nest, pest, and egg divest

 The flower garden is coming along!

Just as quickly as Todd lays out drip tape, paths, and rows, I drop in seedlings.   

It was so different this year!  No filling the barn with grow lights and heat pads, no soil blocks, no drama.  I have a shelf upstairs with a few grow lights and heat pads.  I seeded in plastic six-packs, and popped the seedlings outside to acclimate once they'd gotten big enough.  Then straight into the garden.  Repeat, repeat.  We're nearly done!  

Claudia is a huge help.

Meanwhile, the other gardens are popping and I'm getting plenty of bouquets.

Nothing fancy...just whatever I feel like in the moment.  A big part of being out in the flower garden is the insects, of course.  I absolutely love hunting for them.  I found two tiny praying mantises this week, both about 1 1/2" long and hiding among the yarrow blooms.

This Tarnished Plant Bug is pretty, but a big garden pest.  They can decimate vegetable crops, so I'm going to have to keep an eye out.

Here's a blast from the past!  I haven't seen woolly aphids since we were in South Carolina.  These little bits of fluff that float through the air like fairies are actually sap suckers, like the Tarnished Plant Bug.  There are many varieties that are tree-specific, but this aphid is probably eyeballing our apple tree.

The tree is already stressed from the drought (we seem to have no rain for weeks, a day of monsoon-level pounding, and then back to no rain for weeks), so I'll definitely have to monitor it and remove any aphids immediately.

Speaking of suckers...ugh.  Ticks.  They are RELENTLESS this year.  I've only pulled off a few attached ones, thanks to multiple daily showers and tick-checks, but I'm constantly pulling them off of clothing when I come in from outdoors.  The worst is the nymphs, or seed ticks.  They're freckle-sized, so almost impossible to see.  But they can attach to you and transfer disease just like full-grown ticks.  Here's one that I found crawling on my leg this week.  I was able to magnify the picture.  You can see that although freckle-sized, it's all tick.  Walk across cut grass?  Ticks.  Walk through the garden?  Ticks.  They are everywhere, which is one of the reasons I'm so pleased with the new fabric-covered garden.  It's ugly, but at least it's safe from ticks.  

At least I've seen some beneficial insects, like this syrphid fly (great pollinator)...

...and this Sarcophaga fly.  It's known as a "flesh fly" - sounds gross, but they're great cleaners in nature.

Our bee balm is drawing bees, and many other great pollinators!

From planting one little milkweed seed a few years ago, we now have about 10 plants that are going to be blooming soon.

If I remember correctly, they smell wonderful!  I love growing fragrant plants, like sweet peas...

...and dill.  I love the smell of dill so much that I planted 5 mature plants in a huge container on our porch steps.  Every time I walk past, the scent of dill is released.  Love!!!

While I love seeing so many things growing this time of year...

...this is also the time of year for nest mishaps.  Yes, we've lost another nest.

This barn swallow nest, which has been in our barn for years, was knocked to the ground and the babies eaten, just like the bluebirds.  Was it Claudia?  She's never bothered it before, but technically she can climb and could possibly reach it.

There are also a lot of stray cats around.  And snakes...and snakes climb.  But could they actually knock down a nest?  I've also seen evidence of raccoons.  They are born climbers and could knock it down easily.  I will never know, but next year we're going to take steps to protect the nests we find by setting up barriers below for intruders.

For now we'll just accept our losses and move forward.  There are a lot more positive things...the garden is looking great, the big project is almost done, the weather has been mild (although dry)...and we've got some great support when we come in from our hard work.

Have a great week!