Posted on 05/29/2021 6:52:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Rain at last.
Growing two southern green beans this year. Red Eye Fall Bean is doing well, big seeds. Speckled Greasy Cutshort, small seeds, is getting nearly all its sprouts nipped by something, whether bunnies or cutworm. Growing same place, same protection. Vigor matters. Red Eye Fall is one I have been saving for 8 years or so, always does well for me.
Last year I planted a bean that had absolutely horrible fibrous pods. They had to be eaten very young. It was only after the growing season was over that I realized it was probably my fancy Tarbais, that I picked up from Whole Foods. Supposed to be picked mature, and shelled. Bulk aisle can be a cheap source of seeds.
Anyone know a source for Grey Greasy? It’s so pretty.
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=grey%20greasy%20bean&iax=images&ia=images&iai=http://www.sampleseeds.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/BeanGreyEyedGreasyRunner.jpg
Sample Seeds was the only source, and the owner has passed on.
God bless all the passionate owners of the quirky little seed and garden places.
Green-eyed Greasy bean, to be precise.
The villian:
The solution:
&
*Bean Queen* PING!
Oh, no! That’s a shame! I’ll stop complaining about Possum Raids to my bird feeders, now. :(
You need a ‘Watch Beagle’ and a few puppies running around! ;)
(Scroll down! Resource start at post 114 of the Jan 9-15 Thread!)
Nice haul this Spring with more to come!
Snip..."For this reason, many landowners in the state can commiserate with the sentiments of Henry David Thoreau. While conducting his agrarian experiment in self-sufficiency at Walden Pond, the 19th century American nature writer expressed his frustration that of the 2.5 acres of beans he planted for himself, “my enemies…woodchucks have nibbled me a quarter of an acre clean,” leading him to later assert that after seeing one of these marmots steal across his path, he “felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw.”..snip...
"Upon harvest, gut and skin the groundhog, making sure to clean out its body cavity. It is important to trim away all excess fat from the carcass, and be certain to remove the seven to nine scent glands from under the forearms and small of its back. Then, soak the carcass in salt water for 24 hours. As a general rule, younger, smaller woodchucks make for better eating." More at link...Good luck! (Maybe find pet badger?)
Is the ground gog nocturnal?
For some reason, my section of New England is so bursting with Rhododendrons, that I just hop on my motorcycle and ride around and around, just looking at them.
Several people have remarked that they have never seen anything like it.
My part of Wisconsin had that with the Magnolia trees this season. Absolutely spectacular!
However, the Maple trees have decided that THIS is the year to produce 70-gazillion ‘propellers’ to drop on anything and everything. Haven’t seen them produce so many seeds in about a decade.
The front gutter is FULL to the brim, but our foster son is on the scaffolding painting the house, so he said he’d clean that out as long as he was up there, anyway. Yay! :)
"Badgers are opportunistic carnivores and will eat almost anything under the size of a woodchuck (groundhog). Badgers are especially adept at capturing burrowing mammals such as woodchucks, ground squirrels, and gophers. Other food items include voles, mice, ground-nesting birds, insects, and carrion.
To capture prey, badgers give chase and then will burrow after their prey effectively trapping the animal. They are even known to block entrances to burrows dug by communial rodents like ground squirrels prior to digging after the prey."
Sounds like a pet badger would take out the groundhog and local voles! While they will not eat your garden, however, they may not respect it very much either!
(Tres "Cute",Ne'cest Pa? (Watch out for the teeth!))
Thanks, Pete!
Maple seeds in gutters.
The people across the street have small forests of maples growing in their gutters. I will say that its much easier to pull out an intact maple forest mat than having to hand scoop out a gutter full of composted oak leaf muck!
Argh! We got those too. Any fuzz-threads from the oak trees, HUGE TUMBLEWEED-SIZED BALLS of them.
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