Hearty Veggies to Plant in Your Summer Garden

This summer my family has been enjoying the crop of vegetables and herbs that have been flourishing in our garden. There’s nothing better than making a salad from your own fresh lettuce and jazzing up your steak with rosemary plucked off the bush.  If you didn’t get a chance to plant a spring garden but crave the joys of straight from the source produce, there are a whole bunch of delicious veggies that you can get in the ground today to enjoy before the first frost.

Before you start, make sure you check the ground temperature. Get out into the garden a few hours after sunrise and use a soil thermometer to see how warm the dirt is. Most of the vegetables I’ve listed like the temperature to be between 75-85 degrees Fahrenheit. If your garden gets a lot of sunshine, your soil could be too warm and you might need to shade it.

Remember, summer seedlings will germinate quicker and will need more water in order to survive and thrive.

There are too many fall favorites for me to list, but johnnyseeds.com has a great round-up of picks for a weekend plant. As a general rule of thumb, hearty greens, most varieties in the cabbage family, and root vegetables are a safe bet. Here are the ones at the top of my list.

Swiss chard is an amazing vegetable to enjoy in the autumn. It needs a ground temperature of about 86 degrees Fahrenheit and will be ready for picking in six to eight weeks.  If you’re not familiar with this veggie, collard greens and kale are more popular produce picks that have a similar flavor and grow time.

Spinach is one of my favorites because of its tough to beat in terms of iron and vitamins K, A, and C. I love that you can enjoy it raw in salads, sautéed as a dinner side, or cooked in an omelet for breakfast. Plant this one now to enjoy in between six to ten weeks. 

Beets also love the warm soil and if you put them in the ground now they’ll be ready to eat by the end of summer. My wife is an amazing cook and she loves roasting the bulbs and sautéing the greens, which are high in beta-carotene, vitamin C, iron, and calcium.

Finally, everyone loves carrots, which are a slow growing vegetable but most definitely worth the wait. Carrots will take up to 12 weeks to be ready for picking, which means they’ll be ready for slow roasting just in time for the cooler October weather.

If you don’t have time to plant your own garden, you can enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of our local farmer’s labor by visiting the new Bristol Farmer’s Market every Saturday at The Patch Downtown from 10am to 1pm. It’s a great way to support the local community and get a taste of what’s in season.

Keep Termites Away From Your House

Keep Termites Away From Your House

For such a tiny pest, termites can cause very big problems to the structure of your home. According to pest control company, Terminix, termites cause roughly $500 billion in damage and affect approximately four million homes each year. That’s more than the damage caused by fires, floods and tornadoes put together.

There are two different types of termites – subterranean and drywood. Subterranean are a bit more common in warm coastal areas such as the southeast, and drywood can be found anywhere in the United States. Both are damaging, although subterranean are the ones you really want to avoid.

There are three telltale signs that you might have a termite problem. The first and most obvious is seeing them. Termites thrive in the darkness, but they are attracted to light, which also happens to kill them.  If you have termites in your home, you might start to see bodies or wings on windowsills or next to light fixtures, although termites are light colored and can be difficult to spot and distinguish. Another way to know if you have termites is if you discover mud tubes. These straw-sized tunnels are where termites live and can often be found around baseboards, pipes or chimneys. Then, of course, there is hollow wood. If you suspect that you might have a termite issue, use the base of a screwdriver to tap around baseboards, windowsills, and other easily accessible framing. Hollow wood has a very different sound than healthy wood and you’ll easily be able to hear the distinction.

Termites can’t get through concrete but they only need 1/32 of an inch to enter your home or business, and yes, they really do eat wood. Termites generally get to a foundation through the soil and then find a crack or hole to make their way to wood. Decks and porches are often good entry points and anything that’s holding moisture will enable the insects to survive and thrive. That woodpile on the side of your house is a Garden of Eden for termites, especially if it sits uncovered and collects moisture during rainstorms. Overall, a termite swarm is looking for moist wood to form its colony. So, if you’re house has drainage issues or if your gutters and downspouts aren’t doing their job properly, you might be harvesting a breeding ground without even knowing it.

If you think you might have termites, it’s a good idea to call a local expert to do a test, especially if any of your neighbors have recently experienced a problem. There are different types of termites with different habits and triggers, but all of them can be harmful to your home. It’s tough for the average person to spot and identify a termite, so calling a professional in for a routine check will give you peace of mind and give you the tools and knowledge you need to protect your home from any future damage. With termites, it’s better to get the problem sorted as early as possible before they take an expensive bite out of your biggest asset.

Keep Woodpeckers Happy, Safe and Away From Your Siding

This week I received an email from a reader asking for my advice to help her stop a pesky woodpecker from drilling holes into the side of her house. It’s a problem that’s fairly common in our area, and one that should be dealt with quickly before a few holes become an unsightly, and expensive problem.

Woodpeckers are attracted to homes for a few reasons. The most obvious one is that they are looking for food and think a delicious meal could be hiding under wood shakes or siding. Another popular reason is that they are looking for places to build a nest, and a crevice or corner of your home might provide the perfect shelter. Finally, there is a behavior called drumming which woodpeckers engage in as a way to mark their territory or attract a potential mate. This action generally occurs during the spring, prior to breeding season.

Regardless of the reason, a woodpecker’s pecking is a nuisance, especially when it’s waking you up in the early morning hours and doing a number to your home. So how do you get rid of them? It’s important to know that woodpeckers are a federally protected bird, so by law, you should not engage in any activity to harm them. Plus, woodpeckers are very beneficial birds that feed on insects such as wood-boring ants and grubs. Luckily there are a few simple and inexpensive solutions that will work to keep them away from your property without causing them any harm.  

1.     Woodpeckers don’t like shiny, reflective objects so installing some aluminum flashing, metalized Mylar tape, small mirrors or even aluminum foil will deter them. You can find rolls of flash tape for less than $10 online or in your local hardware store.

2.     A scary eye balloon is a small inflatable ball that mimics the look of an owl, one of the woodpecker’s feared predators. By hanging this balloon on an awning, you can scare the little troublemakers away from the house and back to the trees where they belong.

3.     A similar tool that I’ve seen is an “attack spider” which is a ridiculous looking, battery operated spider the size of a plate that can be hung on an awning or ledge above where the woodpecker is doing damage. The spider is noise activated and will drop down after the first few taps, scaring the woodpecker away and out of sight.

4.     Netting is another popular solution that works because it doesn’t allow the birds to land in their desired area. Netting is a bit more expensive and will take some time to install, but it’s lightweight and made from plastic, which means it’s a bit more durable and will last through the seasons.  The experts recommend installing a ¾ inch net and placing it at least three inches from the house’s exterior surface.

5.     There are also a number of topical sprays and paints that can be used to deter woodpeckers which work similarly to nail biting or thumb sucking solutions. These products emit a signal that tells birds that the spot isn’t a good place to get comfortable without harming them.  

6.     Finally, if you have a decent size yard, you could set up a suet feeder. Woodpeckers love suet and if the one that’s damaging your home is looking for food, providing suet in a feeder away from the house will give them what they’re looking for without having to work for it.

Now it’s time to hear from you. Have you found a safe method to get rid of pesky woodpeckers? I’d love to learn more, so send me a message on Facebook at facebook.com/odonnellbros or drop me an email.