This weekend I went out to water my deck plants and I notice that some of the blueberries are shriveled up and then I see these beetles. I google and see that they are Japanese beetles. I ask my husband to please bring me my garden gloves, a container of warm soapy water and my spray bottle of Neem.
He takes the netting off and I start to pick them off and throw them in the soapy water, (this kills them). As I’m doing this I am also picking blueberries that are ripe. When done I spray the bushes with Neem oil. This is an organic spray, that does not harm the plants. I also spray it on roses and any plant that has white powder, which is called powdery mildew. Bee Balm and perennial garden Phlox are well known for this. Anyway you can also mix 4 tbls. dish detergent with a gallon on water and put in spray bottle to to deter the Japanese beetles. This is the first time I’ve gotton these pests on the blueberries. Usually it is birds or chipmunks, which I’ve told you about.
Also in the past week we have had some visitors to the yard. There is a red tailed hawk that has a nest across the street in a Loblolly tree in our neighbors yard. She has been a visitor before. It is such a pleasure when I look out the window and there she is! For 4 days in a row, she has been on the back fence. I thought she looked smaller and then on Saturday I look out and there is a huge one on the birdbath! The smaller one is still on the fence. How exciting! The smaller one came and sat on the fence near the birdbath and mom went and sat next to him. When they perch on the fence they will stay there 5 sometimes 10 minutes. Then the baby went on the birdbath. All weekend they hung around. I knew there were babies around for the past month because they were making such a racket all the time. The only bad side is that we’ll have no other birds in the yard while they are around.
I did go out one evening when it was somewhat cooler and worked in the herb garden. I was writing this the other day when the screen just disappeared. I don’t know if its there or not. Another question for when I call Bluesky. Also when I was transferring my old posts from Word I tried copying the pictures and it didn’t work so I have to learn how to do that. There are so many pictures for this Gardening category. I like the Pages on the Ipad because I just take the pictures from my Iphone. I”m hoping there is another way to get my pics besides downloading them from my phone to Word, as I take pics every day and that would be a pain in the ass.
I longingly look out the windows and wonder when I can get back out there. The beds need a lot of weeding. That is an active escape for me that always makes me feel better because I am accomplishing something and I’m not just sitting. Being outside in nature lifts my spirits and gives me such a great appreciation for all that is around me.