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Meteorology

Twenty inches of rain fell on our county last month. That's about the average of precipitation in a whole year in Boulder. And the best part is that we don't get that sticky clay mud. I sure don't miss walking the dog after a good rain and quickly accumulating a 2 inch thick platform of mud on the soles of my shoes.

Entomology

Instead, I quickly accumulate a swarm of voracious mosquitoes that ignore insect repellents and bite through clothes. The local paper says that observation traps are yielding four times more mosquitoes than usual. Plus, this year the West Nile Virus reached New Jersey from Colorado and sickened a man in a neighboring town. But those mosquitoes are amateurs compared a new black and white striped invader called the Asian tiger mosquito. It can spread 30 different diseases, including Dengue fever. And if that's not bad enough, it feeds on people and mammals all day long, not just at dawn and dusk like their more civilized relatives.

Mycology

Mushrooms are popping up all along the east coast, thanks to all the rain. Science Friday on NPR did a fascinating video about the mushrooms. It inspired me to go out and take pictures of what is growing around our house. I was even able to identify a few:

Stink Horn mushrooms
(they really stink)

Polypores

Cup Mushrooms busily decomposing
their wood mulch host

I think this might be another example
of a Polypore

In between the first two mushrooms
is a Dead Man's Finger mushroom,
part of the Earth Tongue family

Horticulture

I've been accepted to the Mercer County Master Gardeners program! My first class starts this Thursday. By the Spring, hopefully, I'll have a better idea what I'm writing about.

Berry-go-round

After the garden's previous caretakers emailed me to look forward to late summer raspberry crop because it's the most abundant, I decided to recruit our grand daughter to help. She's a quick (and adorable) learner. So I set about maximizing my harvest.

Weed-free Raspberry Rows

Doing Maintenance

I have no idea of how many hours I have spent on my knees in the Berry patch over the last few weeks. Enough to have listened to all my podcasts and four audio books while trimming dead canes, weeding, spreading compost, laying down NY Times weed mat and spreading mulch. The humidity was so intense while I was listening to Ann Patchett's latest novel, State of Wonder, which is set in the Amazon rain forest, that I almost thought I was there. I had a great time reaching up to grab refreshments as I dodged the bees that were pollinating above me.

Busy Bee

Another industrious pollinator -- I think

A Detour

Uh, oh…Pokeweed.

Before I could finish the raspberries, I learned that I was harboring an invasive weed that was growing up to 6 feet tall all over the garden. It's called Pokeweed. Here's what the previous owner said about it:

…one of those that never goes away, there were huge shrubs of it everywhere when we moved in, spread more the first couple years because I thought  it was pretty.  Ha!  'Sort of got it tamed after a while by cutting as soon as I saw them coming up but there must be a million seeds on the property...just waiting.

I had pulled up most of the shoots, but had left a few to grow out of curiosity. The leaves are a pretty yellowish green, the seed clusters have interesting red stems and the berries turn a vibrant red violet when they ripen.

A heartbreaking scene

Several days, a long audio book, four wheelbarrows-full and a hurricane later…

I returned to raspberries that have been invaded by yellow jackets! The evildoers swarm all over the fruit -- sometimes three on a single berry. And they leave very few behind for me to pick. I read that yellow jackets can eat half a raspberry crop.

Voracious invaders

The devastation

The worst of it is that they buzz all around me while I'm trying to finish my weeding and mulching. Early this summer, I had an excruciating bite from a yellow jacket and do not want to risk another.

What to do?

I used Bing to find out how to make my own trap from a plastic beverage bottle with the top cut off, reinserted upside down, stapled or taped in place and then filled a couple inches with fruit juice. I've tried orange juice, Gatorade and lemon lime soda and managed to trap only about 10 insects. The rest aren't dumb enough to think those things taste better than raspberries. So, I guess this won't be as abundant a crop as promised.

A do-it-yourself yellow jacket trap

Got one!