Happy 4th of July

Where does the time go...in the garden for sure. Well, now that things have taken off and are looking pretty good - corn knee high by the 4th of July and all that - I must say, I get caught up in the garden and forget to put my fingers to the key board. So many new and interesting things.

For instance: my sister is growing an Azalea in the upper peninsula of Michigan - nearly out of zone 4 -- how amazing. It is the most striking bush I have ever seen. It's almost iridescent, a definite traffic stopper. Yup I ordered some, we are about 80 miles south of her, it should work right? I'll keep you posted.

My husband has split all our geraniums and they have grown beautifully into new plants. He cut them down the center and immediately planted them in a good potting soil (miracle grow this time) and they took off. Any shoots that broke off he stuck in another pot and they are growing like gangbusters. I'm amazed. Some of these geraniums I have wintered over in the house for several years and never thought to try to divide them. Retired turned Green Thumb, that would describe him. {smile}

Have you noticed the baby birds are now finding out how and where to eat. I have a mother woodpecker - a downy - I feel so sorry for her she has a male offspring that looks half again as big as her - and she is still feeding him. He is learning, but still can't master the new suet feeder. The robins have had their fledglings out for a while and they pretty much know what to do. It is so much fun to watch the mothers teaching their little ones how to eat.

The baby rabbits are on their own running just behind mom now too. So far the blood meal and stinky version of marigolds are keeping them out of the lettuce and peas. I have heard that human hair will work too. You can check out your local beauty parlor to get some...for most critters even the deer fences don't work.

I hung a single CD over my strawberries and surrounded them with blood meal and we have been able to pick at least a quart of strawberries a day without sharing any of our tiny patch with critters and birds.

Happy 4th of July to those of you who celebrate - please join me later for more tips for your organic garden.
Make it a great day!
Billie

Black Capped Chickadee Antics

Black Capped Chickadee's abound at my feeder near a soft maple tree outside my kitchen window. There is a bridal wreath bush a few feet from the feeder that the birds love to escape to with a treasured sunflower seed. I watch them and the other birds as I eat breakfast every morning.

One morning I watched in delight as I saw our maple tree was running sap (it's that time of year in the North Woods of Wisconsin - cold nights, beautiful sun shinny days draw sap up the maple trees and the maple sap harvesting season is in full swing.) Well the woodpeckers had damaged various branches with their hammering. Warning signals, territorial, not destructive, but very intent on making their message clear--the tree will heal quickly in the spring and early summer.

The results created maple sap icicles that the chickadees hovered at like humming birds as they drank from them. It was amazing and wonderful to see. At one time we had seven icicles dripping sap from that tree. What a delightful picture to watch.

That same tree once had a sunflower blooming in the crotch of a branch about half way up the tree. We managed to get a picture of that, but that's a summer story. Keep your eyes wide open, you never know what amazing things nature will show you when you do. Please share with me when you do see something that causes you to stop and smile in your hurried day.

http://www.billiewilliams.com
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Do Animals Think - or - Reason?

Do Animals Think?

I would have to say yes. I mean I put up a squirrel baffle to keep the critters off my bird feeder. It was a tube feeder that had a tray on it — to save the dropped seeds. Smart move put a baffle over it. That is until the gray squirrel decided he was too hungry to ignore the source of his delight – black sunflower seeds. He had already ruined two tube feeders. We finally hung it by a cloth covered wire so he couldn’t chew through and drop it to the ground. This is one determined squirrel.

Okay, Baffle in place. Are you ready for this. As I watched his efforts he shinnied down the wire onto the baffle —zip, slip, smash he was on the ground. Back up the tree he scoots, out on the limb, down the wire, onto the baffle. He did this three times, now he adds a little flip at the end of the slide – a near miss he lands on all four feet on the ground. The next time he timed it perfect, as he flipped he grabbed the tray under the bird feeder and crawled back up to the feeder.

I chased him away, but he had it figured out now. Turn my back and he was back at that black sunflower seed tube feeder with a vengeance. I won, I changed feeders and moved the feeder under the eaves of the house – He has not figured out how to get to that yet – oh, did I mention I got rid of the tube feeder with the tray – this one is a straight tube feeder, no tray for him to fall to – so far so good.
I have resorted to Cheyenne pepper on the other feeders – it only works briefly the reasoning behind that is that birds do not have olfactory glands (Butch if you are listening, that is used on more then the scratch off lottery tickets that don’t win) Those are the glands that allow us to smell – birds don’t have them – but apparently after a couple hours the squirrels can also by pass the pungent odor of Cheyenne pepper. So I have added a lower tray feeder especially for the squirrels where I keep a reasonable supply of sunflower seeds just for them and what the birds can steal while they are gone. They leave the upper feeder alone unless theirs is empty. Perhaps I should try moth balls in the feeder—hmmm but I am worried about contaminating the seeds for the birds. So I’ll feed the squirrels – we have a limited truce I guess.

Yes, I do believe animals have a brain and that they think with it, some more then humans = )
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Billie A Williams
Mystery/Suspense Author
Accidental sleuths solve crimes
With wit, wisdom, and chutzpah
www.billiewilliams.com

Four to Six Inches of Snow Predicted

We are in a winter storm watch. It started snowing about a half hour before the weathermen thought it would. Does that mean we are done gardening?

To me it means drag out those gardening catalogs that come earlier and earlier every year and start planning for next year. Those delightful blooms and veggies, fruits and shrubs are sure to get your happy spirit up. Personally, a warm fire, a toasty mug of herbal tea and a stack of paper to plot, plan, and scheme are my respite from any storm.

I learned while I was researching cyanide poisoning for one of my mysteries that the lovely privet hedge shrub is deadly. [and so too is the Pink Lady Slipper wild orchid that was featured in "The Pink Lady Slipper"] Now that was a frightening thought. Apparently our systems, the liver to be specific, can deal with cyanide rather effectively unless it is in large doses. The apricot pit is laced with cyanide, as are apple seeds and any plum type fruit. The good news is that unless ground, chewed, or deliberately ingested like the Apricot Kernels sold at health food stores a while back--they are not lethal to you. Whew!

Remember too that those beautiful poinsettia plants are poisonous to your pets.

So I will continute to let my privet hedge divide my property into neat they and me space.

Get out those catalogs and begin your dreams for next year. I hope that they may all be productive and colorful. Oh, and after you are done with your Christmas tree this year, be sure that you hang bread cubes and peanut butter pine cones on it and stand it in your yard for the birds -- our feathered insect repelents.