Migrating populations of monarch butterflies are predicted to be on the low side this year, but that doesn't mean you won't notice them. If you look up in the sky late in the afternoon during the next few weeks, chances are good that you will see determined monarch butterflies flitting toward Mexico.

Butterfly watchers in the upper Midwest are already seeing roosts in which dozens of monarchs gather in a single bush or tree for the night. Here in southwest Virginia, a continuous stream of monarchs are stopping to sip nectar from the native asters and zinnias I planted just for them.

Want to track this year's migration and report sightings? The animated migration map, based on the citizen reporting system hosted by JourneyNorth.org, provides great graphics. Or, you can participate in the forum for sightings sponsored by MonarchWatch.org.

Sometimes it may look like monarchs are flying in the wrong direction, but don't worry. Recent scientific papers by neurobiologist Steven R. Reppert have identified a sophisticated inner clock mechanism that enables monarchs to constantly reorient themselves, insuring that they stay on a sound migratory course.

You don't have to be a gardener to encounter big spiders this time of year, because they're everywhere you look, including inside your house. Your bathtub may seem to be a favorite hangout, but more likely your tub's surface is so slick that spiders who venture in cannot get out. 

We acknowledge that the spiders in the shower scene from Arachnophobia appear to climb out of the tub and up the shower curtain, but those were not your average spiders. The movie star arachnids were a large yet gentle species from New Zealand.

It's okay to kill spiders that come into your house. Most are wandering males whose days are numbered anyway. Or, you can catch and release them. Cover the spider with a jar, slip a stout piece of paper or card under the opening, and head for the door. If you are one of the millions of people who panic over indoor spiders, you may want to look into a special vacuum just for bugs. Better yet, get your kid a Turbo Bug Vacuum and let them do the dirty work.

As for those big orb-weaving spiders on your deck, don't be too quick to sweep them away. One of the reasons why black-and-yellow writing spiders (above left) prefer porches is that they offer shelter for the tough cocoons. Eggs hatch in late fall (at about the time the mother dies), but remain in the cocoon until spring.

Don't worry that allowing common web-weavers like the yellow jacket-eating marbled orb weaver (at right) hang out beneath your eaves now will lead to spider overload in the spring. More likely, the spiderlings will throw out a bit of web that works like an air balloon, providing a lofty ride to better habitat, like your garden. Carnivorous to the core, spiders eat countless pest insects.

Photos by Barbara Pleasant

Related Reading

Learning to Like Spiders 

Spiders in Your Backyard Jungle

I got out early to finish setting out my fall broccoli, and it's a good thing I did. As the morning warmed, I realized I was not alone. Only a foot from where I'd been working for an hour, yellow jackets began shooting out of a 1-inch hole in the ground like popcorn from a hot air popper.

Heart pounding, I did what I did last year when a yellow jacket nest appeared in the butternuts. I popped an old cake cover over the entry hole, and weighted it with a brick.

It's the most natural way I know to deal with a badly placed yellow jacket nest, and folks have been doing it for a long time. Before there were translucent plastic cake covers, people used large glass bowls. The wasps buzz around inside the cover for a week or so, but because they can't leave to gather food and water, the colony basically starves to death. The light that comes through the cover convinces the wasps that there's hope, so they don't try to dig an alternate entry hole.

It's not that I don't like yellow jackets. As Terry Krautwurst eloquently explains in Wasps!, yellow jackets are major beneficials, and this time of year they are all over my garden. They drink water from the bird bath, feed on composting fruit, and seem to spend a lot of time looking for meaty insects among weeds and grasses. As I watch them, it's clear that they know way more than I do about every aspect of my garden — weather, plants, insects, birds — the whole enchilada.

But you have to draw the line somewhere, and I draw mine at the garden fence. Nests outside the garden's boundary get to stay, but inner garden incursions are met with the lethal cake cover. Try it. It works.

Photos by  Barbara Pleasant  

Following our March story on row covers, several readers asked about the biggest weakness of row covers as a pest protection method, which is this: When the covers are removed to admit pollinators, pests like cucumber beetles and squash vine borers have free access to the plants.

Maybe there’s a better way. After reading about an ongoing study in Pennsylvania in which reared bumblebees are being used as pollinators for squash being grown beneath row covers, I decided to try a similar strategy. When a planting of ‘Boston Pickler’ cucumbers (grown under cover to exclude cucumber beetles) began blooming heavily, I went out in the cool of the morning, caught a bumblebee in a jar, and released it beneath the row cover.

The bee disappeared for a day, but the next day there he was, working away at the cucumber blossoms. That evening, I opened the cover and let him go. He had earned his freedom.

Four days later I was picking cucumbers, so I repeated the experiment with another bumbler and a pair of honeybees. I soon learned that when free-foraging bees are taken captive on a warm, sunny day, they lose all interest in blossoms and spend their energy fighting the row cover instead; there are stories of dead bees littering the ground when healthy hives are placed inside greenhouses. Adding a shade cover (a lightweight cloth spread over the row cover) goes a long way toward helping pollinators focus on the job at hand. I’ve also observed that bumblebees adapt much better to temporary detainment than honeybees. 

If you decide to try this technique, let us know how it goes! Please post a comment below.

The earliest fruits from these ‘Boston Pickler’ cucumbers were pollinated by bees released beneath a floating row cover:

Related reading:

* Using row covers to manage cucumber family pests is covered in recent articles on cucumbers, cantaloupes and winter squash.

* Learn more about different kinds of bees in Protect Your Pollinators.

Photo by  Barbara Pleasant