Chipmunks, A Small Problem?
The eastern chipmunk is the same size as the ground squirrel, but is found in more woodland or woodland edge habitat and has only two light stripes. Absent only from the northwest corner of Iowa, they inhabit neighborhoods with mature trees and shrubs, rock and wood piles and retaining walls. While they may live in holes dug in the ground, they are more likely to live in the retaining walls, beneath decks or even in holes in trees. They do not hibernate in the winter and, though they sleep for days at a time, can be seen raiding bird feeders on warm winter days.
I’ve got a big problem, chipmunks, or grinnies as some people call them. They’re cute as can be really, but destructive little rodents for sure. They have been digging up my seedlings on the back deck and eating the seeds that I plant (although the ones that ate my castor beans seeds are taken care of).
We used to have a pair of owls that kept the population under control, but I haven’t seen them this year. Aside from getting a pet falcon, I’m looking into easy ways to deal with my overpopulation of chipmunks. I’d love to get rid of them without letting my cats outside (I don’t want them to get worms or eat birds). I really hate to kill them, however they’re starting to dig holes around the foundation of our home. I’d rather not deal with drainage issues from that, so it’s time to wage war on the grinnies. I’ve heard good things about chipmunk swimming pools, anyone tried them?
Anyone have any great tips on getting rid of chipmunks?
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Bees in the Garden
I love seeing the ladies in the garden working while I’m out and about. I’m always trying to take photos of them, but they’re always so busy and working so quickly. I finally got this one.
These chives are obviously delicious as you can see since she’s diving right in! I’m also very happy to see the ladies enjoying the strawberry blossoms. They’ll get lots of pollen and I’ll get lots of berries.
This year I’ve been noticing more and more pollinators in the gardens. We have many different kinds of bees and wasps around. I think it’s because we’ve been working on making our gardens more diverse with plants that are beneficial for the pollinators.
What are you doing for the pollinators in your life?
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Ants and Peonies?
What is it about ants and peony buds?
It is believed that peony buds emit a sweet sap that the ants like, it is also believed the the ants help the buds open. You don’t need ants for your peonies to bloom, and peonies will not attract ants to your gardens.
Are you peonies teeming with ants?
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Checking on the Ladies
This past Saturday we did a hive check on the ladies. I figured you’d all be wanting an update on them so I took some photos for you. We removed all of the frames from the brood box (that’s what they call the bottom boxes on the hives where the bees live). We checked each frame to see how much of it the bees had covered with comb and how much contained capped larvae.
What you see on the left hand side of this frame is capped brood, those are baby bees that are forming. On the right hand side you can see the empty hive cells, those are bees that have hatched out already.
We were super excited to see that we had our first batch of hatched bees! That is a good sign for sure. We even got to see one bee chewing her way out of her cell. We also spotting the queen, which is much easier now that we’ve gotten the hang of it since she’s not marked.
We’re quite excited at how well the ladies are doing. We added a new brood box because they had just about filled up the bottom one entirely, so now our hive is taller. It’s very exciting to see them doing so well. I’ve been spotting the ladies at work about the yard when I’m out working. It’s kind of nice to see them every now and then.
Anyone else noticing the pollinators this spring now that things are starting to bloom?
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The Balance of Nature: Bugs, Good and Bad
The insects world is quite an amazing thing, there are so many of all shapes, sizes and colors.
Insects can be good or bad; spiders are good, aphids are bad (I realize spiders aren’t technically insects, but we’re going to include them). The good insects are predatory and they feast on other insects, these are the kinds of insects you want to have around.
Some bugs are very beneficial, but they creep us out – spiders are the main culprit here. I have made peace with all of the big wolf spiders that live around our home (and boy can these guys get HUGE). I have to remember that they eat tons of bad insects.
You can order beneficial insects from various dealers and release them on your property. Certain insects can really help deal with an infestation of another insect. For example: Ladybugs LOVE aphids. If you have an aphid problem, order some ladybugs or some green lacewings. Here is some great information about the best predatory insects for your gardens.
Insects are also beneficial to the gardens because many of them are pollinators. Pollinators are great in the garden because they increase your crops.
There are all kinds of pollinators you can encourage in your gardens without actually having to keep bees. The easiest way is to buy a Mason Bee house to encourage these little orchard bees to reside on your property.
Do you welcome bugs into your gardens?
