osprey94's Blog

The day the hummies returned
Mar 19, 2011 | 3:05 PM PST

Last year, according to an entry in THIS blog, we saw our first hummingbird come back on March 8 and had at least 3 at our feeders daily by the 15th. 

This year, the 8th and then the 15th came and went and I was getting anxious. But today, while working on the expansion to our fenced veggie garden, I heard the buzz of a hummy and froze. Then, there he was, zooming around the feeder. Later I saw at least 3. One was a female. It was almost emotional to see them again, finally. I'd like to try to hold the feeder in my hand again, while they swarm around me and eat like I did a few years ago. Magical.

 Over spring break (only one week away!), I'm going to start all my seeds in the greenhouse. I ordered them all from Gurney's again because of their "$25 when you buy $50" deal. I got several tomato varieties, broccoli and cauliflower, spinach, kale and chard, corn, carrots, beans, peas (which I should plant over break too), beets, cucumbers and butternut squash. The only thing left to buy is basil which I think I'll just buy a few starts of instead of plant from seed.

The indian plum and red currant trees are almost in bloom. We haven't put the mason bees out yet. Hopefully they haven't started to come out of their mud plugs yet, because they are currently in the potting shed from this winter.

 We're expanding the veggie garden so more of it gets more sun. We took down some of the old fencing, covered a huge new area with wood chips, and made a new gate. Next, we'll have to build the new fence around the area and move some of the raised beds into the new space and fill them.

So, that's where we are right now. Spring is really here!