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Well, we've had two wonderful days in a row. Maybe spring is beginning to turn into summer.
Above was one of the little visitors that I saw today in my garden. He was only about 6 feet away from me just watching me water the garden. He had ran closer, but was startled when he noticed that someone was in the garden too. He turned and ran back to that rock and watched until I stepped back a bit for him to run by me. What a cute little guy.....
I accidentally left my plants out overnight and they looked perfect in the morning which means that last night must have been warm enough. I decided to leave them out again, but brought them closer to the house so if it does get nippy it shouldn't be too bad. I put my plants that I had started from seed outside to get some sun. You could tell that they really enjoyed the sun, it was as if they put their hands in the air and yelled "finally, the direct sun!!" I don't have any grow lights for those seeds that I start indoors so they tend to be leggy and wanting more direct sun. I really need to get my stuff together and have a proper starting set-up for next year. I don't like starting seeds and having them fall over and die (some of the seeds I start each year tend to do that, so it's trial and error).
My Zucchini and Cucumber do fine, and my Beans are doing pretty well, but they are in the window with the most sunlight. I started some Morning Glories 3 days ago and they are doing well, but I am a little concerned at how leggy they are. I hope they do alright since they are one of my favorite annuals. I really enjoy seeing them grown and climb. I have more Morning Glory seeds so that I can put them directly into the soil when it warms up and no danger of frost.
I watered my flower garden today and found that I have 3 sweet peas coming up (two of them are coming up close to where I planted the seeds, but one is way off so it could be a re-seed from last years). I think that I also have sunflowers coming up from seeds that I flaked out of a sunflower that was in the stump flower pots last year. The sunflower really didn't get to be it's full potential due to my lack of watering that area, and I had doubted the seeds were good, but I thought what could it hurt? If that is the case I am extreamly thrilled!! I will have between 10 and 20 sunflowers started in there that I will "try" to transplant when I have to thin them out. The area in the stump is only 1 foot across, so to have 10-20 sunflowers in there wouldn't work too well.
My Hyacinth has bloomed. It is not quite the same color/shape as what it was originally, but it's still pretty and smells delicious! I just love them! See below:
I also was able to take some pictures of hummingbirds this afternoon. They really have picked up their activity in the past few days. The male that had claimed the one feeder in my garden was so busy shoe-ing off competetitors. He is a very posessive male. It was really neat watching and hearing them flying around while Hannah and I played together. While I was out there watching the hummingbirds, one male hummingbird landed and began drinking out of the feeder. Another male came down and began drinking out of the other side. The first male stood perfectly still on the left side of the feeder while the other male on the right drank. I think that the first male was trying to "hide" so the second male wouldn't chase him away. Once the second male began to drink, he decided it was okay to do so himself, but that was when the second male noticed him and then chased him off. It was neat seeing two males drinking out of the same feeders though.
Hannah
and I spent some time outside playing "Mommy Dragon" and "Baby Dragon" which included me chasing her around the yard pretending to be a dragon. She would yell "STOP" and I would freeze, and then she would say "Sheesh, that is close" and fling her hand like she was wiping her forehead (but in her two year old coordination it wasn't quite that...lol) She was so funny, running and stopping, running and stopping.
Another cute thing she has started recently is "jumpin' over creeks". She will walking along then stop and say "jumpin' over creeks Mommy", and then jump as if she was jumping over something. It is so funny to watch. It's added atleast another 5 minutes to our already lengthy toddler doddler walk up to the Mother-In-Laws. It is just great, watching a toddler grow, watching them develope and pretend. I just love it!
More in the next few days, depending on the weather...lol! I hope that everyone is doing well, enjoying the spring weather, and able to get out there in the fresh air and "play". Happy Gardening ALL!!
~M~
We had a pretty good day today.
First thing this morning I woke up, looked out my bedroom window down at my garden and what do you think that the first things I saw?
Two hummingbirds feeding at separate feeders. One was a female Rufous Hummingbird, and the other was a male Rufous Hummingbird. I tried to take a picture, but the window was pretty dusty/dirty on the outside so it didn't turn out well (plus I was quite a distance away).
Above: The female Rufous Humming bird is on the right side of the hummingbird feeder, she almost blends in with the haze of the dirty window/flash. I really like the female's colors best I think. The males are flashy, but the female's colors are so multicolored/iridescent.
What a wonderful "good morning" from Mother Nature!!
Hannah and I spent quite a long time outside playing.
I had to re-pot my 3 "Campanula (Poscharskyana) Serbian Bellflower" (perennial) that I bought 2 weeks ago. When I bought them they were already root bound and growing out the bottom, but they looked really nice on top. I just now got around to re-potting them since the weather hasn't been too great. They look very happy now in their newer temporary home!
(See Below)
I discovered that I have one Sweet Pea coming up in my hallowed out stump planters. I planted the seeds over 3 weeks ago and not much has happened, but I hadn't kept the seeds "moist" because I was counting on Mother Nature. I am happy that at least one seed is coming out. Maybe more will now that I have hooked up the hose and am going to start my regular watering.
Hannah played with the hose and the new hose sprayer that I got. I am really happy with it since it has a special nob to easily control the flow. My old one would blast my established plants and it was horrible on my seeds that were trying to grow. I was always fighting with the flow trying not to destroy my garden, so this has made me incredibly happy that it works so well. It was an impulse buy because I alread had the one and I felt it worked well enough to keep (because I hate wasting $$. If I don't have to replace it, I won't buy a new one until it's totally broken and beyond repair.)
Needless to say, I am very excited by a hose nozzle! HAHAHA, the little things that excite a gardner...LOL!
Hannah had a blast "washing" out my old flower containers and watering the little grass area. It was really cute, she was proud to be my little helper, plus it kept her out of my way while I re-potted the Bellflowers mentioned above. She was good, but she got tired and I had to cut my flower playing short.
I went outside this evening while Hannah was napping because I had to shut off the hose I left on. I decided to check out my garden and see if I could catch any hummingbirds at the feeders. Well as I was browsing through the different areas in my garden I happened to walk within 3 feet of one of the hummingbird feeders. Just as I was doing that, a male hummingbird came flying straight at me, zooming past "warning" me to stay way from "his" feeder. The little stinker was challenging me! It was crazy how close he came to my head. I decided to try and get some pictures of him if he was going to visit frequently. Well, would the little bugger come to the feeder? NO! He just kept buzzing around everytime I moved in the garden "warning" me to stay away. What a dominant male, to challenge me! I was able to get two pictures of him at the feeder (but not as close as I had hoped), and some in the trees where he would roost, then fly off and buzz me.
Above: Male Rufous Hummingbird (I am pretty sure it's the same one that was there first thing this morning due to his protectivness of the feeder). Pretty neat!
Above: The Male Rufous Hummingbird watching me, making sure I won't steal "his" feeder. He's hard to see, but you can see the red in the middle of the picture sitting there watching me...
I took a few pictures of some of the little birds that hang out where I put birdseed. They are so cute. I especially like these little ones that have a whitemohawk stripe down the top of his head, then black stripes on his cheeks, then another white set of stripes below the black. It's really cute and I don't remember seeing them last year, but who knows.
(See Below)
So, there are some pictures from a day in my garden....I enjoyed my outdoor day very much!!
Have a great week! Happy Gardening!
~M~
So since I posted those Hummingbird pictures yesterday, I decided to post some of the pictures I took so far this spring.
I think I wrote about how the woodpeckers came through our yard. They stopped by, choosing the same power pole to peck at. Hannah was able to hear them, but I wasn't sure if she actually saw them. So I am including two pictures of them on the power pole.
Above: A tiny, tiny hummingbird flying in the sky....so cute! I just love them!
Another little hummingbird sitting in a tree keeping an eye out on his/her feeder.
Above: Woodpecker (there were two or more at one point). They come and peck this pole every year, and even bring the little woodpeckers to practice/learn how to peck. It's so cute!
Above: The two woodpeckers, pecking happily away....I don't know much about them so I do not know if they are male/male, or female/female, or male/female. I really like getting a chance to see them too!
A big thanks to Yardgranny6 for helping me identify the hummingbird species that I have here. It is indeed the Rufous Hummingbird, but I think we have a different type other than that too, I just don't have any pictures (or can't find them at the moment, I have tons of pictures...lol).
I hope that you enjoy these as much as you enjoyed the other hummingbird pictures from yesterday. I will try getting some more pictures within the next few days since we put our own hummingbird feeders out. I can't wait to get my first close-up of the year!
As you can tell, I did not do much in the garden the past 2-3 days, but I hope that I will get out there more in the next few days. I will try posting some more pictures too of the progress of my seeds that I started indoors. My cucumbers and zucchini are doing pretty well, and of course my beans which are climbing the trellis I taped to my window sill are doing really well. I will try and post those pictures soon.
Happy Gardening everyone! Have a wonderful week and I hope you enjoy my newest set of pictures!
~M~
Well, I don't have too much time to write a long blog entry today. Not much happened today except that we (and by "we", I mean I did, and Hannah "supervised") filled and hung our hummingbird feeders. So on the note of hummingbirds I have decided to check back in my old pictures and post a few pictures I have taken from past years. Enjoy!
Hummingbird feeding. You can see how they perch on the little "step" like piece. It is the neatest thing ever to be able to see them sitting there looking around and feeding!
-- Summer 2008
Poor Hummer flew in my slidding glass door and got stuck in my sky-light. I had to fish him out with a butterfly net, but then he flew over to my kitchen window and got stuck in my screen. Luckily I was able to remove the screen carefully and he squeeked out. Poor guy!
-- Summer 2008
Above is a picture of my natural "pink" clover that I transplanted into my garden (yes, you read correctly, I actually want it in my garden). I really like the pink flowers!! It's one of my favorite "wild" bits that I have added to my garden.
-- Summer 2008
Hummingbird are so neat! I just love them! -- Summer 2008
This hummingbird is a diffent color than the other pictures I posted. I think this one is possibly a female (?) and the other three pictures are of a male (?). Not sure if they are two different kinds or if they are just different sexes. -- Summer 2008
Well, I hope that you enjoyed those pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them and remembering back to when I took them. Have a great Sunday and as always, Happy Gardening!
~M~
Thank you everyone who commented on my last post! I am so very excited about the hummers being back! I just hope I can get a chance to show Hannah them soon too. They will come flying by and then sit on the little roost part of my humming bird feeders for really good viewing. I just love them and had never been around so many as I am lucky enough to be here in B.C.
~Reba/rbsteen9 ~ Thank you so much for the helpful information. I never thought of using rice to help scrub out the feeders! That whole bit was very helpful and interesting! I am currently brewing up the nectar! Thank you!
~Thirdgeneration ~ My humming bird feeders are red, green and white so I have never had a problem with wasps, that would be bad with Hannah around in the garden too! Thanks for the reminder though, I don't know if I would have thought of that since I have never had a problem with them.
~Witt~ Thanks for the recipe too.
~ Yardgranny6 ~ I got 3 feeders at the Dollar Store and I have been very happy with them. This is the 3rd year I've used them (but the first year I didn't bring them in over the winter though). They are fairly easy to clean too, but I think I will try and get some larger ones or atleast some more of the same ones I have already to put out in the new area I am working on. The ones I have have little perches on them and when I first got them I thought "yeah right, I doubt they will stop and stand on these". Well, sure enough they will fly up and sit on the perches and I am able to get some really great pictures! I don't know if I have any in my photo album, but I will search on my computer and post some if I don't have any in the albums. Thanks for the suggestion.
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It is an absolutely beautiful day outside.....I should probably be getting out there with the little one. We planted some more seeds last night, so I am now officially exploding with flowers/seeds. I will post a picture of all the perennials I have. I think next year I will have to show a little more restraint from buying so "early" in the season. It was just that they had such a good selection of the flowers I wanted and I hate when you go and everything is picked over. I bought 8 seed Geraniums (I have always hated Geraniums, but last year I gave them a try and they made me happy enough, so I decided to buy more....) for my under-porch hanging baskets that don't get much light, with rare direct sunlight. They did pretty darn well for what they were given, so this year I plan on rotating them around and giving them more sun every few days. More on the perennials and the few annuals I got later....
I found a few "natural" ways of repelling ticks. Since Hannah is only two I don't want to be putting too many chemicles on/around her. I heard that citronella, garlic, and peppermint scents will work to repell ticks. Of course proper clothing too, but we were fully dressed - jacket included - yesterday because it was chilly. We'll also be using the bug spray with DEET in it as well, just carefully since it says it's not something to be used "daily".
Thank you to all who commented on my last post! It is so nice to hear from you all, even if it is just to say hello! I will be posting more later!
~M~
I am itchy all over and super paranoid that I have creepy crawly things on me.
What started this, you might ask?
TICKS! I am so paranoid of TICKS! I HATE TICKS! Ticks, ticks, ticks - YUCK!
Since 2005, I haven't had any tick incidents......until today.
Hannah and I had gone up to visit with Pam and we helped her re-locate
her stump flower pots. Hannah got to ride in the wheelbarrow and she
got to ride all the way down to where the swing is. I pushed her for
about half an our or so, then we decided to walk back home since her
little hands were getting so cold. We took a detour into the bushes to
check if we could find some wild rose starts that I could dig up, then
back onto the driveway and down to the horse shed. We fed the horses
and then walked up towards our house. I headed to grab the hummingbird
feeders and then on my way back towards Hannah I noticed that she had a
spider in her hair. I walked up closer to her and realized it was a
tick in her hair! I FREAKED! I was able to smack it out of her hair
and it landed on the concrete. I smashed it with a rock, there was not
a drop of blood in the tick thank goodness which means it had just
gotten on Hannah. I fix Hannah's hair up every day so I doubt I would
miss one, but I don't want to have to deal with getting one out that
has embedded itself into her. Oh, you think I'm freaked out now, boy,
it will get way, way worse if I have to do that!! We're going to give
her a good bath tonight to check her over and make sure she doesn't
have any on her elsewhere.
I will have to find out some ways to help protect Hannah and myself
from ticks this season. I sure hope it's not a "bad tick year"! We
didn't seem to have a problem last year, and it was 2005 when it was
the year that was so bad. Oooo-icky!
I spread out some bird seed last night since some new little birds have
arrived. They are called the "Red Breasted Nuthatch". I think it's
"Red Breasted Nuthatch" even though their breast color is actually more
of a yellow color with a blue back/body. What makes them so special is
that they hop down the tree, head down. Most birds can't do that.
They are very acrobatic! I just love seeing them and I think that they
are so sweet! I know I will see more as the summer comes.
Also, my Mother-In-Law filled her hummingbird feeders and today I
heard, then saw the first hummer of the year! It made me so happy! I
will be putting mine out soon.
What is the best ratio/recipe for
hummingbirds since I have never actually known the recipe?
I also found an area (the same area where Hannah may have picked up the
tick though) that has tons of wild rose spikes that I can transplant.
I am excited, so I have to get on that before it gets too far into the
spring.
I checked through my garden today and things are progressing well. The
crocus are still bloomed which is nice that they have lasted so long,
and my hyacinths are really coming along as well.
What happens to a plant (perennial - English Daisy) when you over water
it? Can you cause it to rot at the base of the plant? Somehow I
manged to do that I think. I set it out to dry up a bit and
accidentally left it outside on the porch all night. OOPS. I hope
that it will recuperate though, so we'll just have to see. Any suggestions???
I didn't get any pictures put up yet, but will try later this evening or tomorrow.
~M~
P.S. I forgot to write this part.....lol:
I plan on planting some seeds directly in the garden soon, possibly
tomorrow or I may I will wait until Thursday when it is suppose to be
quite a bit warmer than it has been lately. I plan on planting:
1.) Malva Zebrina
2.) Sweet Peas - Spencer Giant Mixture
3.) Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia Hirta
4.) Bachelor Buttons - Double Mixed Colors
5.) Mixed Poppies - I have no idea which kind they are, I just had some mixed in a bachelor button seed packet. Who, knows...
6.) Carrots - Danvers
7.) Peas - Lincoln
Are the above flowers/vegetables alright to put in the ground now,
before the last frost date? Or should I be waiting. I think our last
frost date is still 4 weeks away still (not quite positive, I will have
to call one of our local nurseries to find out for sure).
Also how on earth do you find out exactly which zone your in? I have
tried, and tried to figure it out with the zone maps, but they never
show close enough on my area. We live in a sliver of color difference
compared to the next zone over. It's hard to explain, but it is just
overly difficult to figure it out.
~April 26th, 2008~
I am so happy to say today we spotted the first humming bird for this year!! It came flying in to find a feeder and I heard the familiar buzz!! I didn't have my hummingbird feeders out and the Hummingbird thought that one of my pink regular bird feeders was a hummingbird feeder. So now I know, I will have to get that put out tomorrow!!
Also I took some cute pictures of some Chipmunks in my yard today. There were two just sitting on rocks sunbathing and snacking on what ever they had stored in their cheeks. They were really cute. Then later, one came down into my rock garden and decided to see what was down there. I hope that it doesn't find the seeds that I planted and cause problems with that!! After I came inside for the evening I was just finishing putting my daughter down for her nap and I looked out my sliding doors and saw a chippie out on my porch eating some seeds from one of my bell shaped seed blocks. I opened the door so carefully and got some pictures, but when he noticed I was there he got scared and jumped down onto my porch. Needless to say, he got stuck somewhat on my porch and was running around until he figured it out. What a silly little chippie!! I will add the pictures on here once I upload them to my photo albums!
There are two Chippies in this picture, one on the log (left) and one on the rock (right).
Little Chippie grooming himself...so cute!
Look how stuffed it's cheeks are!! What a cute little Chippie!!
The chipmunk came back onto my porch today and at some point knocked the bird seed bell off my porch. I took some super cute pictures of him again. I will put them up tomorrow. Also my friend the hummingbird visited (well actually did a quick fly-by). I will definitely have to get the feeder out tomorrow.
Thanks for all the great comments from everyone! I just LOVE getting feedback as well as reading other blogs!! Happy gardening!
~M~
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