Good Bugs, Better Bugs and Black Widow Spiders

      Much fuss is made over how to attract bees to your garden.  This is a very good goal but you want to also include other insects that can be huge allies…one lady bug will eat 50 aphids a day!  Many garden centers sell them as organic pest control.  If you are lucky enough to find some, grab two or three tubs.   Set them free at dusk…they will settle in for the night and wake up ravenous in their new home…your soon to be aphid-free garden.   

     

I’ve heard that some people will mist them with Coke to temporarily glue their wings shut and ground them. To me this seems like a very hostile start to a budding, mutually beneficial relationship.  Not to mention and extremely rude way to treat a rock star affectionately known as the “Good Luck Bug” in Russia, Turkey and Italy. 

       Another stellar garden overachiever is the praying mantis.  I admit that for many years I had hidden prejudice against the mantis for two reasons…first because they were grouped into same order as cockroaches… the other is that creepy, sexual cannibalism thing hanging over their head.  That all changed the day I saw one stalk and annihilate a scorpion in an epic miniature Godzilla vs. Rodan battle.   

     

     Praying mantises can spot prey from 65 feet away and they will happily devour grasshoppers, cabbage moths, flies and the occasional slug.  Unfortunately, they are not very discerning hunters and will also eat our friends the butterflies, frogs and lizards... and spiders.  I know spiders tow the good bug, bad bug line pretty close.  Personally, I don’t have a problem with them other than one or two bites over a lifetime.  That weighed against a multitude of morning web-covered-in-dew photo ops is something I can live with.  Plus they do eat flies and anything that eats flies should always be encouraged to stay around.   

 

     I do make an exception for black widows…their ankle high webs are nasty, raggedy, sticky sheet metal mesh… so their esthetic contribution does not outweigh the risk.

 

From "Garden Table" by Mango Dragonfly

Cherry Blossoms, Blue Crabs and the Magic of Fireflies.

    I wish that I could have appreciated my time living in Baltimore more.  A taxing work environment, divorce and the death of my mother has me remembering that time of my life as pretty dark...some things did leave an unforgettable memory watermark...

   I vividly remember the cherry blossoms.  So many graceful shades of petal pink…like a swarm of mini ballet dancers. The enveloping thick sweet fragrance was well worth the round of "3-Claritin-a-day" days to follow.  My political views and suspicions leave me very leery of recommending anyone spend time in Washington, DC, but if you have a chance it is a magnificent sight on a scale with any other ranked natural wonder.  This amazing photo op always happens around April fool’s Day…which might be the perfect time to visit Washington, DC after all.

  They fooled me with the crabs…The “All You Can Eat” and “Crab feast” deals sound incredible to a Pacific Ocean girl…until they dump a steaming pot of Blue Crabs in front of you.  What!  They are tiny little babies…something you would use for bait to catch a Dungeness crab.  Then to make it worse, they boil them in Old Bay Seasoning, a spice blend made out of celery salt and battery acid, added to the pot by the shovelful.   So at the end of the evening, you have a pile of 23 carcasses…you are exhausted from picking…your hands are on fire from the “Old Bay” and you have eaten about a quarter cup of crab meat.  I think the whole thing is a scam to sell more beer, which is about the only thing that will wash the taste of Old Bay out of your mouth.

     On the other hand…I cherish the memory of the lightning bug miracle.  I thought a childhood vacation in North Carolina made me lightning bug savvy, but nothing could have prepared me for the enchanting phenomenon I experienced in Maryland.  You blow off the first one or two sparks...did I see something?  Maybe a piece of metal caught the porch light.  Then a few moments later there are a dozen flashes...then fifty...then a hundred...then suddenly the lawn is ablaze!   

     

     All that magical, twinkling light is a siren call to the joy-full child’s heart lying smothered under a hulky pile of adult debris.  All you can do is dance out into it with bewildered breathless wonder or lay on the grass and gaze up at fairy stars glittering only a fingertip away against the blue velvet night sky. 

     There is something pure and mystical about being enveloped like this.… I have been transfixed in the same way a few times before, once in a monarch butterfly sanctuary and another time when a herd of deer surrounded my campsite.  In that precious, breath-holding instant all time, space and boundaries cease to exist and the lovely, existential phrase… we are all one…becomes a tangible, heart-beating thing.

When to Plant Tomatoes

   

I met the love of my life one warm August afternoon at a farm stand somewhere off Pennsylvania SR 340.  He was strikingly handsome, had an amazing smile and was still silly, head over heels in love with his wife after 56 years of marriage. 

    Even though he broke my heart, as a consolation prize I got a pretty tasty shoo-fly pie and some great gardening advice.  I had told him that even after living in Baltimore a few years, I was still having trouble judging when to plant tomatoes.  Everyone in my neighborhood always made it an elaborate Mother’s Day ritual, but to a California girl that seemed awful late. 

    He told me the best way to tell when to plant is to go outside, drop your pants and sit bare-assed in the dirt for a good while.  If it was cold and clammy then it was too early…when the ground felt warm and nice to your tender parts, then it was okay to go ahead and plant.

 

Tomato Growing Tips:

• Add a tbsp of Epsom salt to the hole when planting, this will boost the magnesium in the soil and make the fruit sweeter.

• Plant a stake with the seedling… that will keep you from doing damage to roots later on…stakes should be 5’-6’ tall…be optimistic, your tomatoes will appreciate your faith in them.

• If you can find anyone who still wears them…pantyhose make the best tie-ons…old t-shirts are second best… remember these are not plants but vines… all alone without any means of support…be charitable and tie often.

• Garlic and basil make good companions…dill and cabbage are terrible neighbors and will stunt the tomato’s growth.

• Picking off the bottom leaves and leaving bottom 6” of stem bare will help prevent fungus.

• Water from the bottom, they don’t like to get their leaves wet
• if they can help it.

• If you are getting flowers but no fruit, spray the flowers with sugar water to attract more bees.

Today is National Lemonade Day!

Today, May 4th is National Lemonade Day!

A Basic Lemon/ Lime Ade starter ratio is 1 to 1 to 4

Example:

1 1/2 cups juice +1 1/2 cups sweetener

+ 6 cups water= pure delight

Keep it simple or try one of these souped up versions:

Tart Honey Ginger Lemonade

3 cups water

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and minced

1 1/4 cups lemon juice

Bring 1 cup water, honey, sugar, and ginger to boil in heavy medium saucepan.

Stir until sugar dissolves.

Boil 5 minute… allow to cool.

Strain syrup into pitcher. 

Mix in lemon juice and remaining water.

Fill pitcher with ice.

Strawberry Lemonade

2 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 tbsp grated lemon peel

1 cup lemon juice  

1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved

2 cups cold club soda

Ice

Mint sprigs

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil.

 Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves.

Add the lemon peel and lemon juice, stir, and remove from the heat.

Let cool completely

Strain into a pitcher.

Puree the strawberries in a blender.

Add to the pitcher with the lemon juice.

Add the club soda.

Serve over ice, garnished with mint.

Crushed Mint Limeade

6 large limes, thinly sliced

1 cup fresh mint, coarsely chopped

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup lime juice                                                                            

2 cups water                                                           

Ice cubes

Muddle limes, mint, sugar, and  lime juice in large bowl until mashed and juicy.

Mix 2 cups water into lime liquid and pulp in bowl.

Fill pitcher with ice; pour in the limeade.

Let stand 5 minutes to cool, and serve

From "Garden Table", by Mango Dragonfly, available on Amazon.

WWW.mangodragonfly.com