Garden Bird Feeders

Archive for June, 2010

The wackiest yard and garden products are usually those constructed by innovative and creative gardeners. Among these are ugly and frightening scarecrows that supposedly scare away birds from a corn patch, bright and shiny aluminum pie pans confiscated from the trash to frighten away birds from ripe berries and cherries. Whether these work is debatable but in gardens where the harvest is more valuable than the appearance of a clean and well organized garden, these flourish.

Yet the title suggest the crazy and non-essential items that are bought at lawn and garden centers. These vary from the useful such as kneeling pads, ornate watering cans, decorative planting pots, rose trellises, gardening shoes to whimsical items such as bird houses resembling miniature outhouses, crowing roosters, croaking frogs and plastic snakes.

Kneeling pads are not absolute necessities since any old piece of foam or plastic covered pillow will serve the purpose but since they make great gift ideas for gardeners we can safely mark them off the list of wacky items. Ornate and overly expensive watering cans are frivolous and only those are attempting to make artful statements with their gardens will buy them. Most gardeners will settle for a plain ordinary watering can. With poor folks who garden for the produce any only container will do. Back in the depression days in the early thirties, lard buckets served this purpose well.

Some type of support system is needed for roses and garden centers are well stocked with these items. The best choice would be to make your own since those bought, unless of a sturdy metal, are usually flimsy and cheaply put together. Another item, gardening shoes are inexpensive items and are all plastic and can be hosed off when the garden chore is finished. Hardly wacky if used as intended but they are wacky when used to plant ivy and nailed to the side of potting sheds or are tied to tree branches with bird seed in them.

Definitely not wacky, the above items will not be used against a gardener if he is in court trying to evade an insanity hearing brought about by a pristine gardening neighbor, but some are definitely questionable. While, of course, not rendering the owner crazy; a mite touched may be a better label. Here, I refer to those absolute ridiculous bird houses. Some are expensive little mansions in them and some are snide remarks about the rural south. The owners of the first are wacky for wasting valuable money on ornate bird houses when function

My parents have become avid bird-watchers, and my first thought was how boring’. After joking around with my parents about getting old and being amused by anything, I finally sat down at the breakfast table with them one morning to see what all the fuss was about. And wouldn’t you know it, the birds hopped and danced and pranced and flapped around in such a frenzy that I sat bemused, dazzled and amazed, and any more ‘boring’ thoughts were quickly dispersed. My parents are far from boring. They have researched and perfected the art of bird-watching by attracting the right kinds of birds to their garden. Aside from bigger and better binoculars, over the years my mom has also upgraded her bird books to include ones that allow them to match the call to those songs flitting in from just outside their windows. Between all of the plants in place (dogwoods, oaks, columbine, coneflowers, hibiscus, echinachea, etc.) to attract the likes of finches and hummingbirds, they have gone above and beyond and gotten squirrel-proof feeders, and special seed, and even feeders that are built only for clingers.

We live in Northern Virginia, so this guidance may not work for all regions of the country, but I highly recommend stocking up on Nyjer (thistle), black oil seed, and safflower if you want to attract the rainbow of birds. Cardinals love black oil seed; purple finches love safflower; the thistle attracts goldfinches. The goldfinches are my parents’ favorites. But, the downy woodpeckers and the hairy woodpeckers are close behind. Woodpeckers are clingers, and they often hang upside-down. The feeders from Wild Birds Unlimited (www.wbu.com) or from www.duncraft.com, their two favorite birding companies, are excellent choices that have ensured that they get to see all the small birds that they can imagine and the woodpeckers too. Suet feeders are particularly great woodpecker attractors (and chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice too) and I would suggest No-melt Dough, or Hot Pepper Delight, to keep the sparrows and starlings away. Don’t worry about not feeding everyone; many birds are ground feeders, and the doves will certainly find the leftovers that have fallen to the ground below the feeders. Even the hummingbird feeders play a double-role. Many hummingbird feeders are circular and have a space in the middle that ends up occasionally catching rain. Boy do those other birds love that makeshift bath! I highly recommend also getting a bird bath or mister to enjoy watching the birds play when they are taking a break from eating. What a treat for my parents to wake up every morning to the delightfully energetic feast and frenzy of dozens of beautiful and charismatic birds. Get a bird book today, and start attracting the wonders of nature to your own back yard.

Caring for wild birds can be rewarding. It can also be heartbreaking. Wild birds come into care because they are sick, injured or orphaned. Many are beyond help and all you can do is give them a safe place to die. Wild birds often do not know that you are trying to help them. All they see is another scary predator. Sometimes when wild birds seem to be ‘tame’, they are actually in shock. That said, if you are keen to care for wild birds, learn as much as you can, become registered with a carer’s group and have a go. There is nothing more uplifting that releasing a bird back into the wild. My heart always rises with them as they go.

I have been caring for wild birds since 1971, when I rescued a silver gull which was dying from a tick infestation. He was an easy bird to save. All I had to do was remove the ticks and keep him safe till he recovered. Since then I have looked after hundreds of injured wild birds. When we moved to the Bush in Australia, the locals soon learned that I was a wildlife biologist and began bringing me animals, mostly birds, and most of them injured on our roads. My husband wanted to put up a sign: Maggie’s bird hospital, you hit ‘em, we bury ‘em. It was only half a joke since at least fifty percent of those birds did eventually die. What can you expect when a bird weighing a few hundred grams collides with a one ton vehicle?

At that time there was no local wildlife carer’s group and I was on my own. Things became much easier with the formation of a group. We run courses to teach the basics of care and rescue and how to avoid becoming a victim yourself from beaks and claws. We share information and buy our foods in bulk to save costs. We run raffles and raise funds to buy cages and equipment and we give each other support and comfort when things go wrong.

What practical hints should I pass on from my thirty years of experiences? Let’s start with Warm/Dark, Quiet/Safe. Assume the bird is in shock, scared, possibly in pain, if they have been injured. They need to be made comfortable, kept warm, rehydrated if necessary, but mostly left alone in a safe place to rest and recover. Laundries make a good start for a beginner , and within that room, turn a cardboard box into a hospital box, with holes for ventilation.

If the bird can stand then give it a perch, even if it’s just a stick with a towel wrapped around it (make sure all towels are snag free and snag proof!). If the bird cannot stand than i use a rolled

Chemistry for a greater tomorrow hasn’t always produced desirable results. In the effort to control populations of destructive insects using insecticides, beneficial insects, bees, birds, and other creatures have been killed. In addition, ground water has been contaminated by the run-off from these toxic chemicals, killing fish and water life. Ironically, some agricultural and garden pests have adapted and become resistant to many pesticides, thereby rendering the insecticides ineffective.

Lessons learned have been very expensive. At the end of the day, scientists and gardeners have discovered that our bio-diverse world has its own system of checks and balances which, if allowed to work with minimal manipulation by Man, is safer and more cost effective.

Bugs that are good for your garden are part of this checks and balances system. Most are abundant in nature and easy to attract to one’s garden. Some may even be purchased. For the gardener aiming to curb populations of bad insects, using good bugs is the most eco friendly method of reaching these goals. Man can form a partnership with good bugs by introducing good bugs to the garden and creating and maintaining a friendly eco system in which they can survive and do their work.

Let the following list of good bugs, or beneficials, as they are called, be a guide in your contest with garden pests:

*Lady bugs: Available for purchase through garden centers and mail order businesses, these delightful beetles prey upon aphids. The adults can consume as many as 50 aphids in one day, but their offspring are even more useful in reducing aphid populations. Each larva consumes 400 or more aphids before reaching its pupal stage. Attract lady bugs to your garden by planting nectar producing flowering plants such as marigolds and zinnias.

*Green lacewings: The adult of this species is a fairy-like winged creature often observed flitting about outdoor light fixtures at night. Organic gardeners rave about its attributes and consider it the most effective eradicator of aphid infestations. Its diet includes aphids, leafhoppers, mealybugs, whiteflies, caterpillars, and insect eggs. These insects lay their eggs on leaves near their prey. When the eggs hatch, the larvae ferociously and voraciously attack and consume their prey. These insects are also available for purchase in garden centers and from mail orders.

Ground beetles: These bugs are nocturnal, hunting and consuming insect eggs and larvae at night. During the

The Gardner

I stand holding a single red rose that just today was cut from the bush beside my papaw’s back porch. I stand teary eyed looking at the face of the man who has influenced every aspect of my life. I placed the rose on his chest as a lasting reminder of the life he lead. Through my tears, I see the rose as it brushes gently against his neck and I am for a moment taken back in time. It is a hot summer day in Alabama, I am six years old with skinny legs, big blue eyes, freckles and sun bleached hair pulled back into a ponytail. I can hardly wait to finish breakfast so that I can go help my grandfather in the garden. I hurry to eat and then run to the yard in search of my papaw. I know that I will find him in one of the three places he is always at, either in the wood shop, the vegetable garden or tending to the flowers he is so proud of. I find him in his wood shop building a bird house. The smell of turpentine and fresh cut wood fills the room. The early morning sunlight streams through the windows casting a golden glow on my grandfather. He is wearing a pair of faded blue jeans with a shirt that I recognize as one that my mamaw will get onto him for wearing to paint in. The piece of hair that he wears combed over to cover his thinning hair falls across his forehead as he concentrates intently on his newest project. I announce with excitement that I am here to help him. He stops his work and turns to look at me, his intense blue eyes look through the black horn-rimmed glasses at me, as if to decide if I am worthy of this honor. With a huge smile that causes the dimples in his ample jowls to show, he bends down and says “Good morning sis, I have a birdhouse just waiting to be painted by you, so give me a hug and lets get started”. With that he grabs me up, swings me around and stands me on the stand he built just for me, so that I can reach his workbench. After what seemed like hours of painting and working to get everything just right he announced it was time for a little break while the paint dried. We walked outside into the bright sunshine to the fig bush that hung heavy with large sun ripened figs that just begged to be picked. I stood there with my beloved papaw picking one after another of the sun heated figs and popping them into my mouth, enjoying their juicy warmness, while around us the sweet smells of honey-suckle, fresh cut grass and roses hung thick in the air.

We went into the workshop and retrieved the bird houses that we

Here in Milwaukee we’ve got plenty of beer, so when I first began my vegetable garden years ago I had a ready supply of weaponry to use against my raised bed’s number one enemy: The massive, slimy, hungry slugs that would slither into action in the early dawn, turning cabbage leaves, tomatoes and other plants into swiss cheese.

I was voracious in my own right: A voracious reader. Several organic gardening magazines told me the solution to slugfests was to put out saucers of beer. The slugs would be attracted to the scent, climb aboard, and drown. And it worked.

But something happened to me as I first defeated the slugs, then rabbits, then other creatures that assumed my garden was their salad bar: I became more attuned to the natural state of the world.

Over the seasons, as I weeded or otherwise tended my little patch of joy, I increasingly encountered the fauna that lived in and around my garden: Little bugs and worms and other creatures all the way up to chipmunks. Birds, of course, dropped by as well and along with the squirrels really enjoyed my peach tree. decimating the crop in mere days.

And gradually, my attitude changed, to my very great surprise. Because, you see, I was a natural voyeur. I watched the creatures. And I became interested in their habits.

Now you’ll surely think me crazy, but after awhile I found a certain natural beauty in the lowly slug. These little guys are almost majestic in their own way. They leave glittering trails of slime to mark their travels and are seemingly quite brave, marching exposed across decks and lawns, stretching their mottled but smooth bodies in a little rhythm. And poking up their eye stalks every so often to look around from time to time. I would watch them emerge from between the deck planks, unfurl their tightly compressed bodies into elongated arrows and move in a search pattern toward an eventual rendezvous with their lunch – in my garden.

I began to empathize with them, especially whenever I accidentally squashed one as I wandered out the back door in an early morning fog. They were little souls. “All creatures great and small,” don’t you know. I zeroed in on them, observing from my all-mighty, skyscraper’s viewpoint. I played with them, picking them up and relocating them further away or just testing their reactions.

Came the day when it dawned on me that I couldn’t kill another slug. Hey, they were just trying to earn a living. And they were beautiful in their own, limited way.

The arrival of spring is signaled by many things. Chirping birds, cool sunny mornings, the lone narcissus bulb that shoots up from the ground. Perhaps the most tell tale signs that spring has arrived are the garden plots that begin popping up in the neighborhood yards and the plants that go on sale at the local stores. Gardeners begin consulting almanacs to find out what they should plant first and what must wait until after the last frost of the season. However, the most seasoned gardeners will have started their spring planting season during the winter and find themselves months ahead of the spring gardening game. Here are some tips that you can follow so that you, too, can get a jump start on your spring planting.

Shop a season behind, stay a season ahead

You can usually find garden implements, planters, containers, soils, and tools for at least half off the original price once the peak growing seasons come to an end in late summer and early fall. That’s the time to replace your broken tools and invest in anything new that you might need. Additionally, it’s also a good time to have your tillers, lawn mowers, and other machines serviced as well as sharpening the blades of your pruning shears, hoes, etc. December and January are the prime times to place your order for spring seeds and plants if you choose to do so.

Prepare your soil

In late the late winter months of January and February after the snow and ice have mostly melted away, dig or till your soil in the spot that you choose to use as your garden. Once it’s tilled or dug up, add compost material a couple of times a week, raking or tilling it into the soil each time. Keep the soil damp, not muddy or sticky. Soil that is too dry and cracks is also a bad thing you should avoid. If you’re planning to plant a bed of some kind, layer the bed space with sheets of newspaper and cover that with compost instead. The newspaper smothers any bothersome weeds and grass below it and by the time spring arrives, it will have turned into compost material itself that can be mixed in with the new soil that you add. Use this as an opportunity to add fertilizer to the soil also. Always make sure that any foliage remaining from any plants who have finished producing for the reason has been cleared away. Garden pests and diseases thrive on left over plants between growing seasons.

Pruning

Trees and shrubs should be pruned before they begin to bloom. January is a good time to do this.

Start seedlings early

If you’re going to grow plants from seedlings, very late winter/very early spring is the time to put them into trays and get them started. It takes two to four months for a mature plant to grow from a seed. Sort them by the climate zones in your area listed on the back of the seed packets.

Prepare your growing containers now

If you’re planning to grow a container garden instead of one in the ground, now is a good time to line out your containers and support systems such as tomato cages. Once you know how much space you have to work with, you will be able to buy your plants accordingly once they go on sale.

Get in the zone

While being successful at gardening involves a lot of work and planning on the gardener’s part, the fact remains that you can’t rush Mother Nature. So even though you may be antsy to get something in the ground, always consult the heartiness zones for your region and know when to expect the last frost. If you plant too early in the season, all your planning and effort will be for naught.

A successful garden starts with assessing how much space, time, and money you want to devote to your garden project. All of these factors will be important in deciding how to set up and maintain your garden. You also need to think about what you hope to achieve by growing your garden. Are you doing it mainly as a hobby, or intending it to be a source of food for your family?

If space is a big restriction, then container gardening may be the answer. Tomatoes, beans, and peas are excellent choices for producing appreciable quantities of food from your container garden. Try buying a few large containers instead of many small ones. Plant 2-3 food plants in the center of each container and a ring of marigolds around the edge. Marigolds produce a natural insecticide and will help keep bugs away from your food.

For gardeners with sufficient land to grow a traditional garden, it is essential to “assess soil qualityn before putting anything in the ground. Hard, clay soil will not be suitable for growing many plants. If you have clay soil or sandy, nutrient-poor soil, you may want to purchase a few bags of garden soil and build raised beds.

In addition to soil quality, drainage and light are both key issues in preparing land for a garden. Most food plants will not grow well in an area with poor drainage; the roots will become saturated with water and drown. If your prospective garden location is in a low spot and you live in an area with appreciable rainfall, then you will need to add soil to raise the garden in order to improve drainage. For optimal vegetable growth, full sunlight is the best. If your garden is near your house or another structure, try to plant it on the south or west side so it will receive a sufficient amount of sunlight each day.

In order to keep costs low, you can start seeds indoors rather than buying seedlings at a nursery or discount store. A package with enough seeds for several growing seasons generally costs the same as single pre-grown plant! The most efficient, effective way to start seeds indoors is by purchasing a greenhouse kit such as the “Jiffy 32 All-in-one Greenhouse. All you need is a table or shelf near a windowsill, and you will be able to star enough seeds for a moderately-sized garden. Because the kit costs under $10, you can easily purchase several if you want a larger garden.

Regardless of whether you start your garden from seed or from purchased plants, the principle of “companion plantings is another good way to save money. Companion planting means arranging your garden in such a way that plants benefit each other. For example, legumes such as peas and beans help replace nitrogen in the soil, benefiting other plants such as tomatoes and squash. Ornamental plants like marigolds and tobacco plants provide natural insect protection. Even if you plan to use pesticides on your garden, companion planting will help you save money by reducing chemical usage and ensuring that a larger portion of your crop makes it to your table!

Finally, to avoid garden-related disappointment, always plant more than you hope to harvest. According to an old saying, the intelligent farmer plants three seeds- one for himself, one for the birds, and one for the bugs! The beginning gardener should add a fourth seed for incidentals like drought, flood, and human error.

One of the best contributions you can make to your community and the environment starting with your own backyard is to create a habitat that nurtures and safeguards the wildlife around you. By developing a haven for birds and other wildlife, you will not only get the appreciation from little furry and feathered friends, but you will also be the recipient of entertainment that you can enjoy right from your window.

There are many resources to consult to determine how to develop a backyard habitat. One of the best is a show on television’s Animal Planet called just that – Backyard Habitat. It reviews various methods of creating beautiful backyard pools, rock gardens, and other types of landscape havens that serve as homes for the wild animals of your community. This includes everything from butterflies to frogs and hummingbirds.

Audubon.com offers a plethora of information on the types of wildlife that can be found in your backyard habitat, how to attract them, and what they need to flourish. Everything from how to create a butterfly garden to the needs and lifecycle of bakyard songbirds is covered. It’s an excellent place to begin your research.

By planting certain types of flowering plants in your backyard, you can attract such creatures as the blue bird, Monarch butterfly, and thousands of other beautiful animals that bring color and life to your garden. For instance, the butterfly bush makes a colorful addition to any garden setting and its nectar nourishes the troop of flutterers that will happily make your backyard their home. Southern magnolias call in a number of different avian species, including the mockingbird, thrush, and woodpecker. And, the coneflower, coreopsis and aster attract beneficial insects that assist in pollination and keep pests under control.

If each person in a community makes a pledge to enrich their own little piece of this planet by beautifying their backyard with the flora that attracts and supports the native wildlife, what a wonderful (and beautiful) world this would be!

My grandmother had a rock, about the size of a giant hibiscus flower and the color of drying sedum, right at the entrance to her garden. It was engraved with words that pretty much summed up her approach to gardening: “Grow, Dammit!”

I could never tell if the words on that rock were meant as command or plea-I suppose it depended on the day. I do know, however, that my grandmother’s garden was less about harmony of composition, perfection of bloom, balance of color, or architectural sophistication (although she did pay attention to such things in other people’s gardens),and more about expressing what she considered as essential attributes of her personality. Thus the stuffed animal in a bird cage hanging from the old maple was equally a part of her garden as were the brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows of the Rieger Begonias she loved to start from tubers. The dwarf fir, silver tipped and wholly out of place in the middle of her yard, was a balanced element in her overall scheme, setting off the metal tones of the house jack she bought at a garage sale and placed in the middle of the begonias, a variegated potato vine draping off the top.

My grandmother loved color, or rather she loved certain colors-brilliant reds, the glowing salmon of a sunset in early autumn, canary yellow, purples of all sorts. Other colors she didn’t care for, the pale blues of some annual lobelias, the washed clay red of a yarrow I once bought her, and the timid blush of a bloom that cannot decide if it wants to be white or pink. Pinks in general annoyed her, actually. She wanted her plants, like the people she cared about, to be bold, unafraid to make a statement. Shrinking violets in her garden and in her family were equally unwelcome. Know what you stand for, she would tell us. “Grow, Dammit!”

My grandmother died a few years ago, and two months after the funeral my uncle and I stopped by her house to dig up and divide her peonies. They were huge, the thin soil at the side of the house somehow nourishing spectacular blooms for nearly as long as she had lived in the house. We cut up the roots, some for him, some for me, and some for my mother, placing chunks with four or five eyes each into large green trash bags. That afternoon of fading sun and quiet digging turned out to be our final hours in my grandmother’s garden. The house sold not long after.

Those peonies continue to grow, however. I opened a bed alongside my driveway and planted my inheritance. The following spring my yard was graced with vibrant, crimson blooms, just a few to each plant but holding rich promise. Each year my grandmother’s spirit bloomed forth stronger and more plentifully, the peonies as powerful a presence in my neighborhood as my grandmother’s personality was in hers. When I moved last spring, I dug up the peonies from the still frozen soil and brought them with me to a new home, where they again started the cycle of regeneration.

My grandmother was not attached to things-you can’t take it with you, she was fond of reminding us. But I have been able to take a part of her with me, part of the spirit she expressed in her garden. And on days when I never know if plea or command will shape the garden to my hopeful imaginings, I take comfort in knowing that whatever mistakes I might make in plant selection, composition, or harmonious architectural balance, a garden is a space in which to express who I am, a space in which to grow unafraid.