FishinBC's Blog

If you can't beat them, feed them
Jun 5, 2007 | 10:19 AM PST
Tags: Squirrels , Veggies , containers , Shade , Fungus , elephant ears , Bird Feeder , maters , Tomato , Bell Peppers

The battles with the bushy tailed beasties over my bird feeders and potted herbs on the deck continued until this weekend.  I had been putting feed and bird seed on the railing for them to try and deter the ravages to my herb pots.  The mess they made with the seed shells on the deck was driving hubby bonkers.  While I was out in the garden he went to work on a solution to our problem. 

 

He built them a squirrel trough!  It’s a six foot by six inch platform with a 1 inch rail all the way around.  The whole contraption is hinged so that it can be dumped out for cleaning and has a guard chain so it doesn’t flop all the way down.  The trough sits on long shelf brackets on the outside of the deck railing so any shells fall down to the ground.  There is a steep slope down to the lake on that side of the house so no harm cleaning it out there.  It works great!!  I can fill it with enough feed and seeds to keep them happy all day and out of my pots!!  The jays love it because they are too big for my bird feeders and the titmice love it because they can pick all the peanuts out of the seed.  Everyone is happy, especially Hubby who doesn’t have to go blow the shells off the deck everyday.

 

Gave the maters a feed yesterday.  I was up to 53 tomatoes but there are too many to count now. I love it!!  Yummy!  Squashes have blooms all over and the cukes are trying there best to start too.  Pulled out the last of the lettuce and spinach, it was pretty much done and our last pounding rain did them no favors.  Peppers are starting to get a little bigger.  Now that we have sun and warm maybe they will think about growing, you can see the little peppers on the plants, they just haven’t done much with all the rain we have had.  Going to put in more beans where the lettuce and spinach was, I have some starts that I will put out this weekend.

 

Got all the containers watered last night because we are up in the 90’s today.  Thank goodness it is not humid yet.  My daylilies I put in a couple of weeks ago now are doing wonderful; one that was about a three fan size is thinking about blooming, it is called “Go Figure”.  The others are all late bloomers.  I have a Masquerade Ball daylily that is getting ready to bloom, I put it in right before the freeze and it made it.  All three elephant ears are up at the back of the pond.  The leafs are huge and it really filled in that side in front of the garage.  The new willow that took the place of the Japanese maple we lost is doing great.  Lot’s of new stems and foliage.

 

And best of all my dinner plate dahlias are all about to bloom!!!  I have had to stake a few of them they were getting so tall.  But soon they will all be flowering.  I will take some photos as soon as they do.  The sunflowers have all bloomed.  I think I will plant some more of those on the hill side just for the birds.  They really are pretty.  

 

The shade bed has really filled in.  I was watering a container near there last night and notice this fungus growing on the mulch.  Looked kinda yellowish and spongy.  I gave is a squirt of the hose and the whole thing exploded in a big brown cloud!!  So great, I can just imagine the whole shade bed is going to be covered with this fungus from all the spores I released by hosing the thing down.  So how do I get rid of that????

Where the heck did spring go??
Apr 12, 2007 | 12:13 PM PST
Tags: freeze , birds , garden , vegetable garden , veggies , Pond , Lotus , japanese maple , sod , containers

Another night below freezing last night and another to come Saturday night, will spring ever come back???  They even said the words “snow flurries” for Sunday!!  Whaaa!!!

Okay, still waiting on the extra 20 yards of sod to fill the patch and trim out the rest.  Rain again is keeping them from cutting the sod.  The rest of the grass we have put down is looking great.  What a difference in the front yard it makes. 

All my container plants were hold up in the garage again last night.  I will take them out again for the day as soon as it warms up.  We have given up on the rest other than the tomatoes and peppers.  Containers in the garage, veggie bed covered and filbert covered.  For all the good it will do.  But at least it isn’t the 20 degrees or lower 5 nights in a row. 

I asked Treeman about my very sad Japanese maple, the news is not good.  I will wait a bit and keep an eye on it but odds are its toast.  Thanks, Treeman for breaking it to me gently.

The birds are back at the feeders, this cold giving them an urgent need for fuel.  Some of the birder talk I get emailed to me is saying that this warm spell we had bringing everything out and now this freeze is going to hurt the birds pretty badly as well.  The new tender foliage is now brown and crunchy, leaving the insects nowhere to do their thing and that means no insects for the hungry birds sitting eggs or feeding young.  Not good.  I don’t know how much good it will do, but I will keep a close eye that my feeders are filled and have water there for the birds.

Hoping we get a bit of a break in the rain we are suppose to get this weekend, so that I can pull up or cut back damaged flowers and access what to do now in my flower beds.  Most of the annuals are toast.  I planted those just for instant gratification.  I really want to get serious and plan out some nice perennials.

The pond is doing well.  The lotus was trying to put up shoots when the freeze happened.  I had sunk it deeper in the water to protect it and checked it last night and it is still okay.  The lilies slowed down but are okay and the four leaf clover is doing well too.  The cannas slowed too but are fine, since I threw them in a cooler with the pond grasses and stuck them in the garage.  The pond nursery said they would have hyacinths by the end of this month, so I will head over there to get some to add to the pond soon. 

I really want spring to return soon, and not go straight into 100+ degrees with humidity.  But I am sure my wish is no different from any of us.  Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm.