Late Summer Pollinators & Homestead Varmints
Welcome back for the glories of September, and fun with bees, berries, books, and more...
I spend an inordinate amount of time gazing out my kitchen window at my food garden. Whether I’m admiring some crops, wringing my hands over others, and most likely of all, assessing what what weeding job needs doing *yesterday,* I can’t not look at my yard!
The September breeze here in the Foothills feels so soft and sweet after our recent smoke. And to me, the glow of red-orange vine maples, the productive cukes and zukes, and late summer blossoms are the absolute bees’ knees!
And speaking of bees, as the summer wildflowers and cultivars fade, I’ve been thinking about the behind-the-scenes players…the gifts that keep on giving, and makes our food gardening world go round: the pollinators!
Seventeen years ago, I stood in my newly installed flowerbed, our first gardening project ever in the Foothills…See pic above!
Although my husband John and I had a small food garden at our former city home, I was still sort of a food-raising newb, especially when it came to cultivating reliable crops in the middle of the woods.
However, there was one thing I knew for sure: that food crops need pollinators. And since then, I’ve made my pollinator-friendly plants a priority. Here’s that first bed one year later:
We’ve tried, over the years, to make sure we have food at our place for the pollinators—from the native red currants that blossom in early April, to sowing zinnia seeds for flowers that keep blooming until the first frost.
Cosseting my pollinator-friendly garden means I’ve developed an unfortunate habit: not cutting back a lot of plants until they’re completely done flowering. As in, So. Done. Also, I’ve allowed the pollinator-food plants pretty much free rein, to self-seed or spread at will.
As a result, my yard is full of volunteers…and more of a jumble than it needs to be. Today, taking a ramble through the uncontrolled chaos of my September crops, flowers, and weeds, I was immensely reassured to see something positive: so many bees!
Cosmos are destination dining for bumblebees…and these volunteers are the most vigorous flowers in the garden right now. What’s interesting that I’ll see bumbles simply resting on the blossoms!
Do you grow a few herbs? You might consider hanging around one of your summer ones. From a short distance, the plant may appear to be completely spent. Zoom in for a close-up, and you might find a few tiny, lingering blossoms—and a bee sampling the goods!
My older lavenders—which have seeded all over the place—are done blooming, but the newer plants are going great guns. While pollinator-friendly volunteers are a great way to enhance your food garden for zero money, there is a price to pay.
I admit my worst offense is letting invasive herbs go to the very last breath until suddenly, they’re dropping seeds—I’m looking at you, oregano!
As the daylight shortens, and the nights get cooler, my volunteer plant flowers are still going strong…and so are the pollinators!
I’m so delighted to be part of the community of food gardening and nature-loving Substackers! I love seeing and hearing about other folks’ garden beds, the crops they’re raising, and what’s in and out of season in other regions.
I hope all of you will continue to share your experiences, whether it’s here at Little Farm Writer, or other gardening Substacks!
Bear Update
I mentioned last month that John and I haven’t seen hide nor hair of the little bear pest from earlier this summer. The other day, I learned his fate…
At a neighborhood potluck, one of the guys—he’s a lovely old gentleman who looks like an old-time cowpoke, right down to the Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots—mentioned he’s been seeing a lot of the little bear lately. “I’ve been shaking my apple tree every day or so,” he said. “The bear’s been coming in every night, and eaten everything on the ground.”
Apparently, our cowpoke guy enjoys watching the bear make his apple raids in the light of the full moon.
Well, if he doesn’t mind a bear getting all comfy-cozy on his property, who am I to object? Especially if the bear is happy to hang out at his place instead of ours! The cowpoke raised lots of farm animals in his day, and maybe he’s just a lot more comfortable with livestock in close proximity.
Luckily, he lives a ways away from us—about 1/8 mile as the crow flies. Which isn’t really all that far—given how fast a bear can move!—but there’s a dense forest between his place and ours so it’s all golden.
For now.
Chickens Come Home to Roost
No, I’m not talking about actual chickens!
I’m speaking to the consequences of not taking care of business in your berry patch. You see, back in April, I never got around to pruning my 17 blueberry shrubs.
Of course I have lots of excuses for all the things that kept me busy that month: Writing projects, publishing tasks, my homestead-style gardening teaching gig…Well, I could go on, but the fact is, I goofed.
The few hours I saved by neglecting my spring pruning, I have spent on the gigantic time suck of dealing with the results.
Since I began harvesting blueberries the third week of July, most of my gardening time has been spent picking berries, while the weeds run rampant, and the garden improvement projects I’ve been planning get pushed back.
Now, the last thing I should be doing is kvetching about an abundant harvest! I mean, what a tremendous blessing!
But this summer, I picked more berries than I could keep up with.
The other evening, when our freezer is already full, I hauled 9 quarts of blueberries into the house, then stayed up until 2 am (not for the first time this berry season) putting up about half of my harvest, all the while calculating how many more berries I’ll have to pick…and how many I can give away.
Two days later, I picked another five quarts. A little while ago, while I was doing my pollinator admiring, I saw one of my Chandler shrubs is dripping with several more quarts needing attention!
As I understand it, it’s more beneficial for the shrub to produce a more consistent crop each season—not stress the plant by allowing it to overbear. I have firmly resolved that come what may next April, I will put blueberry cultivation at the top of my list—and do the most careful and assiduous job pruning my berries ever!
I expect my yield will decrease—more than it would naturally, after this season’s overbearing. But that’s price I will gladly pay, to have a more manageable berry harvest!
In other gardening news:
One crop we didn’t get to harvest was nuts. Both the walnut tree and native hazelnut shrub were loaded with nuts this summer…but the squirrels and blue jays got Every. Last. One.
John, who’s in charge of our nut-raising department, was a bit fit to be tied. But nuts are another crop that would require extremely tight and crafty netting. And I personally have never attempted to net a nut tree!
Jays are big on fruit too! We’ll often find a big ol’ gash in the ripe apples on the trees…which interestingly, is the shape of a jay’s beak! And any day now, I expect to see them raiding our un-netted grapes.
Is there a gardening job you didn’t get around to this season, that you came to regret?
Books and Bits
I recently finished a terrific novel, Someone Else’s Shoes. It’s by JoJo Moyes, a longtime favorite author of mine.
Although I heard about this book months ago, I have to admit I resisted it for a while. A major story element focuses on a pair of fire-engine red designer high heels—which to be honest, put me off.
I’m just not a shoe person. My idea of dress-up shoes is my newest (three year old) pair of LL Bean sneakers!
But I’m delighted I gave the book a chance. It’s a women’s fiction novel about how fate brings four women together to create a sisterhood. There’s also a thought-provoking economic thread in Someone Else’s Shoes: one woman is very wealthy, one is working two jobs and barely keeping her head above water, and the two other “women-next-door kind of gals" are struggling to make ends meet.
Despite the focus on the way these characters come together to support each other, the story read like a fast-paced thriller—I couldn’t put it down! I won’t tell you how these brave, feisty women sorted things out, but the “villain” gets a worthy comeuppance at the end.
As for the Jane Austen Department…
As soon as I finished Sense and Sensibility, naturally I had to start the next novel in my Austen volume, Pride and Prejudice. I’ve just gotten to the part where pompous Mr. Collins arrives at Longbourne, and hilarity is the order of the day! (As Mary Bennet might say!)
Any great books you’d like to recommend?
Over at my Little Farm blog, you might like to check out my latest posts: DIY Dryer Repair and a Downton Abbey inspired dessert! This recipe is an improvement on the berry buckle I’ve been making for years.
My blog focuses mostly on food gardening and homesteady how-tos, and if you take a look, I hope you find something useful.
A quick heads-up…I’m planning to try some new things here at Little Farm Writer, so you might hear from me before my regularly scheduled October post on the 10th!
To the new subscribers of Little Farm Writer this month, welcome—and thank you so much for joining! And to every subscriber and reader, I’m grateful for every one of you. And your likes and comments not only make me smile, they make my day—and I generally learn something too!
Please feel free to get in touch—you can leave a comment, or if you prefer, you can reply directly to this email. Whichever way you choose, I’d love to hear from you.
Many thanks again for sharing your time and attention with me. And if you liked this post, I hope you’ll hit the ❤️ button, or even click “Share”…which can help other folks discover Little Farm Writer!
Wishing you rest and rejuvenation outdoors, in the golden light of early fall—
~Susan, from the Foothills
Oh how I can relate to letting plants go! I have such a fall cleanup ahead of me. The flowers gone to seed and the great take over of the weeds! I also need to do some research on pruning fruit trees. Ours are two years old and starting to really take off.
Thank you for the book recommendation! I was just looking for something new to read and I think I shall give the one you mentioned a try.
That yellow weed is St John's Wort, very good and strong anti depressant.
And wow, I am soo jealous of your blueberries!!
We had tons of strawberries, and this year we have a new variety which is still producing, it's supposed to keep going until frost.
Raspberries however are never enough, we still need more, although we already have 3 large-ish spots..