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Japanese Beetle Update
Beetles definitely love warm and dry weather. Saturday it rained and yesterday was a little cooler with clouds. Both days had very little Beetle activity. Today they are everywhere, oddly they are mostly staying off the Apple/Cherry Trees and instead I’ve finding them on the pine tree, a few odd bushes and as a group of ~20 on the lawn. Beetles definitely attract each other so keeping up the hourly rounds to make sure they don’t become a plague. Side Note: I think tall grass attracts them as well… I’ve fallen a little behind in the mowing, oops.
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Perry Springs Park
While walking our new Puppy Willow, our neighbor mentioned a new Park in our town that we didn’t know existed. So of course that means time to go on an Adventure. Say hello to Perry Springs Park. Nice little park with some trails around the small ponds and a small Fish Hatchery fed by the natural springs. Added bonus more Raspberries! The kids sure do humor daddy.
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Picking Berries at Mill Run Park
Few things beat a simple day at the park with the kids. What makes it better is enjoying a leisurely stroll through the wooded trails picking berries and enjoying the meandering creek. On a sad note the park decided to take out the Bocce Ball Court…
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A Walk in the Park, literally.
Saturday found us going for a walk in the local park just down the street. The best part I find is that in addition to a nice old style playground for the kids there are a good amount of hiking trails that loop next to the creek and through the woods. Even better this time a year you can find Raspberries along the path to munch on. The only sad note to the day was that the Village removed the Bocce Ball courts… Who does that? Why would you take out the Bocce Ball courts… Add it to the things I’ll have to bring back. Perhaps we can extend the…
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Beetle Notes
Wandered out to check on the trees about every hour today to get a better sense of how much of a pest these beetles are. Notes Most Active between the hours of 10 – 5 Japanese Beetles found on: Apple Trees Cherry Trees Rasberries Hanson Cherry Bushes Daisies Sunflowers Sweet Corn Blueberry Bushes (1) Beetles will fall off leaves then fly away if shaken or touched. Soap n Water drowns them and seems easiest way to kill them Spoke with our neighbor and they had a weed that was covered in 50+ beetles but daisies were not touched. We managed to get a good portion of them into my Beetle Jar…
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A shift in perception
When your perception changes from “look a bunny…” to “stay out of my yard!” congratulations you have a garden.
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Attack of the Beetles
Its officially Japanese Beetles season. These things sure are voracious doing some decent damage to my honey crisp. But time to intervene, starting to do multiple rounds with a jar of soapy water. Simply flick them into the jar and let them drown. Our neighbor says her son just grabs them and smashes them on the road. Can’t do it next to the plants as it seems to attract more… We’ll see ho many I collect over the next few weeks. Need to keep the trees healthy if we’re going to get apples in a few years. Might look into traps but I hear that just attracts more beetles in…
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Deer, definitely not awww cute!
Woke up this morning to find the new growth on my cherry tree completely stripped by deer… 12 inches of growth on 6 primary branches gone. Bound to happen and will be good to see how the tree bounces back from it but come on it was looking so good! Went to the nursery and bought some garlic oil sticks that you clamp directly to the tree. We’ll see if these keep them away. Oddly they don’t seem to want to nibble on the blue berry bushes.
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Father’s Day is Project Day
Nothing like spending Father’s Day with the kids. This year we took it up a notch by patching together some outdoor fun. The swing and standing swing were pretty simple as we had rope and odd ends of wood floating around from previous projects around the house. Lionel accompanied me on a short trip to the hardware store so we could build the ladder. The misses and neighbors say watching the kids on it makes them nervous but they love it.
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A Toad !
The kids found a toad in the yard today, everything is new and exciting when viewed through the eyes of children. They wanted to keep him but we decided to let him be after a short “discussion”.
