Critters On Parade

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, and boy do we have an episode for you. As we all know there’s a bit of a heatwave and somewhat of a dry spell going on. If we’re lucky the upcoming storms will put down enough rain to alleviate some of that and maybe take the heat and humidity down a peg. As with any weather prognostication for rain I will believe it when I see it. In the meanwhile I’m irrigating the test gardens as best I can and in the process snapping photographs of whatever happens to catch my attention which brings us to today’s post which is just a few days late. There are a lot of critters on display this time so grab a seat and maybe some popcorn and check out the summer menagerie.

This is my first go at pickling using a fast mixture and some added seasonings in the form of cloves and ancho peppers. Two gallons of kosher dill-clove-pepper goodness!

Scolia nobilitata – Scolid Wasp

Scolid wasps at a glance can be mistaken for small bees, but they are a fairly docile and are attracted to blooming mint. You can usually tell a wasp from a bee by looking at one feature; bees from a dorsal view point tend to have a nearly circular ‘hump’ on the thorax, they also tend to have a fair amount of fuzz.

 

Here is additional information about these beneficial wasps:

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/wasps/scoliid_wasps.htm

 

 

 

Pantala flavescens – Wandering Glider

 

I get a lot of dragonflies in the garden but few sit still long enough for me to photograph, this one cooperated and sat so still I wasn’t sure it was alive. A gentle poke proved that it was quite alive.

 

Here is an informative link covering these Dragonflies in more detail:

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Wandering-Glider-Dragonfly

 

 

Manduca sexta – Tobacco Horn Worm

 

Tobacco hornworms are kind of the price you pay for growing tomatoes and other nightshades, but also evening scented flowers. Tomato Hornworms look different and are from a different type of moth

 

Here is an informative link covering these critters in more detail:

https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/tobacco_hornworm.htm

 

Vaccinium virgatum – Rabbiteye Blueberry fruit

 

Yeah blueberry season is in full swing right now and this was the result of a recent harvest from just four bushes.

 

 

Caliente the Cat inspects some blueberries, shortly after this picture was taken she made a face, stuck out her tongue like the berries were disgusting and wandered off.

 

 

First she drinks out of the birdbath like a weirdo and now she’s laying in the driveway like that… I think ‘Felis catus.exe’ has stopped working

 

 

Lasioglossum species – Sweat Bee

It is kind of a miracle I got this shot at all with the camera in my phone. These little bees are loving the Thai Mint flowers alongside the Scolid Wasps. Mint attracts so many interesting pollinators it’s amazing to me that few know of it’s critical role in garden ecology and biodiversity.

 

 

 

Solanum x burbankii  – Wonderberry 

 

I thought a close up for the fruit of Wonderberry was in order. These dark purple-black fruits are fairly small but when they ripen you often will pick them by the dozens. The down side is that they are kind of delicate and will burst if you apply too much pressure while picking. I find it most effective to gently pull them free with the pointer finger and thumb then let them roll across your palm into a cup.

 

 

Leptroclossus phyllopus – Eastern Leaf Footed Bug

While technically considered a agricultural nuisance, I am not a fan of these things. They squirt projectile poop (gross!), and they use their sucking mouth parts to piece plants and fruits to suck out sap. If an infestation is bad enough they can damage your crops. A simple insecticidal soap or a pyrethrum based insecticide can knock down their populations.

 

Here is more info:

https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.php?identification=Eastern-Leaf-Footed-Bug

 

 

Hyla cinerea – Green Tree Frog

I come across a few of these little frogs every year. Their continued presence tells me that I’m handling the biodiversity aspects of the garden just right. Frogs and toads are essential to biodiversity and are beneficial as they eat a lot of insects that might otherwise cause me trouble. Sometimes when we have a stretch of dry weather they will take refuge between my plant pots on the grow trays because it’s dark and moist.

 

 

Stagomantis carolina – Carolina Mantis

            This is likely a female and is quite young. It was perhaps an inch or two long and I did not see evidence of the large wings you’d see on a male of the species. Since it was hanging out in a boxwood which is pretty solid green it’s got camouflage to fit in

 

 

Here are the latest YouTube videos for your garden entertainment:

 

Talking about Tarragon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A9p00q9TrY

 

Feeling the Burn with peppers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWzGjNHFaGc

 

Savoring the Savory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MwHx6aevNk

 

Horehound; not the way your dog had puppies!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q03PW2pI9bk&t=6s

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fresh Food:

Blueberries, Half-pound ($4.00)

Blueberries, Pound ($6.00)

Blueberries, Two –Pounds ($10.00)

 

Summer Veggies:

Pepper: Habanero, Golden Bell, Ghost ($3.00 each or 2 for 5)

Pepper, 6” pot: Scotch Bonnet ($5.00), Cayenne ($5.00)

Pepper, 5” pot: Habanero, Sweet Banana, Ghost ($4.00)

 

Herbs: ($3.00 each)

Basil, Emerald Tower, Dolche Fresca, Rutgers DMR Devotion ($3.00 each or 2 for 5)

Cervesa & Lime Cuban Oregano

Oregano

Thyme

Shiso, Green 6” pot ($5.00)

 

Ornamental Stuff: ($3.00 each)

Cotton, Erlene's Green ($3.00 each or 2 for 5)

Flowering Tobacco 'Saratoga Purple', 'Saratoga Rose' ($3.00 each or 2 for 5)

Marigold 'Antigua Yellow', 'Durango Red', 'Tangerine', 'Hero Bee' ($3.00 each or 2 for 5)

Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'

Coneflower, ‘Artisan Soft Orange’, ‘Artisan Ombre Red’ ($4.00)

Milkweed, Milkmaid White ($4.00)

 

 

Coming Soon:

Comfrey (Herb, late summer)

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

 

Our group’s online presence has migrated to Nextdoor.com. All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Meetings are back on track folks! We now meet at LeClairs General Store on the First and third Thursday of every month. Our next meeting is on August 5th between 5:30pm and 7:00pm. We are in the back room so come on in and join us for a fun garden chat.

 

If the two above methods do not work you can always contact me through this blog, PM me through Nextdoor.com and or visit the Fayetteville City Market. This brings to a close the fifteenth LITFM post of 2021; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on or around the 30^th of July. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.

OK forget the thermostat, who turned on the sauna?

 Welcome back to another episode of Lost In the Farmers Market, we hope your garden endeavors are working out just as you planned them. There is a slight change in schedule regarding posts to this blog and posts on the youtube channel. It was found that producing the videos and the blog posts at the same time proved too often be a but heavy on time consumption. So posts up here on the blog will be every other week as planned but we moved over a week. Videos will alternate in the same way on the non-blog post weeks keeping conflict between the posts at a minimum. So for today we have another set of garden photos showing our progress in this strange summer.

Coleus amboinicus – Cuban Oregano, this is the Cervesa and Lime variety which was the first Cuban Oregano I was ever introduced to. It has a more citrus-twang to its flavor. This specimen is the mother plant from which all the cuttings sold at the market came from, she’s in a 10 or 15 gallon nursery pot which was an upgrade from a 14” pot. Cuban Oregano used to be known as Plectranthus amboinicus.

 

Coleus amboinicus – Cuban Oregano, this is a variety with a larger leaf and cream to white colored variegations. These plants can get huge over the course of a summer and have the expected basil-oregano sort of scent and flavor.

 

Ricinus communis ‘Zanzibar’ – Zanzibar Castor Bean. This giant castor bean can get up to twelve feet tall in a single warm growing season, it is not frost hardy. Thankfully one plant will produce a fair number of large easily processed seed to grow in later years. Folks at the market doubted the size and capabilities of this tropical looking annual, but this one just keeps getting bigger.

 

 

Ricinus communis ‘Zanzibar’ – Zanzibar Castor Bean. This is proof that my claim that the leaves can grow large enough to have a diameter similar to pizza pie pans. This leaf is at least twenty-two inches in diameter but in reality if it were to lie perfectly flat might be two feet in diameter. They will get bigger, this is just the beginning.

 

 

Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ – Impala Castor Bean. At the market while selling Castorbean Plants I often get asked what the flowers look like and the descriptions are certainly entertaining. It’s hard to really describe the flowers but this picture illustrates it easily. The flowers are the little pink and white things lower on the stalk. The spiky pink balls are the seed pods, thankfully the spikes look more dangerous than they actually are. These castor beans volunteered from seed that survived in the garden soil somehow, it might be that they are more cold hardy than your normal Impala types.

 

 

Abelmoschus esculentus ‘Jing Orange’ – Jing Orange Okra.  Strangely enough they aren’t very orange, but I am still happy with the red coloration. These have become a replacement for Red Burgundy Okra in the garden and seem to be more vigorous and productive. The pods are still tender at 3-5 inches in length and I’ve been slicing them and freezing them for later use in succotash or gumbo.

 

Nicotiana sylvestris – Evening Scented Flowering Tobacco. I sold these at the market last year and from seed they have volunteered in the garden in a few places and really I am not all that upset about this. The scent at night is nice and the long tube flowers stand out in comparison to the other flowering tobacco plants in the garden this year.

 

 

 Brassica oleracea var. medullosa – Marrowstem Kale. Just when I thought this plant could not do any more to amaze me, it said ‘hold my fertilizer’. The stem is even thicker and according to a caliper measurement it’s two inches thick which if this keeps up I think it’s trying to be a Kohlrabi. I’ll keep you all up to date on how this cold season specimen plant develops.

 

 

Echinacea purpurea ‘Purple Magnus’ – Purple Magnus Coneflower. It wouldn’t be a LITFM post without a coneflower and these purple magnus coneflowers are looking really good. Asters bring in the pollinators and on a sunny day there are tons of things hitting up these perennials for the nectar and the pollen.

 

Lastly, here is the Blueberry harvest, seriously thats a LOT of berries.

 

Here are the latest YouTube videos for your garden entertainment:

 

All about wonderberries

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhyIqdE0sn0

 

The science of how Thunderstorms apply nitrogen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA-rXvazNPs

 

The origins and uses of Tomatoes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yEPZEFMlcw

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but by booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog. Also, as of the start of 2019, my booth can now process credit or debit cards thanks to the acquisition of s a Square reader so your payment options have doubled. With that said, if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic vegetables, herbs and fruiting shrubs come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the Hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fresh Food:

Blueberries, Pint ($4.00)

Figs, 1lb ($8.00)

 

Summer Veggies: ($3.00 each)

Pepper: Habanero, Golden Bell, Ghost ($4.00)

Pepper, 6” pot: Scotch Bonnet ($5.00), Cayenne ($5.00)

 

Herbs: ($3.00 each)

Basil, Emerald Tower, Dolche Fresca, Rutgers DMR Devotion

Cervesa & Lime Cuban Oregano

Oregano

Thyme

Shiso, Green 6” pot ($5.00)

 

Ornamental Stuff: ($3.00 each)

Cotton, Erlene's Green (Limited Quantity)

Flowering Tobacco 'Saratoga Purple', 'Saratoga Rose'

Marigold 'Antigua Yellow', 'Durango Red',  'Tangerine',  'Hero Bee'

Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'

 

Coming Soon:

Comfrey (Herb, late summer)

We have a new place to share information and work on groovy sustainable stuff!  You can look for Sustainable Neighbors in our own Nextdoor.com group under the name “Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville”. You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join but it is a private group so feel free to request to join us if you are signed up on the Nextdoor.com site.

 

https://nextdoor.com/g/ybvdm226x/?is=nav_bar

 

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is still mucking up the works in terms of meeting in person. The good news is that Sustainable Neighbors does have a Discord Server. You can request access through our Meetup.com page or you can request access via our Nextdoor.com group. The meetup.com page is below for anyone looking to join us.

 

https://www.meetup.com/SustainableNeighbors/

 

Since our meetings have an open-door policy you don’t need to buy anything or maintain any sort of attendance standard, you can come on in and join the meetings. When this Covid-19 mess calms down we may be able to resume normal in-person meetings. If not, you can always send me questions through this blog or visit the farmer’s market. This brings to a close the thirteenth LITFM post of 2021; stay tuned the next episode which should be posted on or around the 16^th of July. There will be more garden updates and other cool stuff.