wrote:
we did see some earlier in the season, but now i'm
not seeing them around much at all. even the smaller
bumble bees are few. that said the squash plant blooms
are still looking to being fertilized and about
anything else too.
we have several bee hives put about 50ft from the
property in the field to the NE and those bees are
humming up a storm every day. including using our
birdbaths as drinking fountains. with all our flowers
being out this time of the year the gardens are quite
loud with the bees at work.
it will take me several more sessions to get the
north garden weeded through again. i had put down a
few layers of wire mesh to keep the rabbits, chipmunks,
etc. from digging up some new seedlings and a few
remaining crocus bulbs that were rescued from being
moved from another garden. weeds growing up through
those meshes made that area look like a jungle. i'd
weeded it twice before, but then was off busy planting,
harvesting/processing strawberries and weeding other
areas before i'd gotten back to that garden. a few of
the lambs quarters were large enough around that i
needed my pruning shears to snip them off and get them
out of the mesh. the largest i snipped off but left the
root down in the ground. it wasn't coming out without
major digging and i didn't want to disturb the soil
that much in that area. of course when going out to
work on a project i usually have a few dozen tasks i
have to do first to get going. one edge had some mint
starting to get going and i'd wanted to dig that out
for a few years so i finally got to it before it
could drop more seeds.
did some trimming of the honeysuckle bushes in the
north hedge which are so heavy with fruit that they
are sagging over the grass. it's a messy job when they
are fruiting. good fun. my garden long-
sleeved shirt is white, looked like i'd been through a
bit of a gun battle in a movie by the time i was done.
also cleared a bit more of the edge along a fence in
the NE corner where the honeysuckles attempted to take
over and crowd out the lilac bush.
most of the gardens are looking great, only a few
bug and critter issues and the live trap has been working
well for dealing with the larger critters. we had a
lone groundhog show up a few days ago and i noticed it
quickly enough nosing around the live trap that had not
been recharged with bait. it also needed to be emptied
of rainwater. i got right out there and put some sun-
flower seeds in it and 20 minutes later the groundhog
was safely captured. one of the trays of bait i used a
flat glass saucer and it managed to break it. luckily,
it didn't cut itself. we've switched to more sturdy
metal now, but i'm hoping that will be the last of the
groundhogs. now that the beans are mostly taller i'm not
as worried about them doing so much damage even if they
do show up again.
we've had fairly regular rains, i have to get out each
day to clean up the birdbaths and put fresh water in them
(seems like the bees are using them more than the birds,
but we still see a few birds in them so i'll keep filling
them), but otherwise i've not had to water much. i'll do
a bit of watering the next few days as the sun is out and
the shallower rooted plants have had an easy life so far
so they're going to need a bit.
the garlic is due to come out. that will keep me busy
for a while along with plenty of more weeding, but on the
whole this season is doing well. it makes a lot of
difference with both hands working.
after i get the north garden straightened out a little
more and some more weeding done perhaps i can get going
on the back strawberry patch project. next week. the
week after... hmm... onions could use some more thinning
and...
songbird

Yesterday, while mowing an area of overgrown grass and weeds,
around the water well, I mowed through a bumble bee nest.
Suddenly, around twenty were swarming me, stinging my legs,
getting in my hair, getting under my shirt and stinging. I was
wearing shorts.

They followed me, one hundred feet to the house. It was terrible.
Those things didn't want to quit. They even went after a cat that
was outside. I never gave much thought to whether bumble bees
would sting, now I know. The venom doesn't seem to be very
potent. It made some puffy places for a few hours, then were
gone this morning.

Be careful around overgrown areas, you never know what might
be living there.