wagwinggarden: October 2010

Gardening started back with the purchase of my first house plant for our apt. in our early days of marriage..In short of a year , that grew to 86 plants.Yes, a 2 bedrm. apt. with 86 houseplants. It looked like a jungle and I LOVED it....even had a bird to complete the look. When we moved into our home we got our first dog(like 3 days later).A springer spaniel we named Rusty, joined our family. It was during this time that I discovered that planting a garden and having a dog poses a few problems...digging,trampling,peeing, just to name a few.I bought a large pot and salvaged some of my new plants. It worked beautifully.Rusty left it alone and it filled out nicely. I began to add more pots slowly over time. Nice thing about container gardening...almost no weeding(YEH!) and you don't have to work the soil.Years and dogs later my garden developed into what it is today... a collection of over 200 pots with some plants (roses and large shrubs) in the ground.Soon birds, bees and butterflies started to arrive. Up went the bird feeders... T o bring in nature, you have to provide them places to hide(large shrubs ,trees, a variety of flowers they like, and most important , water. A fountain of moving water will attract birds like a magnet. I have 3, two of which I simply made.The view out my large bedroom window is amazing.... a mass of activity...birds of different types, occasional butterflies, bees, even a squirrel( what a surprise that was). Hummingbirds being my favorite, I have feeders for them all over the yard and they are around them all day til dark. When it rains, it is a sea of hummers, counting 27 around 2 feeders at one time. If you get into feeding them make your own food...it's cheaper and easy. To one cup of boiled water, add a quarter cup of sugar(I make mine a little stronger, they love it). Let it cool and fill your feeder...then wait for the show...be patient....it may take a few days for them to discover it. Keep the feeders clean and put fresh nectar in every 4-5 days. I have to fill at least one of them every day so I make upa large batch and store in the fridge.(should have seen the look on my husband's face when he thought he was drinking water) should of had my camera....well, maybe not... As all gardeners know, your garden is never done...always changing...which makes it fun...Fall is when most of the work starts, trimming back plants, and getting ready for new ones....Most of my extra money goes into my garden........and bird seed.... which explains why I own only 7 pairs of shoes and my clothes fit nicely into a six foot only closet.California has me spoiled...gardening YEAR round