Monday, July 30, 2012

Plants in Peril

We have 6 chickens, and sometimes it seems like a heck of a lot more! The damage they have done in my gardens is not nice...when you consider the time & money spent on them. Love the fresh eggs, but...
Starting to dig & scratch for bugs

My poor Frosted Jade hosta and butterfly bush!

One of the holes dug in a new area of the garden, so much for my glads & lilies :(

And they are having a field day in the woodland garden! Most of the plants have been there for years, but newer ones are in danger from those claws. Not sure what we're going to do about this area...already lost a few. But I'm trying to save my hostas...I collect and love my hostas!
See all those rocks? They uses to be around the cedar tree...that's how strong their claws are! This is a tiny section of that garden...and all the bare spots...used to be filled with plants. :(

Larry suggested putting landscape fabric up as a fence to stop them from coming up to the courtyard area. Yuck! How ugly! I asked how much chicken wire he has left over. Not enough, but it's cheap enough to purchase more. As we discussed this, sitting sipping a cocktail, I noticed an old deck railing I had leaning against the tree. Remembered there were more out back.  A friend had torn down his old deck and brought them over (we get everyone's garbage)...he was going to burn them when I told him no way, they'll be useful one day!
Leaning, waiting for me to decide what to do with it

"Hey Honey, how about that old deck railing? Wouldn't that work, and look a hundred times better?" He jumped up, grabbed the measuring tape and we measured, and measured twice. We had the perfect amount to build a fence across behind the tree!! "Wow," he said, "you are a genius, great idea!" My 'feathers' puffed out in pride. :)

We brought them all forward and the next day he built the fence! I was soooo pleased, he did an awesome job and it looks wonderful! He even built a gate!
Pickle wondering why all the rails are up here.

My wonderful husband started the fence! Look at all the dead grass and poor shrubs...drought and high heat did a number on everyone this summer.

Hard at work. And Pickle bathing...

With the large maple tree, there are large roots. He broke an axe chopping those roots to put the fence poles in. oops


Starting the gate...as you can see, he didn't measure twice to dig the hole. lol

Done!!! 
Brownie & Pandora are confused as to why they can't get to the side garden! lol

With the chickens not being able to venture to where the bird feeders are and scratch around for fallen seed, I decided to move the bird station. And decided the fence would be a perfect place to put my collection of bird houses! The other side of the fence is now my 'bird garden'. :)
See the old bird's nest? I know it won't last long, but it's fun for now! Going to put solar lights on top of the gate posts. (ignore his collection of garbage out back...he keeps promising me it's going...)

 Put the feeding station in the area an old honeysuckle had been, so the ground is perfect for scratching chickens. :)

 You can see some of the birdhouses on the fence

 My nephew gave me this bird house and I love it!

And the old/new bird cage that so far only the chipmunks seem to use.

But we are far from done. Now comes the task of cleaning up & repairing the damage the chickens did. We are getting a load of soil to level out the ground/holes, and then a load of mulch to put in the new gardens I'm adding. And I'm in the process of making stepping stones for the pathway...but that is another post.

I've also made a bird bath out of concrete to add to this bird garden and you can see it in my Home Made Bird Bath post. I love it and so do the birds!


My entry into Terrific Tuesdays @ Adventures of a DIY Mom sponsored by Appliances Online and their best Range Cookers.

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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

New Bird Feeder, um, I mean Cage, no, Feeder!

So I went yard-saling last weekend...again (becoming addicted!!) and found a slew of great items to recycle! One of them was this bird cage. Nothing fancy, nothing old (you can find this same kind in the pet stores) but I thought I could do something neat with it. See the big old wrought iron one beside it? Wow!!! I'm thrilled with that find and can't wait to re-purpose it! But that will be another post. :)


Had some red & yellow Rustoleum Painter's Touch spray paint, so I painted the top...

 The dogs just had to investigate, aren't they adorable!!


...and the bottom...



...and decided it looked pretty neat!! And decided to put it on one of the shepherd's hooks in the bird garden. I have some of the chicken scratch feed in it (Larry bought the wrong kind, we need layer feed, and we can't use it so we figured some wild-life will like it!)

 Just noticed I forgot to put the perches back in...have to do that tomorrow.

I spray painted some steel wire yellow to match the cage and secured the door and 'food holder doors' open so the wild-life can get in & out with ease. 

Haven't seen any bird in it, figure they must feel too 'caged in' so they use the regular feeders. BUT, the chipmunks love it!! Saw one this morning peeking his head up every once in a while. They probably feel safe from the cats in the cage. I'm so happy they feel at home in this feeder!

And the great thing, the chickens love to scratch around the feeders...they devour all the seed that falls, which is wonderful!! We don't get a lot of weeds growing under the feeders.

Pebbles under the feeder loving the seeds the birds drop

Update:
Even though I had drainage holes in the bottom, when it rained the feed became soggy & clumped together. So now I only use it for the peanuts, and yes, the blue jays love it! They go inside to get their treats...never thought I'd see that!

Learned Something Yesterday...

I have to apologize, but I thought if I replied to your comments on my blog you would be notified. Apparently not...so, now I will either reply via email or go to your blog to comment on your post. I guess blogger or blogspot doesn't do notifications, and that is new to me. I am still fairly new to blogging, so still learning all the ropes. Sorry, if you felt I was ignoring you, not the case, I reply via the post and unless you check back, you won't see it. I will still leave a comment on the post, but will also contact you in other ways.

So, thanks for all your comments on my blog!! And I hope to get to know you better by visiting yours! (which I should do more of anyway...just so hard in the summer with all the gardening!!)

Debbie :)

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Blooms, Blooms and More Blooms!

I've been busy taking pictures of some of my flowers around the yard. I love the variety of colours and textures. I want to share these and hope you enjoy them as much as I do! As you will see, I love love love my tropical Hibiscus and Echinacea.
Debbie :)

 Amaranthus

 Monarda Bee Balm

Celosia

 Celosia

 Diplidenia

 Echinacea purple


 Echinacea Coral

 Echinacea and Delphinium 'Blue Mirror' 


 Echinacea 'Red Salsa' 

Echinacea white

 My favourite tropical Hibiscus...love the double peach!!

 Tropical Hibiscus yellow

 Tropical Hibiscus single peach

 Tropical Hibiscus orange

Tropical Hibiscus pink

  Day Lily

  Heliotrope 

 Caladiums in my pond 

Phlox

Phlox

Phlox

Rudbeckia

 Rudbeckia

 Dragonwing Begonia

 Passion Flower

 Begonia

 Speedwell (Veronica) 'Giles van Hees'

 Peace Lily

Cyclamen

 Stephanotis...almost open!! 

Mandevilla

 Purple Salvia

Red Salvia (Hummingbirds love this!! Looks like ants do, too)

 Stocks

Stocks

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