Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Apr. 6

Spring greetings, everyone! Don't you love the photo above?

Caught the final day before the rain washes it all away. This first one is my favorite.

I live in Bethesda Md. There is an area along the Capital Crescent Trail called Kenwood. It is famous for streets lined with Cherry Trees. They close off the area to cars for a few days when it is peak and people walk and bring their kids and picnic in the little park along the way.

The trees themselves are so interesting with odd shapes and twisty branches. It is amazing that they have been able to keep them from being cut down. You can tell that many are very old. But then the homes in the area are pretty spectacular.

Sharon (willow's apprentice)

It really is an amazing place. Great photos. We saved another one for later.

How many in The Horde are living in a place where "Spring" still means "Crocus"? How is the weather treating you and your garden? We had FROST this morning in the South-Central San Joaquin Valley of California, after reaching the 80s during the week.

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

By-Tor has been busy again:

Ralph's had blackberries for $2 a pint so I bought a bunch and made blackberry jam. First time making it. And raspberry, too. The blackberry is good. Set up nice; not too sweet. Not sure if the raspberry is going to set up. Might have to re-do it.

Let's talk nomenclature for a minute here: What is the difference between jelly, jam, preserves and marmalade?

Blackberries and Boysenberries have bigger seeds than Raspberries. Locally, it is hard to find a jam-like product made from blackberries or boysenberries that includes the seeds. The mister at our house prefers seeds in his. The strained products available commercially are called "Jam".

Raspberry seems to be available mostly with seeds. These products are called "preserves" here.

"Jelly" is made from clear juice.

"Marmalade" is discussed below.

My raspberry jelly didn't set up so I redid it with more pectin. Seems like it worked.

Sometimes perseverance pays!

I was gifted a sack of oranges with the caveat that I make some orange marmalade.

It basically jelly, with a couple extra steps; you have to chop up some of the rind, and take the pith off the orange.

It came out pretty good.

Enticing.

Pro Tip: Taste the rind of each individual orange, as some are much more bitter than others. There are intentionally bitter marmalades, but kids may not like them.

History and Holidays

April 4 is the 94th, less often the 95th, day of the Gregorian calendar. Its equivalent was usually the 15th day of the germinal month in the old French calendar, officially called the day of the BEE. "Continuing my work, I will sing the aerial honey. ”Georgians, Virgil). Georgians. Virgile (called "the Swan of Mantoue", born around October 15, 70 BC. J. -C. in the Andes, in present-day Lombardy and died on September 21, 19 av. J. -C. Off to Brindisi ). Enlightenment: attributed to the Master of Vitae imperatorum. Date and place of publication: mid-15th century, Milan (Italy). Latin manuscript, illuminated human writing on parchment. Bodleian Library, Oxford University. MS. Rawl. G. 98, volume 049v

Looks fun!

April 4 is also Carrot Day. Don't know why.

Are you planting carrots this year? If so, are you going for climate adaptability, superior flavor, color, fun shapes, or what?

Illuminated Manuscripts Europe:

April 5 was once the day of lettuce in France. The miniature is extracted from a Tacuinum sanitatis, a health manual written around 1050 by Ibn Butlân († 1066), a Christian doctor and theologian from Baghdad, copied and illustrated in Rhenania around 1474. Each sheet of the manuscript bears a title - here Lactuce / Lattich - and an illustration: there, a couple in a garden harvesting lettuce.

Those lettuce plants look pretty big for the beginning of April in France. Must have been before the Little Ice Age.

Ah, Nature

It is expected that 100 trillion cicadas will emerge shortly after the eclipse on April 8.

"It's like an entire alien species living underneath our feet and then some prime number years they come out to say hello," Saad Bhamla, a professor of biotechnology at the Georgia Institute of Technology, told TV station WFLD in Chicago. "This year we're going to get two broods that are going to emerge at the same time."

Experts believe that Brood XIX--which operates on a 13-year cycle and nests across a swath of the mid-South from southern Iowa to the Carolinas - - and Brood XIII, which arises every 17 years and nests between central Illinois and southern Wisconsin, are due to appear at the same time. It is thought that this coincidence has not occurred since 1803.

When they do emerge, based on previous outings, the cicadas will cover fields and houses in their path with shed exoskeletons and produce a noise that rivals a jet engine.

BUT THERE'S MORE:

Alien Species???? How about Sex Zombies?

Trillions of cicadas will emerge across several U.S. states this spring in an event one expert dubbed "cicada-geddon." Not only are more cicadas than usual expected this year, but some of them will be "zombie cicadas" that are infected by a sexually transmitted fungus that makes them hyper-sexual. . .

Matthew Kasson, an associate professor of Mycology and Forest Pathology at West Virginia University, says both of these broods can be infected by a fungal pathogen called Massospora cicadina.

Once the cicadas emerge from the ground, they molt into adults, and within a week to 10 days, the fungus causes the backside of their abdomens open up. A chalky, white plug erupts out, taking over their bodies and making their genitals fall off.

Odd that having their genitals fall off would make them hyper-sexual, don't you think?

Kasson said the reason the cicadas might be able to ignore the fungus is that it produces an amphetamine, which could give them stamina.

"But there's also something else unusual about it," he said. "There's this hyper-sexualized behavior. So, males for example, they'll continue to try and mate with females -- unsuccessfully, because again, their back end is a fungus. But they'll also pretend to be females to get males to come to them. And that doubles the number of cicadas that an infected individual comes in contact with."

Usually, male cicadas will let out a loud humming sound to attracted female cicadas and the female will flick her wings to signal she wants to mate. But the fungus has males flicking their wings like females to attract males and in turn, infect them, Kasson says.

Back in 2021, we saw the FDA suggesting that cicadas could be on the menu as long as we weren't allergic to shrimp or lobster. And the Smithsonian provided harvesting, preparation and serving suggestions. But these sex zombie cicadas have brought up some new concerns:

It is unclear how the fungus would affect other wildlife or humans, but Kasson said in his research, he's observed thousands of compounds in infected cicadas and some could be toxic.

"We know that a lot of animals are gobbling these cicadas up as they're emerging -- snakes and birds. Is it possible they're having an effect on the animals that eat them? Yes, it is possible." But, he said, less than 5% of cicadas are infected with the fungus and researchers have yet to observe any impact on other wildlife.

Kasson urges people not to eat the cicadas or kill them, but to take photos if they see the fugus on the bugs and share them with online science communities, like iNaturalist, to help researchers.

Seems to fit in with the current culture, somehow. I hope the cautions concerning eating fungus-infected cicadas continue. You can still reach a recipe for June Bug Snacks at the 2021 link above if you need to offer a "green" friend an alternative. No hypersexual zombie June Bugs have been reported yet (that I know of).

Puttering

For those small repair jobs:

Fixing patches pic.twitter.com/sqHhr2DnCE

— Wolf of X (@tradingMaxiSL) April 3, 2024

A drywall repair kit or spackle repair kit may let you get away with a less-than major undertaking. .

Adventure

Brave enough to visit a university campus? I think these photos were taken last month.

Those tulip bulbs, with their underplanting of pansies and/or violas, must have gone in during the fall. Unless they are planted from potted plants, which would be pretty expensive. They would have to be replaced every year in Mississippi. Someone must believe that they help lift the spirits of the students.

You may say "Those tulips above don't look very natural in that setting". Where's the adventure?" Well, University campuses can be like different worlds these days. And it looks like all the rain may lead to a less-than-spectacular California Poppy bloom in many reserves, partly because the poppies will be out-competed by grasses and other plants due to all the recent rains. And some venues have been closed. Check before you go.

There are California Poppies blooming in the towns around here. This is California Poppy Day!

This is what the bloom looked like in the Antelope Valley Wildlife Reserve in 2019. If they open the reserve for viewing this year, you may see other wildflowers instead, and not in sheets like this:

Maybe displays like this will return again sometime soon. In the meantime, you could plant a patch of them. They come in other colors, too. There are other wildflowers in the deserts, foothills and mountainso. Just check before you go expecting a spectacle.

It might be an adventure to plant a Hummingbird wildflower nectar wildflower seed mix in your own yard, though I tend to shy away from mixtures (unless you are really good at weed control).

https://www.americanmeadows.com/product/wildflower-seeds/butterfly-hummingbird-wildflower-seed-mix

Check out the list of flowers if you want to choose individual flowers for your garden. Sixteen annuals and perennials. The one below would also be attractive to hummingbird moths.

Gardens of The Horde

Got an email comment about the March 23 thread:

The first plant, I have. It is one of the only truly deer-proof plants I own. Have no idea what it is though. They don't touch my daffodils, but eat EVERYTHING else.

Geraniums, which are nice, but kinda stinky, they eat. Was told they wouldn't... They even eat the azaleas, which they shouldn't.

Planted some CA poppies, which have sprouted. And deer haven't touched them yet. So, we'll see how that goes.

Moved in, and thought, "oh, deer. How cute!"
They're terrible!

Truly enjoy your posts. You show incredible stuff.

As for the rattlesnake pic. Have a story about working on a construction site. Unused for years, but under a raised computer floor, a worker remarked that there was an old cinnamon roll left behind. Luckily, he didn't try to pick it up. He went to kick it over, and it struck at him. Boots and heavy jeans kept the sitch from being bad.

Keep up the good work.

Gunslinger

Several commenters guessed right that the plant in question is a Euphorbia, related to poinsettias. It has toxic sap.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, March 30

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 01:21 PM

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