Category: Creatures

Exactly what you’d expect, posts about various creatures here.

They had a secret I knew nothing about until now.
Posted in Creatures, Plants

Scarlet Runner Beans and Hummingbirds

Posted on by Lily

I first learned about scarlet runner pole beans (Phaseolus coccineus) in The 2 Hour Garden book by Roger Grounds. I honestly did not research them much beyond his mention, and rather impulsively fit them into our $20 seed  budget instead of kidney beans.  Back then, I knew very little other than they were a pole bean with at least 6′ vines (I’ve seen up to 15′ listed), and should be one of the first things in our kitchen garden once they arrived.  I read in that book that apparently most Americans don’t like the beans, while others consider them a gourmet legume.   (Apparently the shell is a bit tough for some, and at least one site recommended cutting the pod before serving, other sites say forget the pod and shell the beans.) Continue reading “Scarlet Runner Beans and Hummingbirds” →

Posted in Creatures

Where did all these blue jays come from?

Posted on by Lily

And why are they in my kitchen garden where I’ve never noticed them before?

I really miss my better camera.
Managed to get two in one shot through the office window. Bad camera only still, apologies.

I haven’t planted any new seeds in that bed in weeks.  They seem to like the bean teepee as a perch, but aren’t bothering the plants that I can see.  The basil has started to flower, and one wildflower I let be might be starting to seed, but still.

Seriously.  I think I’ve counted six individuals flitting about so far.   Some seem to be juveniles, but I’m not a bird expert.  Normally I only see two max.

*thinks*  So what do you call a bunch of bluejays?  *goes to search*  Oh good grief.  I just looked it up, and apparently I had a small party of blue jays in my kitchen garden.  Can’t help but laugh at that!

 

Posted in Behind the Scenes, Conservation, Creatures

New mini project: Monarch larvae keeper

Posted on by Lily

I saw a curbside ad on Craig’s List today for a “terrarium”, and go to the address. I do so in the hope I might get my hands on a more suitable container for a project I’ve been wanting to do.

A potential larvae home.
I forgot to mention the overhead lamp, which I have yet to check if it works or not.

Continue reading “New mini project: Monarch larvae keeper” →

Although they do enjoy perching on many plants in our backyard, they also love the clothesline.
Posted in Creatures

A short tale of Damsels and Dragons

Posted on by Lily

Despite knowing that Gardner has many wetlands, ponds and waterways, because we don’t really see any of it from even the upper story of our home, you wouldn’t consider our home sited terribly near any of them.  Yet if you look at one map that shows various water features, there’s quite a bit in our portion of the Greater Gardner Area, especially wetlands to the south and west.

We're in that area marked
The light blue patterned bits demarcate wetlands.  We live near Greenwood Hill.

Continue reading “A short tale of Damsels and Dragons” →

Posted in Creatures, Oh noes!

We need a dust bath decoy

Posted on by Lily

I am an idiot.  Of all the things to forget about with gardening, I forgot about sparrows and dust baths (aka sand baths).

If you don’t know about this habit, the crazy almost rolling popping they do in such cases is them trying to fluff their feathers out to get the dust as near to their skin as possible.  The dust on their skin helps act as a deterrent to pests that would live there and annoy and possibly sicken the birds.

So if you see something like that, the bird hasn’t gone mad.  A cluster of them fluffing and flinging doesn’t mean they are a performance group.  It’s just self care. Continue reading “We need a dust bath decoy” →