The wrens feeding their babies.

 Tango celery fresh from the garden.  Delicious.

The first Salad Bush cukes of the season were picked a few days ago.  The three plants are really taking off.  I'll be swimming in cukes soon.

After a quick trip to the A. C. Moore craft store for some drawstring tulle bags, tomato bagging has commenced.  These are the 5 x 6/5" bags.  Not too big, not too small.  They have printable coupons, so I got these at 40% off.  So $3 for 18 bags.  I didn't think of it at the time, but the store also had a large size bag.  I was thinking those might be perfect to protect my grapes from the birds.  Last year the birds ate every last grape in the course of one night.  Not this year!

Reading dimensions and visualizing them in your head are two different things.  Here is my new S&K 16 Family Purple Martin Barn.  It seems so much bigger in person than I expected.  I'm not really complaining.  I'm hoping to have a lot of happy bird families living in this very soon.  Since I'm not around water, most likely it will be filled with sparrows.  I don't mind one bit.

This is one of the birdhouses I made this Spring.  A nesting wren pair has already claimed it.  They have been loudly building their nest all day.  They put on quite a show.

This Earliglow is almost ripe!  The underside is a bit pale, but I don't think it'll last until the end of the day.  There are several others just like it!

This white throated sparrow really appreciates something that a lot of people despise.  A tasty dandelion seedhead.  It stayed around quite a while munching on these seeds.

Spirit pumpkin. I've never had one so healthy, so long. SVBs have always been a huge problem. This is a more compact cultivar.Golden Acre cabbage starting to form a head.Florence fennel. A volunteer. Note the black swallowtail caterpillar in the upper portion. He's already about an inch and a half long!
One of my three Sungold tomatoes started blossoming a few days ago. I can't wait for these tasty nuggets!
Sweet Basil planted last season. It overwintered and is now starting to flower. It came in a gift herb kit. I never harvested any of it, so I'm hoping the beneficials will like it. That's why it's still hanging around. Peas are planted on both sides of it. You can see my Spirit Pumpkin in the back left.
Below are my tomatoes, a Spirit pumpkin in the near-middle, Golden Acre cabbage in front of that, onions in the back right, peas lining the lower of the picture.
The birdhouse I built a few weeks ago has found its first resident. A lovely pair of wrens! You can see one on the tomato cage holding nesting material.
Ellagance Purple lavender that I started from seed last season. Smells lovely.
Jacob Kline monarda. Five feet tall already!!! My Endless Summer hydrangea is blooming as well.
Rosy Returns daylily.
Flamenco Torch Lily. More of a light apricot than the orange I expected. Perhaps because it is so shaded by the monarda.

My desperate attempt to attract hummingbirds. How can they miss this? I did it last season, and I think it worked. But so far...nothing.Irises are now blooming.
My seedlings and indoor plants are hardening off on my front porch after spending about a week on the more sheltered back porch.
The new, expanded front garden. The future home to lots of marigolds, snapdragon, milkweed, a tithonia, a pentas, and fennel to attract butterflies. I also started some carrot seed in the lower left portion along the sidewalk. Not for me to eat, but for the black swallowtails. They LOVE their leaves...A LOT.

Hummers

It's a lovely, mild morning. Just sitting out back with the kids waiting for my first hummer of the season to arrive. I might be here a while...
:)

Hummingbirds and Seedlings

It's that time of year again. Time to put out the hummingbird feeders. Two years ago I saw a hummingbird nectaring on one of my tulips. Now the feeders go out when they are about to open. This is my Jewel window feeder. Pricey and never used. I still put it up...wishful thinking. The little hummers prefer the cheap $4 Walmart feeders. I have three hanging on the clothesline. One in the center as the "beckon" to hopefully draw their attention. The other two are close to the holly branches. They seem to prefer the safety of the branches nearby. You can also seem my new mini-orchard planted over the Fall. I added the new strawberry bed, the center circle, just a few weeks ago. Planted with Winona strawberries.
I started my seedlings later this season. Here are my zinnia and cosmos (on the back left). I decided to pinch (cut) back the zinnia to just above a set of leaves to promote branching. They were growing into the lights and getting pretty tall on a single stem. I've never pinched them before, but it only took a few days to see the new branches starting. These are red Oklahoma zinnia.
From left to right, here are my Citrus Mix marigolds from Burpee, a Sungold tomato in the front (started 3/22), and a taller Fat 'N Sassy pepper on the right (started 2/14). The tomatoes are much smaller than this time last season, but the three week later start makes them much more manageable. My smaller tomatoes caught up in no time in previous seasons, so I don't feel the need for a really early start with these fast growers.
I'm not one to waste anything, so I took my zinnia cuttings and planted them in my seed starter mix. They are inside a popsicle container place within a Ziploc to keep up the humidity. I couldn't find my rooting hormone, so we'll see what happens. I love experimenting with my plants. I'll keep you posted on the results.
Happy gardening!

Ice Storm 2011

I hope all of you are safe and warm out there. Quite a storm has hit a huge part of the country and is finally coming to an end. This is what I woke up to this morning. There are many other things I can see out the window that I would like to take a picture of, but I'm not going out there!
A male cardinal waiting to take advantage of the feeders and water.The new water wiggler I bought around Thanksgiving is still spinning, despite the cold, with its first set of batteries. Nice! Lots of birds were using it to bathe yesterday. I also have a birdbath heater in there. There's not a spot of frozen water to be seen even during this ice storm.
Ice.

Presents for a Gardener

Since my birthday is in less than a week from now, I have been looking at fun garden gifts. I thought I would share two of the items I recently purchased. These would make great presents for the gardeners in your life...or for yourself.
Water WigglerAmazon currently has this marked down to less than $25 (originally $40). This is the "PI 4WW Water Wiggler Water Agitator for Bird Baths." It takes two 'D' batteries, but it claims they last for 3 months. I've had mine out for a few weeks and it's going strong. It's a pretty addition to my homemade birdbath. It provides gentle ripples to get the attention of your birds. It is safe to use in a heated birdbath as well.
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Handcrafted Hanging Platform FeederCrafted by Anthony Stokes from Stokes Art & Design Services. I purchased this item from them on eBay under the seller name "gardenaccent". Beautiful craftmanship. Made of cedar and "sealed with a premium UV protective water proof clear wood sealer". Order early, because they aren't made until you order them. They need time to craft and cure them. I believe they even customize designs if needed. Many sizes, designs, and products to choose from. I'm very happy with my purchase!
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Just some fun ideas for the garden.

Potatoes and Garden Treasures

Yesterday I let the kids help me dig up most of the potatoes we planted this Spring. The Russet Burbanks. I admit I was terrible about watering them. Terrible. In fact, I'm surprised they survived the heat and drought. We yielded about 7 pounds of potatoes from 4 of the seed potatoes. I know it would have been more if I watered regularly, but it was still worth it after seeing the smiles on my kids' faces when they pulled them out of the ground.There were a couple interesting finds as well.
This little female ruby-throated hummingbird spent quite a while hanging out at the feeder, clothes line, and in the holly tree. It was like she wanted to me to refill it with fresh nectar. You don't have to ask me twice! I'd do anything to keep her happy.
A clearwing hummingbird moth on my Pink Delight butterfly bush.
A cicada clinging to a tomato stem.
A black swallowtail cat that I found in the garden the other day! The first time I ever found one here!
Only two days later...
I also found these two eggs! The one on the right is blurry.
It's a great butterfly year!

Hummingbirds and Butterflies

The kids and I get home after running some errands. My son gets to the back window and yells, "Mommy. Look at that bird!" Expecting to see a robin, cardinal, or other common backyard bird, I peek out. A female ruby-throated hummingbird! My second sighting in my yard this season. I'm sure there would have been more sightings, but the sweltering heat and humidity has kept us prisoner indoors. Of course I place out all five feeders instead of the three I've been maintaining. Then my son tells me that he wants to go on a butterfly and bird watching trip in the backyard. We saw this lovely spicebush swallowtail on our adventure.

I've Been Waiting So Long

Tonight.
7:53 pm.
Backyard.
A fleeting moment.
I saw my first hummingbird this season.
It ate from the feeder.
Flew to the sheppard hook where I typically have another feeder.
Visited the Russian Sage.
Then it was gone.
All occurred in a few seconds, but I'm still excited about my encounter an hour later.