing all sorts of things wrong, but I’d also like to blame some of the problem on our weather. It’s not easy to grow edibles in cold climates. So when I was asked to review John Whitman’s new book Fresh from the Garden: An Organic Guide to Growing Vegetables, Berries, and Herbs in Cold Climates, I jumped at the chance.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press earlier this year, Whitman’s book offers more than 500 pages of color photos and helpful, practical information, starting with easy-to-understand organic gardening basics and expanding into specifics on how to grow, harvest and store a wide range of edibles. Unlike some gardening books where you can tell the writer has never touched a trowel, Fresh from the Garden offers know-how and advice that reflects Whitman’s 50-plus years of gardening experience. He is also the author of several other books that I use and trust, including three in the cold climate gardening series: Growing Perennials in Cold Climates, Growing Shrubs and Small Trees in Cold Climates and Growing Roses in Cold Climates.
One of the things I like most about Whitman’s approach is the way he just says what he thinks, citing his own experience rather than repeating things that are commonly said like—you MUST get a soil test before planting. “I consider its value questionable for most home gardeners but worth the cost for mini-farmers,” he writes, explaining that he’s never done a soil test in 60 years of gardening. I’ve gone back and forth about soil tests over the years and concluded that most gardeners I know, including master gardeners, don’t test their soil’s nutrient and pH levels regularly if at all. That said, soil tests are useful if you’re having problems growing something or you want to grow something with specific needs, like blueberries, which require more acidic soil. Soil tests are also necessary, he writes, and I would agree, if heavy metal contamination, particularly lead, could be a an issue where you are planting.
Read More»Support Urban Food Forests
Food forests—if you haven’t yet heard of them, you will. The concept is best known in connection with permaculture, which goes beyond organic growing to create landscapes that exist in harmony with nature. Designed to include nut- and fruit-producing trees and shrubs, as well as many other edible and pollinator-friendly plants, food forests are not only interesting and enchanting. They provide food for people and wildlife. They also make if possible for people, particularly urban dwellers, to see up close how food is grown and experience the joy of picking something and eating it. Heck, they may even inspire some to add edible plants to their home gardens.
For all of those reasons and more, many cities around the country—and the world—have opted in the last 10 years or so to turn vacant city lots and patches of parks into food forests and community orchards. London; Victoria, British Columbia; Calgary and Toronto, Canada; Seattle, Washington; Bloomington, Indiana, Madison, Wisconsin; Asheville, North Carolina, Glendale, Ohio; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, are just a few of those cities. More information on those projects and a list of others can found here.
Minneapolis makes the list with the Bancroft Meridian Garden Food Forest. The lot along 38th Street started out as a flower garden tended by the community, but in 2014 the group decided it was time to create a food forest that was more sustainable for people, wildlife and the land. Everyone in the community is welcome to stroll around pick a few berries, apples, herbs or other things. The idea is not to harvest the food, but to create an urban foraging space for all to enjoy.
More food forests will hopefully be a part of Minneapolis’ future. But one thing is clear: it is going to take advocacy from people like us to make that happen. Russ Henry, a longtime activist and landscape designer who is running for an at-large Park Board seat, and Ryan Seibold, who leads the Hiawatha Food Forest group, have been working for months to get a food forest started near Lake Hiawatha on the site of the frequently flooded Hiawatha Golf Course.
Public feedback has been positive for the most part. In many different public meetings, thousands of residents (golfers and non-golfers) have expressed support for the idea of restoring the wetlands, which were drained in the 1930s to create the golf course. Along the edge of the wetland on a little big higher ground, edibles could be planted to create a walkable food forest.
The idea was by far the most popular among those that were pitched during a March 16 “Innovation Lab.” Organized by Henry, the event drew more than 150 people who wanted to hear farmers, beekeepers, restaurateurs, composters and other interested folks offer their thoughts on transforming the local food system. “People like the idea of being able to do some food foraging in parks,” says Henry, who believes food forests have the potential to also connect people and build communities.
Read More»Free Seeds and Help for the Bees
- On March 30, 2017
- By Meleah
- In Annuals, Natives, Organic Gardening, Perennials, Uncategorized
- 1
It’s nearly spring and that means my Little Free Seed Library will soon be up and running. As many of you know, I reserve the top shelf of our Little Free Library for seed sharing in the spring and fall. I will be stocking the library in mid-March with seeds from my garden, as well as several different types of seeds that people donated late in the fall. The library is located on the boulevard on the corner of 45th Street and Washburn Ave. S. in Linden Hills.
There are small, coin-sized envelopes available for those who want to take seeds, as well as pencils to write down what you’ve packaged up. Seeds that are available for the taking are either in their original packets or large envelopes that are labeled with the plants’ names. Please take what you want from those packets and large envelopes and leave the rest for others.
If you have seeds to share—and we can always use more—please bring them in their original packets or envelopes that are labeled so people can clearly see what’s available. And thank you very much to all who have helped make this seed-sharing library a success for the last several years. People stop by all the time during the summer to tell me that the sunflowers or tomatoes or cosmos in their yard came from the seed library. Sometimes they even get out their phones to show me photos of what they’re growing. It’s a joyful thing to be part of and all of us are making it possible. Way to go, us!
Help for the Bees
As you probably know, news about the health of bees continues to get worse. Just last December the rusty-patched bumblebee was declared endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because their numbers have declined so much in the past 20 years. Other bumblebee species are also declining, as are populations of other types of bees.
Gardeners are in a unique position to help bees of all types. If you’d like some bee-friendly plant ideas, have a look at the University of Minnesota bee lab’s publication, Plants for Minnesota Bees. Plants on the list vary widely and are workable for home landscapes of many different types.
Don’t feel like buying new plants? No problem. If your lawn is chemical free, you can help pollinators by leaving some of your lawn weeds for them to feast on. White clover is everywhere is most people’s lawns, and it often blooms from mid-spring through the fall. Flowers on this not-that-bad-looking weed, which is recognizable for its three-leaved shape, are white and bees love them because they are wide enough to land on comfortably. White clover doesn’t need to be tall to bloom, so if you set your mower to 3 inches, your lawn will look reasonably neat and you’ll still leave plenty of nectar and pollen for your bee friends.
Dandelions are also a bee favorite. So while these weeds are less easy on the eyes, consider leaving a few in some area of your lawn. Those yellow flowers provide bees with nectar and pollen that they need to survive.
Again, though, be sure that areas you leave for bees are not treated with chemicals that will harm or kill them. No matter what your lawn service tells you, none of the chemicals used to treat grass are safe for pollinators—or other living things, for that matter. But that’s a separate column. For now, let’s set our sights on helping the bees. They need us now more than ever.