Sweetie was discovered today, on plants in the herb box behind 225 Adams Street. Sweetie eats parsley, carrot tops, and dill — to fuel their transformation into a swallowtail butterfly.We’ve placed them in a habitat outside the play area. If Sweetie is of interest, you have about one day — possibly less — to observe them before they go into chrysalis. They’ll be in their “cocoon” type enclosure for 1-2 weeks before emerging…Or, they could chose to overwinter and turn into a butterfly in the spring. Check’em out soon! We didn’t have many butterflies visit or leave eggs this year, probably because of the construction — so lets celebrate this one!
We’ve just filed our annual report with the conservation group Monarch Watch as part of their tagging program. Gardeners placed small numbered ID stickers (tags) on the dorsal wings of 50 Monarch butterflies between August and October 2021. With luck, a tagged (expired) butterfly will be found in Mexico, the migration destination, recovered and reported.
A Record-Setting Yearfor These Special Pollinators
By far, this is the most Monarch butterflies we’ve counted in one season. No doubt the special new net helped with catching, but a fair amount of the butterflies were found as caterpillars on milkweed plants. The native plant species is the only type that Monarchs use for egg-laying, which is why conservation efforts call for planting as many of the drought-resistant host plants as possible. (Continued below)
Learn more about Monarch Butterfly Migration, habitat conservation and the Monarch Watch tagging program here. To date, there are 36,863 official way stations in the United States; sadly the species remains at risk, due to deforestation and the ongoing loss of natural habitats.
Migrating Monarchs Need Waystations for Food and Shelter
CVEarthlab Garden was launched in 2013 and a few years later, the play area was registered as an official Monarch Waystation. This means it provides shelter and food for the migrating butterflies. At CV, food is three different types of milkweeds and a variety of continuously blooming nectar-providing flowers, including annuals such as marigolds and Zinnia and native perennials (plants that come back every year) such as bee balm, black-eyed Susan, echinacea, sedum, coreopsis, goldenrod, violet, and hollyhock.
We have participated in the tagging program since 2019, but only started documenting CV Monarch caterpillar sightings around 2018. See the tag numbers we registered in 2021 on this spreadsheet; when a butterfly with the tag number is found it will be reported here.
Want to help support the 2022 Migration? In March we will start to grow butterfly-friendly flowers at our seed-starting event; there are many ways to help with conservation in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. Send your contact info to CVEarthlab@gmail.com and we’ll keep you in the loop! -CVEarthlab Core Committee Members
Found this gal on milkweed today; she’s in the butterfly house hanging by the garden shed behind 195 Adams. Have a look! But please don’t remove or touch her — as bacteria from humans may harm her.
I discovered several caterpillars on the milkweed today and moved one into the habitat container. You can find the netted cage hanging on the persimmon tree outside the wooden garden-border fence.
All residents are welcome to observe this Monarch caterpillar. You can move the habitat for observation but please do not touch the actual caterpillar. If you move the netted cage, please return it where you found it: under the tree in a shaded are. The caterpillar habitat should not be placed in direct sunlight.
We will keep the evolving creature outside, making sure she has fresh milkweed, and after she’s in pupa stage, making sure to note when she emerges so we can release her within 24 hours.
With luck we can try to tag and track the butterfly that will likely emerge mid-August.
Here’s the egg next to a sharpie, for scale… I will leave this egg on the raised herb beds outside the play area in case anyone wants to take a peek! –
Thanks to everyone who came out to help prep the garden! It was nice to see so many CVers come out despite the chilly weather. About 16 souls braved the cold and helped to:
Amend some soil, turn under the cover crops, and till and blend soil in three raised beds.
Plant sugar snap peas, snow peas, and shelling peas along with hardy greens.
Broke in the brand new kid-sized watering cans (which match the orange metal ones)
Prep new planters for sunflowers.
Prune herbs as well as some perennial pollinator-friendly plants.
Why start planting so early in the season? Nature is preparing for spring renewal despite the low temps. Read below a newsletter from Edible Schoolyard NYC’s Mirem for more context on early spring gardening.
Mirem’s Weekly Garden Tips: Mar 17
Hello fellow school gardeners,
Four weeks to last frost! Hard to believe given the weather, but in fact
this Tuesday (the 20th) is the March equinox . Longer days cue
growth for many temperate plants, regardless of temperature: you’ll notice
early-spring bulbs like crocuses, Siberian iris and snowdrops in bloom, and
daffodils making leaves like crazy in preparation for blooming next month.
Leaf buds are forming on trees and shrubs. Raspberries and roses are
starting to make actual leaves.
This is your last chance to prune woody herbs, shrubs and trees before the
all-out explosion of spring growth. Once the sap rises and leaves unfurl,
branches are more vulnerable and will have a harder time healing properly
from pruning cuts. I’ve attached a good article on pruning for further
reading. No time for reading? Head out to the garden and *do the bare essentials of pruning:*
-Cut back any obviously dead branches (grey color, dry, no green visible
in the cross section) -Remove any branches or stems that pose a hazard, for example eye-level
branches across a path -Remove or cut back any branches that are in the way for any reason -Remove branches that cross or rub against others (just keep the one you
prefer) -Cut back very vigorous cane fruit and shrubs to keep them under control -Trim back bare or leggy stems of thyme, rosemary, lavender, sage, marjoram, mint, etc. -Use regular pruning shears for small branches and stems. For bigger
branches, use loppers if you have them – the larger sizes can handle
diameters up to an inch and a half (at Edible Schoolyard NYC, we call them
“Cyndi Loppers”). When you make a cut on a branch that is any bigger than
an inch and a half, use a pruning saw. Make a shallow cut on the underside
of the branch, then cut through from the top – that prevents the bark from
stripping off when the branch breaks off. Don’t cut flush to the trunk,
leave the joint attached to the trunk to speed healing. *What to do with the trimmings and prunings?* New York City picks up neatly bundled woody material as long as you follow Department of Sanitation guidelines
Save long, straight branches for staking perennials;
Chop up small branches and use to mulch established trees, making sure
the pieces are less than 6″ long and are in contact with the soil, so they
can be broken down by fungi;
Add chopped trimmings and prunings to your compost, if you have room;
Use for firewood, after a thorough, slow drying;
Finally, there is an interesting but not particularly urban-friendly
technique called hugelkultur that uses woody material as the bottom layer of a planting mound or hill. Let me know if you try this 🙂
To donate, you can leave checks, made out to CVOI, with CVEarthlab in the memo line, at the CV office. Or, you can arrange for a garden member to pick up an envelope from your doorman by sending a note to cvearthlab@gmail.com . We also accept donations via Venmo electronic payment service. To donate via Venmo app, use Shari’s Rueckl’s username: @misssha
The caterpillar went to chrysalis about 9-10 days ago, so it should be nearing emergence! The warm weather likely speeds the process.
Butterfly larva. (Looks like a painted lady butterfly. See more info about development stages here)
Concord Village EarthLab 