Posted on 06/05/2008 10:10:48 AM PDT by Gabz
Please remember folks --- this article is from 2006!
June is here, and along with it, summer. Gone are the soft pastels of flowering vines such as jasmine and wisteria. The bolder, brighter summer colors of orange trumpet vine and the tropical colors of mandevillas are on their way. The soft, new greens of spring have been replaced by the harder greens of maturing leaves. Crepe myrtles and gardenias and hydrangeas are showing off their colors. Now that the things we hate about warm weather are back in full force-all the mosquitoes, sand gnats, yellow flies, and various other nasty biting insects, along with the heat and humidity and scads of weeds—we’re once again questioning our sanity. Why, exactly, is it that we have another garden planted? Didn’t we promise ourselves last year that we weren’t doing this again next year? Somehow, in the long span between springs, gardeners always forget the bad things about gardening and remember only the taste of that first ripe tomato, or the joy of a freshly cut bouquet. The scent of warm soil calls us, compels us to dig and plant, as seductive as any siren’s song.
Among the vines that will be blooming are the wild roses. The white one that smells like cinnamon and spices blooms early, perfuming the air. Too bad the flowers aren’t much. Another one is a pretty little hot pink rose, one that seems to haunt ditch banks and other wetter areas. Do not feel sorry for this rose and take a piece of it home. No matter how cute and lonely it seems, like throwing scraps to a stray dog, once given any attention, it will never leave. Almost impossible to kill, it has thorns that proclaim it to be an escapee from the impenetrable wall around Sleeping Beauty’s castle.
The cool weather lasted much longer than we expected and crops will be correspondingly delayed. Tomatoes and other warm season crops will be coming off later, but all they need is some really warm weather, especially at night, and they’ll take off. Watch them for insect pests, they like warm weather also.
Ever check on your tomato plants one day and they’re fine, only to go out the next day to find the vines defoliated and most of the tomatoes almost completely eaten? The culprit is often huge, green caterpillars, called hornworms. Look closely, they’re masters of camouflage. Usually bright green with white stripes, they have a very distinctive horn on one end. If they’re on tomatoes, they’re called tomato hornworm. If they’re on tobacco, they’re called tobacco hornworm. Go figure! Same pest.
Guess what hornworms turn into? Hummingbird moths! If you’ve never seen one, the moths are truly delightful. They resemble a baby hummingbird and are just a little larger than a bumble bee. Hummingbird moths are tan in color, unlike their colorful namesakes, but they fly just like a hummingbird does. They can usually be spotted around flowers early in the morning or late in the evening. Sometimes they will come out during the day if it is cloudy, so if you see something that looks like a baby hummer, look closer. It might not be what you think it is!
One other word about hornworms. They aren’t hard to kill, simply pick them off and squish them. If you see white, rice looking grains on the hornworm, don’t kill it. What?! That’s right, don’t kill it. The rice grains are the eggs of a parasitic wasp. Guess what it eats? Tomato hornworms. Pick it off, certainly, and move it far away from your garden, into the edge of your yard or woods. The wasps will hatch and go find another hornworm to start the process all over again.
Mid June is time to plant pumpkins and gourds and winter squash. Winter squash? Winter squash is a term that means a squash with a hard shell that will keep during the winter. Butternut squash is a good example. Butternut will often keep a year or even longer. Summer squash is a term used to denote softer squash, such as yellow straight neck or crookneck. There’s nothing wrong with planting butternut earlier, it just keeps better if it’s planted later. The cooler weather of fall helps harden the shells.
If you planted Vidalia’s early, June is usually about the time to dig them. Wonderful sliced in quarters or eights and microwaved until tender with a little salt and butter, they are equally delicious stir fried with summer squash. Add a little zucchini and some eggplant and… Technically, the only onions that can be called Vidalia’s are the ones grown in Vidalia. The onions themselves are actually yellow granex. These can also be grown in the fall if you can find the plants. They don’t keep well because of their high sugar content, so enjoy them while they last. Hard to believe that Vidalia’s have about the same sugar content as a large orange.
Sound like fireants on steroids with wings!
Do they die when they sting or do they keep on stinging?
I like your typo much better than mine! I’ve got plenty of mint—just pick your kind. You bring the Rum and we can make mojitas!
Course, you’ll have to tell me what they taste like—as soon as I get a whiff of rum, I’ll be out!
Here is some info from the TAMU.edu website about the “killer bees”. Note the third one.
http://honeybee.tamu.edu/safety/index.html
Respond quickly to disturbances by people and animals 50 feet or more from the nest.
Sense vibrations from power equipment 100 feet or more from the nest.
Sting in large numbers.
Will chase an enemy up to a ¼ mile or more.
Have a higher rate of reproduction (swarm more frequently).
Nest in smaller cavities and sometimes underground (e.g. water meters and animal burrows).
Y’all can keep those! :)
I want to box up the fireants and send them to Iraq. Just can’t figure out how to get them over there. Can you imagine being the pilot on that plane?!
Ants on a plane?
Well, there are some other ants or insects in the Houston area that actually kill fireants. There was an FR thread last month about that.
Yeah. LOL That would be worse than that stupid movie—Snakes on a plane?
Not sure I want to know what insects will take on fireants and win. LOL
They’ve pretty much wiped out all the native ants—except the sweet ants, and you never see both at the same time—hmmmm.
Thanks! Ants are fine—as long as they stay outside and off me!
An asidem about Vicks: I had an injured big toenail; not fungus, I had it tested. But danged if that thing under the nail wouldn't go away. Sure enough, I heard to rub Vicks under the nail and around the cuticle. Voila! Not entirely gone, but only I know the speck is there. Sure is cheaper than the $500/bottle the podiatrist told me was available.
I've heard and read where Vicks also works on FUNGUS under the nail (toe, finger).
Ticks get under your skin; fungus and nail bruises are under the nail: Vicks to the Rescue!
First time my kids saw a tick on our dog, they went on the internet... they were fairly certain that particular tick resembled a poisonous one. High Drama ensued! I just kicked back and let them take charge. Oh, the worry, the fleeing to the Vet (my driving kids) to save the Dog!
Only to learn it was a boring, brown tick.
And the clinic removed the tick. Kids were fine.
But my dog was absolutely manic that entire evening. So sure she was gonna die. She was frothing at the mouth and occasionally spasming with "convulsion".
That tick episode just wore the dog out. Kids kept fretting. Finally, the high drama got too much for me: I called some of my dog friends for a second opinion. They said Queenie was just being hysterical.
Oh the Drama!
Yep. My, my.
Ugh. Fireants.
Ticks and Dogs are like Rum and Coke, they just go together. We had a Black Lab that stayed with our caretaker at our Klamath River place who either had Porcupine quills in his snout or Ticks that required removal. One day old Spook would not get up and appeared paralyzed so I called a vet on our radio phone and described the situation. He said to roll Spook over to see if there was a Tick in the flesh of his groin area and sure as hell there was a big fat one. Vet said to remove it and put anti-biotic on the wound. I used the Vicks to smother it and removed it a hour later with tweezers. Two hours later Ole Spook was out gathering every stick for 3 miles around and stacked them in the yard for the fools to throw for him...
Ole Spook...best damn dog I ever owned. Drink!
Seems to me, reading what you describe, the Vicks would have made the tick "retract" into itself somewhat, temporarily stunning the hypostome activity of "digging in" and "hanging tight".
The Hypostome of a Tick.
Photo is courtesy of Placerville (CA) Vet. (http://www.placervillevet.com/tickhead.htm)
Poor baby Spook; he felt so glad it was gone, he wanted to do it all over again. lol.
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