Frau Zinnie

First monarch eggs of the season

A few days ago I shared the news that I had to cut back a good portion of my common milkweed patch thanks to ants that were using the undersides of leaves to farm aphids. I was worried about offering less hosts plants in the garden in late July, but knew I had to correct the situation.

But about two days ago, I discovered the first monarch eggs on various milkweed plants in the garden, including a plant in the area I had cut back.

Just goes to show that if you allow milkweed to grow in your garden — no matter how little — they will find it, and they will use it.

Keep planting milkweed, friends!

Trimming back common milkweed to hopefully encourage new growth.

Approximately 1.5 minute read.

I really try to let nature's checks and balances take care of pests in the garden. Earlier this year I released ladybugs to help with the aphids in the garden — even on the common milkweed — and it did work for a while.

Ultimately, it was undermined by the black ants. This week I had to cut back a significant portion of my common milkweed patch.

Despite my efforts to hose off the numerous aphids living under the leaves, the black ants have continued to farm the aphids for their honeydew. That's right. They protect the aphids like a food crop because they benefit from their ... byproduct.

Within the last two weeks, flies began to join in the party as well. When I would go to hose off the undersides of the leaves with water, there would be ants and flies protecting the leaves. The honeydew farm continued, and the lower leaves of the milkweed began to form a sooty mold. (No caterpillar is going to want to munch on that.)

I had been down this road before. A similar process happened last year, just not as badly and not as early in the season. Yesterday when I went to check on the plants again, I saw that wasps had joined the party. It seemed like the milkweed patch had turned into a death trap for any monarch eggs that might be deposited there.

Since I am currently without caterpillars to raise, I decided to cut back the milkweed before the problem became worse. It felt wrong to cut back the milkweed I tried to grow, but I am optimistic that the removal of the infected leaves will mitigate the ant and fly situation. (It's been two days and it does appear to have made some progress.) I cut some stems to the ground and others halfway, depending on how "infested" they were.

Luckily, it's a good time to cut back milkweed — it should send out new growth that can be used to feed later generations of monarch caterpillars.

Now we wait.

The common milkweed growing in the front raised beds is ready for the monarch butterflies. So far, I've heard of sightings in the area — and I did have a "fly by" a few weeks back, even though the butterfly didn't linger.

In previous posts I shared how I started raising monarch butterflies as caterpillars and how to winter sow milkweed seeds (their host plant) in plastic containers.

This growing season, I'm trying to keep the milkweed in the garden healthy. Last year, I ran into an issue with larger black ants farming aphids on the common milkweed. I let it go unchecked and the leaves developed a sooty mold by the end of the season, which made it unusable for food.

This year I've been hosing off any aphids I see appearing with water (or squishing them while I am wearing gardening gloves), but the ants are still on guard. I'm sure they are planning a successful aphid farm for this season as well.

Opportunistic ants on the common milkweed.

It's also interesting to see the other insects that use the milkweed, such as the longhorn beetle (seen below) that also enjoys dining on milkweed.

The bees are also attracted to the flowers, which is all well and good. But, let's be honest. The one insect I'm holding out for is the monarch caterpillar.

Monarch caterpillars raised indoors from a previous season.

Have you spotted monarchs in your area yet? If yes, where are you located?

What's growing: Sample plants from Burpee

I'm growing many edibles in my garden this season, including some plant samples from Burpee. Of the nine plants I received, two were cabbages and one was a tomato.

This is the first year that I've grown cabbages in my garden, and my main concern has been keeping the cabbage whites away from the plants. This insect feeds on many plants in the Brassica family — including cabbage. I've covered both 'Sweet Thang’ Cabbage and ‘Sweet Slaw’ Cabbage with a floating row cover for protection since I planted both in containers.

Both arrived as smaller plants ready for planting in May (above). 'Sweet Thang' is a non-heading cabbage that has white veins with dark green leaves. It maxes out in size at 16 inches high and 12 inches wide. 'Sweet Slaw' offers a cone-shaped head that makes it ideal for slicing and shredding, growing 12 inches tall and up to 18 inches wide.

They have been growing quickly, and should reach harvest size at the 65 day mark. Both plants are growing alongside bush beans and marigolds.

'Cabbage Sweet Thang' after approximately two weeks after adding to this container planting.

'Cabbage Sweet Slaw' approximately two weeks after adding to this container planting.

Another sample plant Burpee sent is the ‘BOOST Tasti-Wee’ tomato. I am growing this plant in a fabric grow bag in my driveway with borage as a companion plant. This cherry tomato is reported to be crack resistant with 40 percent more lycopene than other tomatoes. (Lycopene is an antioxidant that also gives tomatoes their red color.)

This indeterminate variety is reported to reach up to 72 inches tall with a 75 days to harvest window. We've had some wonky temperatures over the last two months, but now that the weather has consistently brought hot days, this tomato has really started to take off.