Organic gardener growing food and flowers, lovin' pollinators and birds.

Shiro plum jam... or sauce?

Last summer I purchased two plum trees for the front garden. I really wanted a red Asian plum, so I special ordered Satsuma. This tree needed another for pollination, so I also ordered Shiro, a yellow Asian plum, as it's companion.

What a surprise Shiro has turned out to be! Despite being heavily attacked by Japanese beetles in the earlier part of the month, it has performed nicely. For its first year bearing fruit, it's produced close to 7 pounds. The plums are small and it's a little difficult to remove the pits, but that seems to be its only fault. I ended up taking all the fruit off the tree last Thursday so I could make jam (next year I will leave the firm fruit on the trees until they are softer. That is one thing I learned afterwards). 

I chose the ripest fruit to make into jam today with help from Aunt Tricia. In my house, our stove has a ceramic cooktop, which is not canning friendly. (Apparently there is a risk in cracking the cooktop due to uneven heating from the canning pot.) It took about four hours from start to finish to make the jam, which came out a little tart. (Maybe because I picked the fruit too early?) Hopefully it still sets up into jam, and not into a plum sauce as a result! The jars are still cooling so we'll find out soon. 

Six pounds of Shiro plums washed and ready for cutting.
All cut up, with sugar, vanilla bean and water added.

Boil, boil.


Reached 220 degrees F, with a nice orange coloring.

After processing and cooling.

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Hungry little caterpillars

The black swallowtail caterpillars continue to grow at an amazing rate! I often find myself pausing in the kitchen to watch them amble about the carrot tops and dill that I've left for them.

"Come here, you tasty piece of dill..."

"Nom, nom, nom."

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The garlic is about ready!

Lovely garlic bulbs resting on a bed of thyme.
I dug up a few heads of garlic today to see how it is progressing. I think it's just about ready. Some heads are fairly large while others are about average. The trick to digging up garlic without damaging the bulbs is to position your trowel a couple of inches away from the garlic stem. If you start digging too close, you run the risk of piercing the garlic bulb, thus affecting it's storage abilities.

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Continuing to grow


The black swallowtail caterpillars are getting bigger. At one point I had six, now I constantly find five, so I'm not sure if I lost one or that it's just hard to locate them because they are still small.
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Black swallowtail caterpillars!


So there are six caterpillars, two more than I originally thought! I noticed that the eggs were gone today and these tiny little guys were in their place.
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Eggs in the garden

Black swallowtail caterpillars at the Natureworks' butterfly workshop Saturday.

I attended a workshop on black swallowtail butterflies on Saturday at Natureworks, one of my local garden centers. It was one of my rare Saturdays off from work, and I was excited to be able to attend. Butterflies is one insect that I enjoy photographing regularly in my garden.

I've seen black swallowtail butterflies in my garden in the past, but never gave them too much thought (my eye is always searching for the monarch). It turns out that black swallowtail butterflies actually complete their entire life cycle in Connecticut.

In the workshop, butterfly experts Merilyn Sandberg and Helen Stowe, along with Natureworks employee Diane St John, explained the life cycle of the butterflies. Samples of eggs that were laid on dill and fennel were passed around, as well as various caterpillars in different growth cycles. Black swallowtail caterpillars also eat parsley, parsnips, carrots or rue. The insect is an egg for approximately 7 days, a caterpillar for approximately 10 days and it will be inside its chrysalis for approximately 10 days.

A black swallowtail egg on my carrot tops outside.

On Sunday I went outside to water the garden (we've had several days of temperatures in the 90s), and I spied a black swallowtail butterfly flitting about the carrots. Later that evening when I went outside to gather dinner for the rabbits, I checked the carrot tops. I found two eggs! (No more carrot tops for the bunnies now!)

Last year I had two caterpillars on my carrot tops, but I lost track of them after that. Not this year. I snipped the two carrot tops off and brought them inside.

Today, I went outside to check again, and I found two more eggs! I brought them inside as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen.

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One bug I could live without

The Japanese beetles arrived a few days ago and they are just relentless. Every year I promise myself that I will spend the money and buy the big bag of Milky Spore, and every year I cheap out and do not. (When properly applied, Milky Spore kills the grubs in the lawn that turn into Japanese beetles.)

I've tried the Japanese beetle traps in the past, and while some sources warn that it will attract even more beetles to the yard, I haven't seen a noticeable increase. With that being said, I haven't noticed a sizable decrease in the numbers getting trapped, either.

I think the main problem is that I grow too many plants that Japanese beetles adore. They go out of their way to visit my yard because I grow everything they find delicious.

First course: plum trees. Second, third, fourth: grapes, strawberries, roses. (Apparently my neighbor's oak tree also has ambrosial effects on the several pairs of mating beetles. It's borderline appaling. Get a room, guys.)

The only thing that I've found to actually work is getting a (disposable) cup and filling it with dish soap. The more suds, the better. Then I go out and try to knock them off the leaves and into the cup. The soap bubbles help keep them underwater long enough so they drown. (A tragic little death. I can't say I feel too badly, because my plum tree almost had it's own tragic little death last year with a borer infestation and the beetles.)

It's best to go out in the morning to knock them off. They don't move as quickly in the early hours, as opposed to late afternoon where they all ricochet off the tree when I try to give a branch a little shake.

Usually the neighbors see me do a little screechy dance while I try to avoid the beetles flying onto me. I am a nature girl, but deep down, I don't want the bugs to touch me.


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