Tundra Swans Winter at Lake Mattamuskeet NC

I'm happy to watch the Tundra Swans at Mattamuskeet Lake

Driving 4 hours east from my home brings me to a rural 40,000 acre lake. From November through mid-December Tundra Swans arrive by the thousands. This shallow lake and the surrounding Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge is one of their wintering locations, and hosts 65,000-75,000 of the majestic white birds.

3 Tundra Swans in Flight with More Swimming Below

Our visit on November 10 allowed us to see hundreds of newly arrived swans. Most were paired up and swimming around greeting each other with soft coo's as if to say "it's so good to be here." Young swans with dirty-white coloring followed their parents around. Many of the birds had heads completely submerged to feed on the aquatic vegetation that will make a big part of their winter diet.

Map Showing Swan Icons

With towns named Swan Quarter and Swansboro, it seems the migration to North Carolina has been going on since colonial times. Our road map had flying swan icons representing refuge areas along the protected coastal areas and lakes of eastern North Carolina.

Tundra Swans Swimming at Lake Mattamuskeet

The swans live and breed in the Arctic and subarctic tundra. That is an area across the northern borders of Canada and Alaska. As winter approaches they make the grueling migration through Canada and the Great Lakes area towards the Atlantic coast. (A range map for the Tundra Swan can be found here.) The young develop at a rapid rate in preparation for migrating with their parents. These birds can fly at an altitude of 5 miles.

The swans are beautiful with long curving necks, black bills, and bright white plumage. Because they share the wetlands with Canada Geese, I could really appreciate their huge size. They're about twice the size of the geese. They feed on aquatic plants in the lake and leftovers in nearby farm fields.

Tree Swallows Perched Along Wetlands

There were many Tree Swallows, Double-crested Cormorants, and Egrets at the lake. The number of Tree Swallows increased as the day progressed. They skimmed the water surfaces to gorge on flying insects. To rest between feedings, they gathered in large groups on bushes at the water's edge.

What birds migrate through your area? The excitement of arriving at a wintering place is amazing to watch, and I encourage you to explore your local migrations. I would love to hear about it.

Update: I went back to Mattamuskeet on January 27, 2018. Click here to see that post.

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August in the NC Vegetable Garden

Green Peppers Sauteed with Onions

Since I last wrote about the vegetable garden in early July (only a month and 1 week ago), plants have peaked and crashed. In what I referred to as a "winding down" period, most plants are no longer producing.

Tomatoes, eggplants, and squash provided great meals and side dishes. The tomatoes, especially, experienced a premature end as a wilt fungus crept through the garden. This situation is described in more detail, in my posted article about wilt.

Wilted Eggplant July 21, 2017

It is a challenge to write about the garden of August and not list a bunch of negative situations, but it is August. The bugs are multiplying, microbes are spreading, and squirrels will be squirrels.

I've started the garden cleanup and all yellow and zucchini squash has been removed with, hopefully, all the families of squash bugs, pickle worms, and vine squash borers with them. It's important to resist the urge to compost infected plants. Stink bugs and the like will overwinter in compost and leaf litter.

Spaghetti Squash

Squash with Downy Mildew

A beautiful spaghetti squash gourd appeared and grew rapidly, but rotted from the inside. After its removal, the remaining plants choked of powdery mildew. Spaghetti squash is a delicious vegetable, but, because of the long growing season, is challenging to bring to maturity.

Some Creature Likes Jalapenos

Small Tobacco Hornworm

My extra-large Jalapeño crop continues to produce along with a smaller number of green pepper plants. Only in the last 2 weeks have 4 plants been affected by wilt. Like I said, the wilt fungus has truly crept through the garden in a random pattern. For some reason, the peppers have been very resistant to this problem. I'm very pleased with this year's harvest. The tobacco hornworm came back in a second wave of young worms that had a taste for hot peppers 😏 and eggplant leaves.

There are 3 eggplant plants left out of 12 (wilt). I am optimistic about getting enough for a side dish.

Bush Beans

My original bush beans planted in late April are still producing! A few plants dried up, but others thrive. This is such an easy crop that I planted more seeds in spaces where the tomatoes were pulled.

I like to grow sunflowers with the vegetables to attract pollinators. This year a squirrel ate a lot of seeds before germination. A spectacular Mammoth Sunflower survived and was 13 foot in height when a squirrel climbed up and broke the stem. The flower wasn't even open yet.

I hope everyone is having a good vegetable gardening season. Some of my Twitter friends are just starting to harvest in other parts of the country. All the best and thanks for reading!

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Wilt in the Vegetable Garden

July 21 Eggplant showing wilt on one stem

During the busy vegetable garden season, I write articles about garden harvests, problems, and solutions. There's a problem in this year's garden that deserves it's own post. The topic is wilt and I'm seeing it from early plantings through mature plants with fruits. One-at-a-time eggplant, tomato, and sunflower plants exhibit wilting as if drought-stricken. Over the course of 2 weeks, the plant shrivels, and must carefully be removed to avoid contamination of other plants.

July 21 Wilted Tomato Plant

The good news is that the wilt has followed a spaced out pattern affecting single plants. I have not had entire rows of tomatoes or eggplants wiped out at the same time, and have had plenty of vegetables for my small household.

At the time of this writing, my 12 eggplants have gradually died off to leave 3. I've lost 7 of the tomatoes except for one Cherry tomato plant.  All this has happened over the course of a 3 month growing season.

July 21 Wilted Eggplant with Squash in Background

As described in this article, "What's Killing my Tomatoes?" wilt can be caused by root knot nematodes, fungi, or bacteria.

All these causes disrupt the flow of water and nutrients up the plant's stem. This disruption is seen as wilt moving throughout the plant until it dies.

Side note:  Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and many others are part of the Nightshade family of plants and are affected by the same problems. Under watering has been ruled out because of regular rain and irrigation.

July 21 Roots of a Wilted Tomato Plant

Root nematodes leave knot structures on the roots. I examined the root system of a wilted tomato plant and found it was clear of knots.

July 21 Wilted Eggplant Cross Section

July 21 Healthy Eggplant Cross Section

In comparing the cross sections of a wilted eggplant stem and a healthy eggplant, the wilted shows a brown staining in the plant tissue. This is a sign of wilt- either fusarium or verticillium.

July 21 Healthy Tomato Cross Section

July 21 Wilted Tomato Cross Section

Shawn Bank's article (link is above) further describes a test for bacterial wilt where a cut stem is observed in a water glass. White streaming indicates a bacterial infection causing the wilt. I cut several eggplant and tomato stems and didn't observe bacterial streaming.

So there we have it. No root knot nematodes, no bacterial streaming, so the cause of my wilting is fungal. What is the solution? The article recommends (1) rotating out of the area (2) solar heating the soil (3) using disease-resistant plants.

These are all reasonable suggestions and things I can try. Most of the tags on my nursery-bought plants listed no disease resistance. However, the Cherry tomatoes listed V and F resistance, but one of the 2 wilted anyway.

Have you had an experience with vegetable plants wilting? I would love to hear about it in the comments below! Thanks for reading my blog. I post daily about garden activities on Twitter @gopamnc .

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4 Tips for My Younger Gardener Self

Me giving advice to my younger self

If I could go back in time and offer my younger gardener-self advice, it would be as follows:

1- Plant flowering perennials. They return year-after-year. My favorites are Butterfly Bushes, Azaleas, Peonies, Rhododendrons, Daylilies, and Irises.

A Tiger Swallowtail enjoying Butterfly Bush

2- Trim flowering bushes yearly after blooming. Left alone many will increase in size and swallow up other landscape plants. Every year I struggle with the massive size of Forsythias and Camellias planted two decades ago.

"City Block" sized Forsythia bush

3- Handle invasives with care. In 20 years (or even 5) they will take over significant landscape space. My personal challenges with invasives are: Liriope (also called Monkey Grass), English Ivy, and Periwinkle. My article on the subject can be found at this link.

English Ivy climbing tree trunk

4- Only plant vegetable gardens in the sun. A successful vegetable garden requires lots of sunlight and you're wasting time otherwise.

Full sun on the vegetable garden

What about you? What gardening lessons have you learned over the years? What would you have done differently in your gardens and landscape? Please leave your comments below.

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July in the Vegetable Garden

Overgrown Yellow Squash June 2017

Overgrown Zucchini June 2017

It's early July as I'm writing this post. Just as the squash is growing at dizzying speeds, my occasional out-of-town trips have resulted in some overgrown vegetables. Even when I'm in the garden every day, though, it is easy to miss a zucchini squash hiding under the leaves.

A Beautiful Spaghetti Squash Blossom

🌿Squash
The insects haven't killed any plants yet. The harvest has been huge so once the bugs take over, I'll start removing plants. The slower-growing spaghetti squash is hanging on in a corner of the garden. The vines are narrow and fragile-looking. Time will tell if these plants will survive to produce gourds.

Partially Eaten Tomato Left on Well Cover

🍅Tomatoes
The tomatoes are starting to ripen. Some plants have severe wilt and I picked the large tomatoes to ripen on the kitchen counter. The squirrels have started to steal fruit and roll it out of the garden. Outwitting wildlife is all a part of vegetable gardening so I'll be picking tomatoes earlier than I prefer.

1st Eggplant Harvest July 2017

🍆Eggplant
Today I have eggplant ready to pick. Last year's 8 plants failed to produce due to severe aphid infestations. This year I started with 12 plants and treated for bugs a couple of times. As a result, the plants had many more flowers and the crop looks good. I have had to remove 4 plants because they wilted and died. Removal is handled in a sanitary way to reduce cross-contamination.

Green Beans Ready for Harvest

🌿Green beans
The green beans are producing and so easy to grow! I like sitting on my step stool, picking the beans, and listening to the birds calling to each other.

Jalapenos Over 3" Long

Jalapeno Poppers with Fresh Peas

🌾Peppers
This year's jalapeno and green peppers are producing well. I doubled up on the jalapeno numbers to make poppers. This variety is growing larger than I've ever grown before. Recipe for Jalapeno Poppers here: Jalapeno Poppers

🐜Japanese beetles are attracted to the eggplant and peppers. They are slow, clunky bugs and easy to catch and dispatch. Needless to say, they're having a field day with my hibiscus on the other side of the yard.

🌻Sunflowers
Having had gorgeous sunflowers in my vegetable garden in the past, this year is disappointing. First the squirrels dug up several seeds and seedlings. Then a few succumbed to wilt - not related to watering. I have about 8 plants surviving. 2015 was a great year for these flowers. This post has several photos of sunflowers.

It goes without saying that friends and family are benefiting from the garden bounty. Cooking and freezing vegetables is another option for me, but then I would have to stay inside, right? This is the time when the out-of-doors beckons with grass to cut and plants to maintain.

I would love to hear about your summer vegetable garden. How are things going? What challenges are you facing?

July will present a whirlwind of activity in the garden. I post on twitter daily about my garden activities at @gopamnc . Follow me and retweet to show your interest and comments. Thanks!😊

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Controlling Weeds in the Vegetable Garden

Vigorous Grass Growing Under Squash Plant

A joke around our house is that wherever we want grass to grow, we only need put a tomato plant. Indeed it seems that the best grass grows in the vegetable garden!

A few years ago we started placing old plastic tarpaulins between the rows of vegetables. This allowed a weed and grass-free path to inspect plants. This year we've expanded on this idea by laying weed block fabric over furrows and cutting openings for the plants. Any unplanted area is also covered with weed block or other plastic material. This gives us a rectangular garden area that does not need mowing. It's also a way to upcycle old tarps, awnings, and pool solar panels.  A few swipes with a weed eater around the perimeter and we're done.

A Combination of Tarpaulins and Weed Block Fabric Surround Eggplant

In addition to making garden chores so much more pleasant, the reduction in weeds and grass has resulted in larger and stronger plants.

Plastic Scraps Upcycled to Block Weeds and Grass

I post on Twitter daily about my garden activities at @gopamnc . Follow me and retweet to show your interest and comments. Thanks!😊

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Garden Happenings June 2017

Yellow squash 7 weeks after planting seeds

This is a fun and exciting time in the garden. It's awesome to walk through the rows and decide what to pick. Most plants are heavy with produce, and the bugs have not yet overwhelmed the garden.

Squash

Squash is a fast-growing vegetable that is easy to cook. I have 25 squash plants this year. The straight neck yellow squash started producing first. This week I look forward to picking and cooking this squash.

Zucchini produce growing at base of 7 week old plant

7 weeks after planting seeds, produce on the zucchini squash is now visible. Zucchini easily camouflages itself among the green base of the plant until the fruit grows a foot long or more. It's tricky to find it at a smaller, manageable size. I have Spaghetti squash planted in a far corner of the garden. This gives it ample room to run vines for a much longer growth period than the other squash plants.

Tomatoes

Plants have green tomatoes now, but we're not taking this stalwart of the garden for granted. One plant wilted and had a burned appearance. Another had a partial wilt that was removed. This geographical area has a bacterial wilt virus that can contaminate the soil for years and make tomato growing impossible. With optimism, I'll hope the wilting is limited (like last year), and carry on.

First pepper harvest of 2017

Peppers

I've harvested a few jalapenos already. Jalapeno Poppers prepared with cream cheese and bacon will be on the menu this week.

Peas
Both sweet peas and snow peas are growing. These make a nice, crunchy snack while working in the garden.

Flower of the sweet pea plant

Bush beans
The beans have just started flowering. This is another plant that can "hide" its fruit in the foliage. I look forward to fresh beans in a couple of weeks.

Eggplants
Last year's eggplant harvest was limited by a severe aphid infestation. The plants were stunted and didn't produce fruit. Allowing for problems, I have increased my crop to 12 plants. Interestingly, many of the plants have spines on the leaves and flowers. Also, insects seem to be attracted to eggplant leaves. This week Japanese Beetles made an appearance.

Sunflowers
With screened cages to foil squirrels, a few sunflower plants are managing to grow. See last month's blog for more on that problem.

June will reveal daily surprises and challenges in the garden. I tweet regularly about my garden activities at @gopamnc . Follow me and retweet your support and comments. Thanks!😊

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Homegrown Vegetables May 2017

After a roller coaster ride of hot and cold temperatures, we started planting the vegetable garden in April. April 15 was the average last frost for this area. This guideline was helpful as frosty mornings continued close to that date.

The asparagus bed put in 3 years ago started producing in March and we harvested for 6 weeks. Now  the hard work of weeding begins. 

Fresh Asparagus

Asparagus Sauteed in Olive Oil

Nursery plants and seeds were put in between April 13th and 20th. I used notes made last year to adjust plant numbers. For example, my jalapeno plants didn't produce enough for poppers so I increased the number of plants. Tomatoes were plentiful so I decreased those. The crookneck yellow squash tended to rot at the neck so I'm replacing those with straight neck. My 8 eggplants produced very little last year so I increased the numbers and will be vigilant of bug infestations.

Every year we have an "experiment" where a new technique or plant is introduced. This year we're using barrier fabric to try and control the grass and weeds (mostly grass). There is also a new drip irrigation system cobbled from donated parts.

A summary of garden activity:

• The straight neck yellow and zucchini squash looks vigorous and healthy.
• The tomatoes and peppers have started flowering.
• The snow peas have started climbing their supports. 
• The eggplant has been treated for aphids.

Squash-4 Weeks after Planting Seeds

Squash with Drip Irrigation

In the blueberry garden, the plants are full and lush but lack flowers. The blueberries are planted beside some pine trees. The trees provide acid-rich needles, but may be blocking too much sun.

In the past, I've enjoyed sunflowers in the vegetable garden. They're wonderful photography subjects. This year a squirrel has eaten most of my planted seeds.  We're trying a fortified tomato cage barrier to try and get some flowers growing.

Squirrel Proof?Tomato Cages Covered with Netting

I hope you've found my garden update interesting. As you have read, not everything goes as planned in a garden. There's a lot of work and sometimes plants don't produce as hoped. The best thing to do is take notes and make plans for the next season.

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