Are you interested in Bird Watching, feeding the birds, helping birds, anything to do with birds? I agree that this may not be the opportune time for some people going into the winter season to buy bird watching supplies, but winter comes with its own breed of bird, and bird watching supplies make great gifts for your bird loving friend.
There’s also a comedy coming out that should be really good with these actors combined. It’s called “The Big Year” and opens in theaters on Oct. 14),
It features Jack Black, Steve Martin, and Owen Wilson play three bird-watching enthusiasts who enter into a year-long contest called The Big Year, in which participants attempt to spot the greatest number of birds in North America. (This is a real competition by the way, and the movie is based on the book by the same name.)
You may have already seen a commercial for the movie, but if not you can watch the trailer for The Big Year here: http://www.thebigyearmovie.com/
So get ready now and have your bird stuff ready. Wouldn’t it be a great gift idea to give someone tickets to the movie along with a Birdcam? I would be really excited! Here are a few ideas for your or your bird watching friend:
Wingscapes Audubon Birdcam
Wingscapes Birdcam 2.0 with Night Flash
Bird Baths
Hummingbird Feeders
Bird Seed Feeders
Enjoy! Have a laugh at the movie and then let your bird watching take on a life of it’s own.
October 5th, 2011
Yes, flowers are nice, but sometimes you just need something a little more. A centerpiece that you can masterfully plant flowers around that draws the eye to a spot of color or a special place. That’s where outdoor garden décor comes into play.
This is a small area of our yard where we have a stone garden statue. And around this piece of outdoor garden décor Jeff has decided that pink is the color for this area. So in the spring, there are lots of pretty pink Azaleas and Rhododendrons. It’s a splash of color that you just can’t miss.
Jeff actually has these little statues all around the yard. In a container gardening area, you’ll find small lion statues peeking in our door, surrounded by containers of beautiful flowers. Then there’s another centerpiece of garden statues and fountains that make for excellent bird watching as they bath and play in the water.
Even if you have a small space garden, you’ll find that it becomes much more interesting if you add a little outdoor garden décor. And things like sea shells and small cherub garden statues can even be placed in a square foot garden to add that little something more. So what are you waiting for, there’s lots of interesting things you can do in just a little space to make your garden outstanding!
Shop for garden statues, busts, angels and cherubs from Accents in the Garden the source for garden decor and outdoor statuary.
May 22nd, 2011
Ahh, my yearly Lilac Bouquet has arrived. Jeff did a good job on it this year, it’s twice as big as last year’s flower gardening bouquet!
I love lilacs! They not only look good, but they make the entire house smell fresh. He actually snuck them onto the table while I was in the kitchen. I walked by the table in a rush to get something from the pantry and smelled them before I even noticed them setting there!
Fresh cut flowers are always a nice surprise!
May 13th, 2011
Now, to you this picture may not look like a lot, but to me it looks like fresh lettuce all summer long. It’s our first lettuce crop of the year and we’ll be growing lettuce all year long!
Growing lettuce is not a hard thing to do, although, this year he did use a seed starter kit.
Lettuce is an early crop, so you need to plant it before the first signs of spring This year Jeff planted about five different varieties and they make a very yummy salad all mixed together.
If you’re planting lettuce outside, you’ll need to use a cold frame for about six weeks before the last frost. The soil should be loosened for about 10 inches. Then use an inch of good compost or well-rotted manure.
Plant seeds 1/4 inch deep and 1 inch apart in rows or in your square foot garden. You can also just throw them into the bed if you don’t care for symmetry. When growing lettuce from seed, it should sprout in 2-8 days when your soil temp is between 55 and 75 degrees.
If you’re planting lettuce indoors with a seed starter kit, like we did, put them under fluorescent lights around the same time. Then put the containers outside when the lettuce is about three weeks old for a couple of days before planting. After planting give them some shade for a few days to get them used to the outside and get their roots stabilized; then you’re good to grow!
Some of our lettuce bolted early, so we just pulled it out – mostly because he had some spinach he wanted to mix in and needed the space! But if you wanted to grow more lettuce from seed next year, you can let the yellow flowers bloom until they turn into seedpods.
Our lettuce is planted under a tree in our back yard. Since our back yard is mostly filled with concrete because of the pool, he has to get creative when gardening. I really don’t know where the zucchini vines are going to go, probably over to the right a little. Its container gardening at its best!
He also has a trellis just to the right of this tree on the back fence where the pea plants will eventually climb. We’ll also have tomatoes soon too! I’ll post a picture of them when I get the first red one (they had to be planted in containers).
Oh, and did I mention the potatoes are also in. We had such good luck last year with our potato harvest that he planted double the amount this year. Again, they are under a tree, but who cares as long as we get to eat!
I’ll post more photos as the sun begins to shine and things start to bloom in our backyard Garden of Eden!
May 9th, 2011
How many times have you gone out into your yard, took one look at it, and just shook your head because you just didn’t know what to do with it? Sometimes figuring out the landscaping can be the hardest part of gardening. I also know it’s the easiest part for some people.
My husband, for instance, has very good vision. He can look at something inside or outside and rearrange it in his head. He can “see” it perfectly before he even begins to rearrange things.
Me, I guess I’m a writer! If you tell me what you’re going to do, I just can’t visualize it! I don’t know why that is, or how it works, but it can be frustrating at times because I can’t give him an opinion on what I think about his ideas.
Well, at least there’s hope for us to both have a vision in the landscaping area because I found this new landscape design software where we can draw it all out before doing any digging or re-arranging. You can design your landscaping, or redesign your entire back yard (or even design your own home!). The possibilities are endless!
The software has “drag and drop” functionality which makes it really easy to use. It’s probably hard to imagine just by reading this, so why not take a look at the pictures of what it can do at the site. You’ll never be left scratching your head again!
Click Here to Check out this Cool Home Landscape Design Software Today!
April 20th, 2011
I just found this on sale at Amazon and thought I’d share since it’s Jeff’s Birthday soon – not that he needs one, but you never know. . .
It’s on sale for about half the list price!
April 18th, 2011
We have a space on the side of our house where Jeff’s is slowly growing a sort of secret garden. There are currently a lot of plants, a stone walkway, and then a space between the walkway and the fence. He used to have grass planted in that area, but it was hard to mow because it’s only the size of a couple lawn mowers. And weed-eating it didn’t exactly give it the most groomed look. So he decided to grow moss.
At first he asked the neighbor if he could use some of the moss from his back yard, so he planted patches of that in the area. But that looked like it was going to take a while to fill in the area, so we figured out how to grow moss for this small space garden. Here’s the “recipe” to grow moss:
You will need: 
- a blender
- some moss
- ½ tsp sugar
- can of cheap beer (or buttermilk)
Put about a handful of the moss that you want to propagate in the blender along with the rest of the ingredients and blend just long enough to break down the moss.
Then spread the “soup” over the ground or on rocks where you want the moss to take over (use a spatula for rocks, a small shovel would work for larger areas). Then wait and watch your moss garden grow! I’ll put pictures up when it looks a little better.
Note: The first time Jeff learned how to grow moss he broke my good blender! This time he went to a thrift shop and bought a cheap blender to mix up his concoction. This is a MUCH BETTER idea! And, of course, that cheap blender mixed up about 10 batches of this moss soup and is still in working order.
I wonder if I could still make Margareta’s in it? Hum. . .
April 7th, 2011
It’s a good time to learn how to ripen pears because they’re about ready for picking. Actually, pears have to be picked before they are ripe; otherwise their skin gets that gritty feeling when you eat them.
My friend told me how to ripen pears after you pick them by putting them into the refrigerator for a week or two. But this is the slow way. A quicker way is to put them in a bowl and store them at room temperature. Depending on how un-ripe they are, they should be ripe in about a week.
You can also put them in a paper bag, like you do with avocados, to speed up the process. And if you’re in a big hurry, here’s how to ripen pears even faster!
Put them in a paper bag, and then add bananas or apples to the bag. This has been known to increase the concentration of gasses around the fruit that helps them ripen.
You will know when the pear is ripe when the skin around the stem is slightly soft when pressed. Then, if you have a bunch of pears that are ripe but you’re not ready to eat them yet, put them in the refrigerator. This will slow down ripening, but you will still need to eat them within a few days.
Now you know how to ripen pears, so go out and pick some! Yum Yum!
October 17th, 2010
Here’s my one and only fruit fly trap for getting rid of fruit flies easily:
* one fourth cup apple cider vinegar in a small bowl, add
* 1 tsp. Dawn dishwashing liquid
Spray a small amount of water in the bowl so the dish soap foams, then put it where the fruit flies are. Come back in about an hour and inspect. You’ll be surprised that they’ll all be in there – at the bottom of the bowl.
This is the method for getting rid of fruit flies that I use every year. It’s fast, simple and works every time!
October 11th, 2010
Well, here’s our potato harvest for this year. Only a few of the plants had turned brown, but once Jeff got the pitch fork in hand and started digging, he got a little excited about his little potato harvesting adventure and just kept harvesting.
It might look small in the picture, but actually this little potato harvest filled up one of those small plastic shopping bags – so we’re very happy since we only had about six plants, and they were all in a small space garden.
Only Jeff could get a potato harvest like this from potatoes planted under a tree, in the shade, in Seattle Washington! He’s really got a green thumb! We’re going to boil up the baby reds for dinner – I can’t wait!
If you don’t like to eat potatoes, perhaps you would like to learn How to make a Potato Gun?
September 29th, 2010
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