{"id":2517,"date":"2016-10-27T14:29:58","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T18:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/?p=2517"},"modified":"2016-11-22T14:45:23","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T19:45:23","slug":"gardening-autumn-difficult-weather-good-insects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/floridanewsline.com\/Clone2\/creekline-st-johns\/gardening-autumn-difficult-weather-good-insects\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening | Autumn: Difficult weather, but good insects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Lesley Arrandale<\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mail@floridanewsline.com<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">September was a mixed bag, meteorologically speaking, including a near miss from Hurricane Hermine, then dry, hot weather, then the rain and high winds of Hurricane Matthew in early October.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Our climate has such a big influence on our gardening success (or otherwise) that we cannot ignore it. From determining which vegetables to grow when, to what shrubs and perennials will flourish in our own particular microclimate, we are fortunate to have the resources of the University of Florida Extension Service for advice, including information on trees and hurricanes. (See http:\/\/hort.ifas.ufl.edu\/homeowners\/.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I\u2019m hoping for a good harvest of sweet potatoes before the cool season vegetables go in. I have some homemade compost ready to improve the soil and will dig it in and let the area sit for a week or two. At the same time I will also add a balanced organic fertilizer, as the compost is primarily useful to improve soil texture and add beneficial organisms; it is not always sufficiently high in nutrients to be used alone. It is interesting to learn how beneficial microbes from various types of compost help soils become more productive: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/h9faver.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While we need pollinators to be active in the spring and summer vegetable garden \u2014 think fruits, peas, beans, squash, and so on \u2014 to reproduce successfully, they need a variety of flowering plants to be available for as long as possible. Honeybees are still stocking their hives for the winter months and will forage intermittently during warmer periods. Native bees, depending on the species, lay their eggs in suitable sandy ground or plant material, and are likely to be in evidence as adults for shorter periods, while they mate and provision their nests. Some of these bees are active early in the year, while others emerge later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I recently found a striking (probably) female scoliid wasp<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Campsomeris quadrimaculata<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, happily going about its business in the dotted horsemint. (As we know, wasps and other insects are also invaluable pollinators.) This species isn\u2019t rare, but for me it was an unusual, and therefore welcome, sight. There are several species of scoliid wasps in Florida and they parasitize beetle larvae \u2014 a most useful trait. If you need help to identify an insect, this website could be useful: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/hwrqr2o<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. As well as describing how the Plant ID Laboratory at the University functions, there are a series of slideshows on common insects and a link to \u201cFeatured Creatures\u201d for more information. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The \u201cFlorida Gardening Calendar\u201d from the University of Florida is a month by month guide and is available here: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/zvuzsbj<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. As always, refer to our own Extension newsletter \u201cA New Leaf\u201d for local information on upcoming events, as well as gardening advice: http:\/\/duval.ifas.ufl.edu\/lg_new_leaf_news.shtml. The next issue will be out in early November.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Happy gardening, everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lesley Arrandale is a Master Gardener with the Duval County Cooperative Extension Service\/City of Jacksonville Agriculture Department, which is a partnership between the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA), the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF\/IFAS) and the City of Jacksonville.<\/span><\/i><i><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lesley Arrandale mail@floridanewsline.com September was a mixed bag, meteorologically speaking, including a near miss from Hurricane Hermine, then dry, hot weather, then the rain and high winds of Hurricane Matthew in early October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,4],"tags":[12],"class_list":{"0":"post-2517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creekline-st-johns","8":"category-mandarin","9":"category-ponte-vedra","10":"tag-gardening"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - 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