Thursday, May 24, 2012

Title 2

One of the reasons I enjoy time in the garden is our rich local bird population. It is especially fun in May because there are so many fledglings leaving the nest and playing around the yard.My number one favorites are the Chickadee Mob. 





 






















 

Young Chickadees from different nests form a flock together. Sometimes they combine with young Tufted Titmice. I call them a mob because they are raucous, loud and seem bent on terrorizing the neighborhood. Follow the leader is a favorite activity. Unlike other birds they seem to have a routine of circling their territory that you could set your watch by.

























Next most entertaining are the Mockingbirds. There is a fledgling flock of Mockers as well. But the real entertainment is a Mockingbird who has incorporated the call of a Rain Crow into his repertoire. 




























 Unless I see the mockingbird, I can't tell him from the real thing.




Wrens have the loveliest songs. But I rarely see one now as they seem very busy raising young. We have Carolina Wrens and Bewicks Wrens.




























Crows I do NOT enjoy. I would like to encourage them to leave. This morning a group of crows we're harassing my local Red-Tail Hawks. They may have been trying to attack and eat the hawk babies - and being predators of other species young is something crows are prone to do. This certainly makes them harder to love for me. There was quite a noisy battle in progress and I hope the hawk parents won. 































 I would like to eliminate the crows as I know my corn crop will be in danger soon, but they are quite wary and flee the moment we go outside.I hear Cardinals singing in every direction and we seem to have a large population of them. But at the moment we only see fleeting glimpses. They are also probably busy with young.







Birds in the Garden

Susan's Garden Planner from GroVeg.com



One of the reasonsI enjoy time in the garden is our rich local bird population. It is especially fun in May because there are so many fledglings leaving the nest and playing around the yard.My number one favorites are the Chickadee Mob


Young Chickadees from different nests form a flock together. Sometimes they combine with young Tufted Titmice. I call them a mob because they are raucous, loud and seem bent on terrorizing the neighborhood. Follow the leader is a favorite activity. Unlike other birds they seem to have a routine of circling their territory that you could set your watch by.


























Next most entertaining are the Mockingbirds. There is a fledgling flock of Mockers as well. But the real entertainment is a Mockingbird who has incorporated the call of a Rain Crow into his repertoire. 





























 Unless I see the mockingbird, I can't tell him from the real thing.





Wrens have the loveliest songs. But I rarely see one now as they seem very busy raising young. We have Carolina Wrens and Bewicks Wrens.





























Crows I do NOT enjoy. I would like to encourage them to leave. This morning a group of crows we're harassing my local Red-Tail Hawks. They may have been trying to attack and eat the hawk babies - and being predators of other species young is something crows are prone to do. This certainly makes them harder to love for me. There was quite a noisy battle in progress and I hope the hawk parents won. 
































 I would like to eliminate the crows as I know my corn crop will be in danger soon, but they are quite wary and flee the moment we go outside.I hear Cardinals singing in every direction and we seem to have a large population of them. But at the moment we only see fleeting glimpses. They are also probably busy with young.




















Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Elephant Garlic and Herbs

General View of my Garden 4/16/2012
I decided to start a blog as a method of tracking my progress in the garden. I realized I have learned a lot this year I didn't know before and have not really kept track of my progress. So here goes.

Elephant Garlic Bulblets
 I dug my elephant garlic yesterday I had about 5 dozen little "bulblets" from the base of the mature garlic. After some research it appears you can grow new garlic from them but it takes two years. I can't resist a challenge so I planted them today in a corner of the garden. Apparently you can pull them early much as you pull immature onions to eat as green onions. So this will be something new to try.

 This was a productive 3 hours spent in the garden. I cleaned up and fork dug the garlic bed. I added some compost and replanted the aforementioned elephant garlic bulblets. I also refreshed some other beds with compost getting ready for herbs, planted two replacement JalapeƱo plants (their predecessors unexpectedly bit the dust) and I up-potted some herb seedlings from the starter trays. I am getting a super late start on herbs because I wasn't sure I had room for them. Since I do, I figure it's better late than never. I have starts of dill, basil, cilantro and borage. And I have some marigolds for companion planting and to help draw pollinators.