Garden Update: Fruiting Plants

In addition to the raised beds I recently posted about, I have also been busy putting in some fruiting shrubs this year.  I wanted to get those planted as soon as possible this year because they can take a while to get properly established.  I'm a big fan of growing my own fruit.  When I lived in Iowa, the climate allowed me to harvest a wider range of fruit, but here in New Brunswick, the growing season is short, so my choices are more limited.

Blackcurrants are a family favourite - something that I grew up with because I have British parents.  Many people aren't familiar with blackcurrants, or think that they are related to "currants" of the raisin type, which are a different fruit altogether.  I had 8 different blackcurrant varieties in Iowa, but here I was having trouble finding any, even by mail order.  Fortunately I was at MacArthur's Nursery in Moncton a couple of weeks ago, shortly after they'd received an order of fruit-bearing plants, including 4 blackcurrant bushes.  I bought 2 of them!  I left the white hanging basket container in this picture to show the size - the hanging basket container is the "regular" size you see in most stores.


The blackcurrants are the Ben Connan variety, which is bred from a combination of Ben Sarek and Ben Lomond varieties, both of which I grew in Iowa.  I was really excited to see such big, healthy plants.  They have already been planted in amongst some of my existing perennials.

At the nursery, the blackcurrants were sitting next to some gooseberry plants, so I immediately grabbed one of those as well.  This is an old classic "Pixwell" variety.  Some people think they're sour but I think they're great!  As you can see, it's found a spot next to the tulips, which are almost finished for this year.  If we could just stop having overnight frosts, it would be great.  These late frosts have already wreaked havoc on our province's grape and blueberry harvests. 

I need to ensure the berries get adequate sunlight, so planting them in with the other perennials is one of the best places, since those beds do receive a reasonable amount of sunlight.  I was also able to purchase a small but relatively healthy looking red currant.  It is also already planted.  The leaves are a bit pale but I'm pretty sure it will green up quickly.

I was also lucky enough to find a jostaberry, which is not a well known berry here, but is another that I used to grow in Iowa.  It's a cross between the blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum), the North American coastal black gooseberry (Ribes divaricatum) and the European gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa).  The flavour is somewhere between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry - kind of a milder version of a blackcurrant really.  Very nice for jelly and other sweet treats in the fall kitchen!

In addition to the berry bushes, I purchased two different varieties of dwarf sour cherries.


I love the zing in the flavour of sour cherries. Sweet cherries are nice too, but the flavour of the tart cherries is just superb in my opinion.  I bought "Romeo" and "Cupid" varieties, which both originate from the University of Saskatchewan dwarf sour cherry breeding program.

I used to grow "Nanking" shrub cherries in Iowa, so I'm hoping these will do equally well for me here.  I would like to find a couple of Nanking cherry shrubs here as well, but I need to keep looking because I haven't found any yet.  For now, Cupid and Romeo will, I hope, grow big and strong!

This perennial bed has now become a half fruit bed, with 3 currant shrubs and a rhubarb plant from my in-laws that I planted earlier this year.  I also received a lovage plant from a friend of mine who has a vegetable farm.  I've planted it on the left side near the rhubarb.  The same bed  has a white climbing hydrangea on the bird feeder pole, some yellow loosestrife, some cranesbill, daylilies, echinops, irises, and lavender, as well as the forget-me-nots that are in all my garden beds!  In the front left there's a submerged pot that has mint in it - the pot prevents it from taking over the garden, since mint can be so invasive.

I'm not sure whether I'll get much of a fruit crop this year, but the blackcurrant bushes do have a reasonable number of little green fruits already, so maybe I'll have enough for a little jar of jam!

Insect Appreciation: The Oil Beetle

This is an oil beetle.  I was completely unfamiliar with oil beetles until I photographed this one in my garden a few weeks ago.  I finally got around to doing some research on it to find out what it was. I have a fairly reasonable knowledge of common garden insects, but this one was definitely new to me, and naturally, I had to learn about it.

It's a fairly large beetle that belongs to the Meloe genus of beetles.  This is the beetle on the tip of my gardening glove finger.  It had an iridescent blue colour, but if you look closely, you will see that it has exuded some greenish "goo" (scientific terminology there!) from a couple of its leg joints on the right side, and also its back end.

I was under the impression that this was an injured beetle that was leaking goo due to having been attacked by some other insect.  However, when I looked up the species, that's when I learned that oil beetles exude droplets of hemolymph (the insect equivalent of blood) from their joints when they are disturbed.  I had disturbed it by picking it up.  Good thing that I was wearing the gloves though, because that hemolymph contains cantharidin, which can cause severe skin blistering.  This is why this family of beetles also have the name of "blister beetles" in addition to the oil beetle name.

Livestock exposure to cantharidin (by inadvertent contact with or ingestion of the beetles) can be a serious problem requiring veterinary care, especially in horses.  If humans ingest it, a dose as low as 10 mg can actually be fatal!  Yikes!  Fortunately, I'm not in the habit of licking beetles.

I'm not 100% sure, but based on some further research I did, I believe this is Meloe impressus, since it is one of the more common oil beetle species in North America. I must say, I find its segmented antennae to be most interesting, and it has an unusual shape that is quite distinctive.

So now you know, if you find yourself interacting with an oil beetle, do not lick it.  Just a friendly public service announcement from yours truly.

Garden Update: Raised Beds

I posted earlier this year about having some raised beds built in my backyard.  They are now filled with a mix of wood shavings (which had sat in a big pile all winter covered by snow) from Marc's garage renovation using pallet wood...

...goat-and-sheep-poop-filled-hay (thank you Lucky Nickel, Twilight and Tucker) from cleaning out the barn from the past winter's "deposits"...

...and some aged compost from a local farm.  They looked great when they were finally filled on May 10.  The layers will mix over time and I will keep them topped off each year with new compost.

After the beds were finished, I waited a couple of weeks, and then put in some seeds, because I was unable to resist the gardening bug.  Then I ordered some new seeds, because most of my seed stock was from 2007 to 2010, before I left Iowa, and that's way too old for decent germination rates.  I can't believe it has been that long since I had a proper garden.  As usual when I order seeds, I find it hard to choose just a few things.  So I ordered a lot of exciting seeds.  I bought Nikki Jabbour's book, Veggie Garden Remix, to give me some ideas, and it was chock full of interesting varieties that I hadn't tried before. Meanwhile, we continued to have cold, frosty weather.  My pak choi seeds emerged, and fortunately they are quite hardy, so the frost didn't get them.  I have some carrots coming up as well.

Meanwhile, I realized that it would be best if I had an irrigation system for the raised beds, since that would save me time (given my busy work schedule) and it would improve my harvests.  I ordered the raised bed irrigation kits from Lee Valley Tools.  My parents visited a couple of weekends ago and we sorted out the hoses and attachments and realized that a few more parts were needed to complete the system the way I wanted it to work, so the hoses were laid out in preparation for completion, but things were on hold for a while.

The additional pieces arrived and I was excited to get it all installed, but that had to wait until I had some time this past weekend.  I dug the header lines into the ground so they don't interfere with the lawn mowing, and have lengths of header coming up the side of each bed.

I then used a short length of header that comes into each bed and is capped off.  Three 1/4" hoses lead from the capped header to sprayer heads in each bed.  Each sprayer head has up to a 2 foot radius.  I have adjusted them so that they keep the water to the inside of the bed.

The sprayers keep a fairly low flow so they have a flat profile and won't spray loads of water wastefully onto the ground.

I also bought some white plastic "dividers" which seem to be some kind of strip that is used to join thin panels together, such as one might use in paneled walls. One must be creative when it comes to garden uses of non-standard materials.  These are going to be a test for my floating row cover that will keep insect pressures down as the season progresses.  We'll see how it goes.  My pak choi is looking good as you can see in the row in the bed below.

Here's the same bed with the floating row cover on it.  Working well so far!

I also had a spare cattle panel.  I used to use cattle panels for 'cheap' fencing in Iowa, but here in Atlantic Canada they are extremely expensive and not easy to find.  I am using this one as an archway for climbing plants.  On one side I have planted cucamelons, and on the other side I have planted Poona Kheera cucumbers.  I hope both will grow well on it.  This picture was taken before I had completed installation of the header hoses, which is why you can see one on the ground.

My parents also helped install a couple of pieces of wood lattice that I had on hand.  We planted "golden sweet" peas along the sides, which will grow up through the holes and make for easy picking of peas later in the season.  The peas have germinated extremely well and are already approaching the lattice holes.

Planting thus far includes a variety of carrot types, parsnips (my favourite!), pak choi, peas, herbs, Superior potatoes, Scotch curly kale, cabbage, beets, fennel, zucchini, winter squash, cucumber and melon.  It's so wonderful to have a good garden again!

Garden Update: Apple Tree

Last year we bought a 4-in-1 apple tree from a local nursery.  It was quite small but healthy looking and it wintered well.  I must give it some fertilizer soon.  A 4-in-1 apple tree is four different apple varieties that have been grafted onto a single trunk.  When we bought it, they said that it would not bear fruit for 3-4 years, but one has to start somewhere!

I was excited to see that 3 of the 4 different limbs have flowers this spring.  I don't know if any of them will end up bearing fruit or not, but the blossoms smell lovely and they are so pretty.  I love how the blossoms have a delicate touch of pink on them.

The four varieties on the tree are:

All are flowering except for the Chehalis.  It would be so exciting if we actually had a few apples form on it this year.  I will keep hoping!

The 4-in-1 apple is planted next to a crab apple tree that is currently absolutely glorious.  It is just covered in deep pink blossoms.  I am so happy every time I look at it!

The bees love it as well. 

 Some blossoms have yet to open.


But most of the buds are fully opened.  The scent is heavenly and the colour is so vivid and rich.  It is no wonder that winter makes me so gloomy when spring delivers such a riot of colour that brings such happiness! Maybe I need to find more indoor flowering plants for next winter.

Helping a Vole

Today our cat, Mitten, had a small vole in his clutches. I, being the sort of person I am, and knowing that Mitten is perfectly well fed, was compelled to rescue the vole. I was able to grab it and put it into a bucket. It was a very young vole, not even close to full size. I named it Voley-vole.

I'd say it was about half the size of a standard vole (unfortunately I know this from a few that I didn't manage to rescue in time).  It is a southern red-backed vole (Myodes gapperi) as one can tell from the colour of its fur, and since there are only a few vole species that live here, that is a distinguishing feature.  Its fur was a bit bedraggled after having been mouthed by a cat, but it will dry off.

If you are not familiar with voles, you might be thinking that I'm talking about a mole.  Moles are quite different from voles.  They are larger and have bigger feet for tunneling under the earth.  They make little dirt mounds in your yard, if you have them.  Voles make little tunnels under snow, which are obvious as the snow melts. 

Voles are approximately mouse-sized, or a bit bigger, but they are not mice.  They have shorter tails and smaller ears than many mice, and a more rounded nose, whereas mice have pointy noses.  Then there are shrews, which are even more pointy-nosed, but they have extremely tiny eyes. 

Anyway, after rescuing Voley-vole, I put it into a bucket with some chicken grain so it could replenish its energy.  It ate heartily, and did some cute little face washing with its paws.  I'm such a soft heart when it comes to little animals.  I had to pet Voley-vole while it was in the bucket.  No, it didn't bite me.  No, I will not get rabies.  Or fleas.  Or the plague.

After it seemed to have eaten all the grain it wanted, I released it into the woods where I know the voles like to live.  I put the bucket on its side and Voley-Vole came to the edge of the bucket and hopped out onto the ground. 

Then, it promptly ran over to my shoe and hopped up on my toe.  It sat there for a good 15 or 20 seconds before hopping down again and running under the leaves and making its way in the world.  I felt, with apologies for my anthropomorphism, that it was saying thank you. Be well, Voley-vole.  You are much loved.

What To Do When You Find a Severed Leg

No, not a human leg!  Thank goodness!

I found this bird leg in my garden a few weeks ago, just laying there by itself.  I saw the orange foot first, and reached down to pick up what I thought was a piece of plastic, and found myself holding a severed bird leg!  Yikes!  I looked all around for the rest of the bird, but I didn't see anything else - not even a pile of feathers.

I had a close look at the foot and realized it was some kind of duck leg, given the webbed foot.  Of course, one of the things I immediately noticed was the leg band.  I had to get out my magnifier glasses (yes, I have reached that stage in life) to read the band.  Interestingly, it had a website on it, as well as a 1-800 number.

I went to the website (www.reportband.gov) and learned that it run by the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center Bird Banding Laboratory in Maine.  The Center is part of the United States Geological Survey, and it cooperates with the Canadian Wildlife Service on bird banding projects.  Here's some information from their website:

The Bird Banding Laboratory was established in 1920 to support the collection, archiving, management and dissemination of information from banded and marked birds in North America. This information is used to monitor the status and trends of resident and migratory bird populations. Because birds are good indicators of the health of the environment, the status and trends of bird populations are critical for identifying and understanding many ecological issues and for developing effective science, management and conservation practices.

The laboratory administers the North American Bird Banding Program, which manages more than 77 million archived banding records.  Each year, approximately 1 million bands are shipped from the BBL to banders in the United States and Canada, and nearly 100,000 band encounter reports are entered into the BBL systems.

Using the website (or the phone number) is the way to report any sighting or finding of a bird leg band (which unfortunately often means a dead or injured bird, since most birds don't sit on your lap and wave their leg bands around for your perusal).  I entered the number and the information on how I found the band using the screens on the website.  It was really easy.

I received an emailed certificate of appreciation! 

The scientists who study birds need citizens who are interested and motivated to send in information to help them track and learn more about birds.  My bird leg was the leg of a female mallard duck who was hatched prior to October of 2015.  She was banded near to where I live, so it wasn't surprising to find that band locally.  Here's a mallard in considerably better condition than the banded one - I took this picture at the waterfowl park last year.

I expect that she was preyed upon by either an owl (we have quite a few around here) or possibly a raccoon.  Or perhaps she died some other way and her body was moved by a scavenging animal.  I think her leg ended up in my yard without the rest of the body after having been carried here by a raccoon or something.  It was a little bit weird, but I'm glad I submitted the leg band number.

So now you know, if you ever find a bird leg with a band on it, submit the number!  Some of the bands are metal, like the one I found.  Others are coloured plastic.  Some bands also come with a monetary reward for reporting them! 

Warbler Watch

This time of year is the best time for me to be watching for warbler species in my yard.  The year before last, I identified 9 different warblers over the summer months.  Last year, I had almost no time to go looking at birds, so I only saw a few.  I am hoping to see more this year.  It's good to watch for them at this time of year because they are in full breeding plumage, which often makes them more easily recognizable.

Last week, I managed to spend about 45 minutes "stalking" warblers in my woods.  They tend to be up high in the trees and they move fast, so it can be difficult to photograph them.  Fortunately, I was able to spot three different species during my short time of looking for them, so I'm blogging about my finds so I remember which species I saw this year.

These aren't fabulous pictures - but they are pictures that had enough characteristics for me to identify the species.  I'll try to keep up with any more species I see this year.

Blackburnian Warbler - June 1, 2018
This is the male Blackburnian warbler.  It's the first time I've seen one of these.  It's the only species in this area with the orange head with black markings, so it's very easily identified if you can manage to catch it on film!  He was moving fast!

Yellow-rumped Warbler - June 1, 2018
This is the male yellow-rumped warbler.  Again, he was moving fast, but his markings are distinct, so these pictures were enough to identify him.  This is a fairly common warbler.  There is a difference between the plumage in the western form and eastern form of this bird.  This is (obviously) the eastern plumage.

Here's an "in motion" shot.

Magnolia Warbler - June 1, 2018
I was really excited to see this little ray of sunshine in the woods.

His markings are unmistakable.

This is the male magnolia warbler, and it's the first time I've seen one of these.

At the end of May, I managed to photograph a few other species of warblers.

Black-throated Blue Warbler - May 24, 2018
This is the female black-throated blue warbler.  She really doesn't look anything like her mate, so she can be a bit tricky to identify, but that white wing patch is a distinctive clue, as is the white 'eyebrow' marking.

You can see the white wing patch more clearly here.

Wilson's Warbler - May 24, 2018
See that blurry little yellow guy?  That's a male Wilson's warbler.  Terrible shot, I know, but because of his little black hat and yellow plumage, it's a giveaway identification.  I'm only including this shot for my own records so I can remember what I saw.  Hopefully I'll get a better shot next time!

Bay-breasted Warbler - May 24, 2018
This is the female bay-breasted warbler. This one is particularly exciting because it is classed as "vulnerable."  It feeds heavily on spruce budworms, so increased use of pesticide sprays has caused a significant reduction in population.  I'd like to see the male as well - hopefully they will visit again.

American Redstart - May 24, 2018
Although this bird doesn't have "warbler" in its name, it's still in the same family as the warblers and is therefore classified as one.  This is another fast-moving bird who is difficult to photograph well.  He was also really high in the tree.  I'm glad to have a good zoom lens when I'm trying to photograph warblers.

So, I'm off to a good start with 7 warbler species identified in my yard so far in 2018.  Hopefully I'll have more time to spend outside with the camera so I can capture a few more!