Backyard Wildlife

Let’s Talk About No-Mow May

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For those who may not yet have heard about it, No-Mow May is an initiative begun a few years ago in Wisconsin, I believe to help pollinators. The idea is simple: people don’t mow their lawn in May so that pollinators have some early blooming wildflowers to get nectar from.

I think it’s been 3 years since the first “No-Mow” and predictably the pushback has started. So I am going to try to provide some common sense ideas so that we can all get along AND help pollinators because that’s the goal.

Now I think we can all agree that while this lawn might be the suburban ideal of the perfect lawn, it does nothing for pollinators.

But let’s take a look at the “no-mow” lawn photo, which interestingly enough, is across the street from this house. I am not sure that they are actually trying for “no-mow;” the house is empty and being renovated so it may just be the result. But it provides a nice discussion point.

What I see in the unmown lawn is really nothing much helping pollinators at this point. The dandelions have gone to seed and there’s really nothing else blooming for them.

This lawn, which is a little further along down the street, is much more diverse. In fact, there’s hardly any grass in the foreground of this photo. There’s a field of chickweed, and in the middle of that, some blue Veronica. Further out are dandelions gone by and I know there’s some henbit too. It’s a really diverse lawn, great for pollinators. And yes, this lawn IS mowed and it doesn’t affect these weeds (with the exception of the dandelion flowers) in any way because they are so low to the ground. So there’s no reason to avoid mowing here.

We have a similar situation with lots of low growing violets, clover and ground ivy. When they flower, the flowers are so low to the ground that mowing has no effect on them. So they are preserved for our pollinators.

I love the idea that we are always thinking about the pollinators and new and creative ways to garden for them. But if you are feeling bad about mowing your lawn, maybe it’s not the worst thing. If I had to choose between mowing the lawn or avoiding pesticides, there’s no choice: always choose to avoid the pesticides. That will help in a far greater way.

Who Planted These Here?

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You can see that these cracks at the base of our stone wall and in our driveway are just prime spots for all sorts of “vegetation,” to put the best possible spin on it. Weeds love them, but so do opportunistic bits of other little plants.

There are always little bits of some sort of sedum growing here. I keep hoping that the sedum will out-compete the weeds, like the chickweed that you can see already sprouting. But they have different growth cycles and the sedum don’t really get going until later in the season, while this is prime chickweed time.

If you’re wondering how the grape hyacinths got here, it was my buddies the ants 🐜. Muscari have a special little structure called an eliaisome that ants love. They bring that back to their colonies and spread plants around that way. It’s not exactly pollinization–it’s mechanical movement.

My lawn is filled with grape hyacinths that I haven’t planted, courtesy of my buddies, the ants. So I am always very careful to leave them alone, so long as they are away from the house. In my kitchen, well, it’s a different story. But luckily that happens pretty rarely.

It’s yet another benefit of being pesticide free in the yard!

The Sounds of Autumn

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It’s beginning to look a lot like fall….

I am not sure why, but this year, in addition to noticing the lovely fall colors, I am hearing the changing of the seasons as well in a way that I have never noticed quite so much before.

I always associate summer with the dog day cicadas and the songs of the katydids. But I have never quite noticed how vocal the crickets become in the fall. In late afternoon and early evening, their song is so vocal that it rivals the early spring peepers. It’s really something!

And there is the change in the birdsong as well. Spring of course brings the cacophony of bird song as every bird tries to outdo all the others for mates and territory.

In fall, it’s a different thing. For one thing, there are fewer birds and different birds. I no longer hear the robins and wrens calling and singing–but the blue jays are outdoing them with their strident calls.

The chickadees–one of the first birds to start singing in the spring–are singing again now, but it’s different now. I can’t tell you how. Perhaps it just sounds different because it’s now blended with the nuthatches and the titmice.

And while the red-bellied woodpecker is still scolding me every time I walk too close with the dog, now I see the downy and hairy woodpeckers back from their summer sojourn up north (or up higher in the leafy canopy out of my eyesight!)

And finally, there’s the sharp “crack” when the acorns clatter off the oak trees hit the hard driveway, roof or something else solid.

There is a beauty to every season–we just need to slow down a bit to appreciate it!

And This is Why I Garden Indoors

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Broken tomato plant

Last year, I didn’t grow any tomatoes–or any vegetables–outdoors. I had gotten my nifty new indoor hydroponic system and I grew everything in that.

This year I thought I would try a plant or two outside to see what might happen. Well, you can see by the broken stem on this plant what’s happening. Just after I took this photo, I picked these yellow tomatoes–they’re not ripe; I will have to ripen them on my windowsill, but better to ripen them there than to lose them altogether. These are actually supposed to be red cherry tomatoes.

When I first saw these plants bent down, I thought it might be wind–or the brief, heavy downpour–that we had–doing the damage. But after I looked more closely, I realized that neither meteorological condition would also cause the existing tomatoes to disappear!

That was when I decided that I had better start harvesting tomatoes showing any hint of color at all. Sigh.

And honestly, I don’t blame whatever critter is doing this–probably the chipmunks. There’s been so little rain. Even a green tomato must taste pretty darn good as a source of moisture.

But honestly, growing plants outside it really is always something. If it isn’t a critter of some sort, it is weather damage. That’s just to be expected. You can’t raise plants in a bubble–unless you are growing them hydroponically.

So I will continue to raise my veggies inside and just enjoy the outside garden for flowers and herbs. That way, everyone wins.

And I Didn’t Even Lose the Frog!

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King of the pond

This past weekend, I wound up cleaning the pond. This is definitely one of those “do not try this at home” kind of things, even in the relatively mild temperatures (mild being a relative term literally–it was 85 degrees, but I know many of you would be overjoyed with that!) we were having.

But of course, there is no reasoning with the Spoiler when he gets something–or someone–in his mind. He found someone to help me and despite the fact that I said that it was not a good idea to do this–for the health of the pond and the fish–until cooler weather set in–he said that someone was coming to help me on Sunday so I had better be ready. Before you ask if he is any of the particular ethnicities that tend to be ridiculously stubborn, the answer is, we don’t know. He’s adopted.

So, I worked all day Sunday to “be ready” (which meant) lowering the water level, scraping the pond sides, and trying to catch those pesky fish. You can see 3 of them here. What you really see are four. There’s a black one as well. I had the pond drained down to just about mud before I could actually see him well enough to get him out.

What this photo also shows is the icky dried on algae on the sides. It also shows the nicely brown dissolved algae in the water. I am astounded that the fish were able to survive in there. My frog was loving it, however!

Then there was all this mess to clean up. This is actually an earlier photo, before I started dropping the water level. I cut back some of the bearberry (that lovely green creeper on the spillway) and I swept all the pine needles off the spillway. No sense in cleaning the pond just to have the next rain was all that crud right back into it (if there ever is a next rain, that is).

Newly cleaned pond

And of course, as this and the photo at the top shows, it’s now sparkling and pristine. But the water is about 25 degrees cooler than it started because it came straight from the hose and is still chilled. Luckily, because the fish sat out of the pond in the shade for about 8 hours, they had some time to cool down as well so it wasn’t as if I were dumping fish used to 80 degree water back into 55 degree water.

And the frog came back, clean water and all.I guess it forgives me for displacing it.

Next year, perhaps I will managed to avoid surgery so that I can get this done when it should be done–in early to mid June!

Could You–or Your Community–Go “No Mow” for a Month?

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It’s no secret that we have been organic for decades–since 1996 when I first researched why there were so few butterflies on my property and discovered that they were sensitive to pesticides.

Oh simple, I thought. We’ll just use no pesticides. And it’s worked out pretty well, with a few notable exceptions that shall be best left for other stories.

I have posted several times before about something I have called the “Freedom Lawn,” (not my term by the way) which isn’t a political stance, but a lawn that doesn’t use pesticides, herbicide or fungicide (the latter has always struck me as a particularly useless product–but again I digress). For the most part, that’s what we try to maintain, and we do it without any supplemental irrigation as well.

I was amazed, therefore, to read about communities that are going “no-mow.” Basically these communities are deciding that the health of bees is more important than perfect lawns and that for a month–usually May–people who sign up won’t mow their lawns. There are nine Wisconsin communities who participate according to this article from 2021 so there may be more this year.

There are also resources for people who want to participate but may be worried that their lawns may not contain anything of value to the bees, or that they might need to convince skeptical neighbors, towns, or homeowners’ associations of the value of what they are doing.

Bee City USA has one such resource here and another can be found here.

One thing that we have always tried to maintain is a large clover field for our bees. It’s unobtrusive to anyone walking by and it’s very valuable to the bees. It seems to be used by many different types of bees–and as a secondary bonus, it’s enriching our soil too. It’s not like a wild field of dandelions that someone would perceive as a menace (although in the backyard we do let some of those grow too).

We also have lots of violets which never seem to get too badly out of control–it may be the density of our clay soil. Those are great both for the bees and for the butterflies as well.

Right now all you might see in my yard is dead grass, so that’s why I have no photos with this post. But everything will be awakening soon in my part of the country–and that means that the bees and the butterflies will be right behind it.

How will you take care of your lawn–and its “weeds” this year?

What Insect Apocalypse?

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Katydid on fuchsia

I had an interesting experience while I was out walking the dog one quiet Sunday morning not too long ago. Sunrise is getting later so we were out just after sunrise and it was still and quiet–until we approached our property.

As we got in front of the little patch of woods that we have, I heard all sorts of noise. I stopped because I couldn’t identify it at first. I hadn’t heard it anywhere else on the street. Then I realized it was insects. There were cicadas in the trees, and something else chirping, maybe katydids, and I think I am hearing trees frogs.

It’s been so long since I have heard tree frogs that I am not even sure. I used to hear them all the time 20 years ago. Then a new subdivision went in and a lot of trees were taken down and I haven’t heard them since. So how tree frogs might have found their way to our little patch of woods mystifies me, except that it is now one of the few “little patches” of woods left standing.

But whatever I was hearing was so loud that it literally stopped me in my tracks and it was only in front of my property. Everyone else’s property was quiet.

There are all sorts of articles dating back a couple of years ago talking about stories of insect die-offs as dramatic as 75%. This became known as the “insect apocalypse,” and dire warnings and predictions followed.

Fortunately, some of those studies and methodologies proved to be wrong. But for those of us of a certain age, we can notice that, for example, there are fewer of certain types of insects.

I vividly remember the 2 hour car trips to the beach and back as a child. When we arrived around 9 pm in the evening, our windshield and headlights would be bug-spattered.

Car trips of similar duration now don’t leave our cars bug-spattered. And while I am grateful for small favors, I don’t think the insects have become better navigators. I just think there are far fewer of them.

Is this a problem? I will leave that to the scientists to determine. But in the meantime, I will be grateful that I have a cleaner car and a property that welcomes wildlife of all kind, even invertebrates.

Vine-Ripened Tomatoes

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For any gardener that likes them, there’s nothing like a vine-ripened tomato. Many times, if you’re growing these smaller varieties, they don’t even make it it into the house–they go straight from the plant into your mouth.

In past years, I have done that too. But recently, and especially in this drought year, I have smaller critters so anxious for any moisture at all that they’re stripping–and eating–green tomatoes, something that I have not seen before.

So I have had to resort to some desperate measures myself. Now, when I see even the smallest hint of color on these tomatoes, I snatch them off the plant and bring them inside the kitchen to ripen.

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After all, as cute as this little guy is, I am still not sharing my tomatoes with him or her!

A Plague of Locusts?

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It’s been a very dry summer–I believe I mentioned Friday that we are in moderate drought. July brought less than an inch of rain and was the second hottest July on record, (last year was the first).

So with the lack of rain, I have been trying to water very carefully–only containers and newly planted plants are getting water from me at this point. But I have rarely seen the gardens look so sad.

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Take this garden for example. This is self-sown goldenrod and asters, with a few other plants added by me in a garden where a magnolia used to grow. The fact that the natives are wilting so severely in a garden that’s actually in a very wet part of my yard (usually) tells you how dry it’s been.

And I suppose I am lucky that I haven’t planted too much due to the pandemic–it would only need watering.

The things that I have planted–or that were already planted years ago–are being ravaged by “critters,” and who blames them? Between the drought and the fact that plants aren’t producing normally because of drought, things are definitely looking for food–and moisture–where they can find it.

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I am lucky to scavenge tomatoes off my own two plants before something–chipmunks, probably–beat me to it. Because the tomatoes are container-planted, I can control the pest damage, somewhat.

But the other day, I came home to find a green tomato on the walk. When I turned it over, dozens of ants scurried away. Ants on a green tomato? Now you know they’re desperate for moisture!

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My sage in the garden has been eaten into lacy bits. I don’t mind–I have more in a container by the door. But what on earth is so desperate that it needs to eat sage leaves? The jagged holes mean it could be anything–beetles, slugs, caterpillars (although I didn’t see any currently)–whatever.

I find that during times of drought things like katydids and earwigs, which normally just eat garden detritus, (the earwigs, I mean) resort to eating “good” parts of plants as well.

And when I was watering the other night, a grasshopper jumped out at me from between 2 containers. Just what I need: a plague of locusts in a pandemic!