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.

I'm linking to:

Carter's Cottage My Monday Muse

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!

Yard Sale Finds

Larry & I walked up the road last Saturday to check out a couple of yard sales going on in the neighbourhood. And, of course, I came home with some great finds!

I bought this old milk can...something I've wanted for years ever. It is smaller than I wanted, and has a painting of farmland and animals all around the body, not naturally rusted the way I like them. But, bonus is, the dairy stamp is still visible!  On closer inspection, I found it still has the UPC code! It is made by a company called Houston Harvest Gift Products from Franklin Park IL. The woman told me she could never figure how to get the lid off...probably because it doesn't come off, never meant to. I was so happy to finally find one at a good deal, I didn't check all this when I picked it up. I didn't even barter...then again, I rarely do...I usually just pay the asking price or when I have a few items ask what do you want for all this and then give it to them. lol Yard sale people probably love me. :) I don't go often enough to feel comfortable haggling about price. 

Laurel from The North End Loft posted on how she took a milk can that had been painted red then black and 'restored' it to it's original rusty patina. And all with paint! I was amazed at how natural it looked! I have to look into this...I'm hoping the picture can covered and the can will turn out rustic & old. Using her technique, I'm sure it will turn out to be just the way I want it. This is a project I will post when I finish...hopefully soon. 

The family was also selling a bunch of bird houses. I only bought 2, brought them home and immediately started spraying them with some paint I had left over. 

These need a coat of something or other...

I didn't get rid of all the decor on this one, just touched up a bit of paint here & there. Messed up the front, but hopefully the birds won't mind. Will probably work with this one some more, not happy with it...I was too trigger happy and in a rush! (Oh and the one in the background...dollar store, thinking this one's going to have a paint-job in the near future)

 I do like the way this one turned out! Used a pretty blue and 'splashed' some old ivory on top to give a bit of a worn look. I know the birds will be happy here!

Saw this metal container, now this is a patina I love!!! Didn't need to do anything with this fella, just fill with stones, soil & plants!

A couple of Echeveria and a crassula

I also found this old container that I don't think needs a thing done to it. I did have Larry drill a few drainage holes in it, now all I need to do is figure out which plant I'm going to transplant into it.

The church was having a huge sale. And all I came away with was this small Blue Mountain Pottery gravy boat for 50 cents.

 Potted it up with some succulents and it looks great!

 Off the yard sale topic, but still recycling...a nieghbour was getting rid of some old stairs that led to their porch, once upon a time. They brought them over to burn one night when we were having a bonfire. I really have to keep an eye on Larry and his fires...he loves to burn 'garbage' to get rid of it...I keep digging in his burn pile and rescuing stuff. I rescued these stairs and they make a perfect potting 'stand' for my collection of hibiscus!! And I don't need to do a thing to them! :)

I love finding reusable stuff that is usable as is!! And so much of these are perfect just the way they are. :)

Garden Visitors

I love the birds. My first pet was a budgie called Mickey. I have always had bird feeders on my property, different ones for different feed to attract different birds. You can see my post on the hummingbirds here. And I love having homes for the birds so I have assorted bird houses around as well. I am lucky to get lots of varieties of our feathered friends visiting. I will sit quietly near the feeding stations with my camera hoping to catch a bird or two enjoying the feast I offer. And of course, the chipmunks always enjoy the buffet. Unfortunately, I don't get the squirrels because we have chickens, and squirrels just don't like chickens! (guaranteed you will not have your fall bulbs dug up if you top them with hen manure a couple times a year!!)

So I am sharing a few pictures of visitors I had the other evening. I was disappointed because the cardinal picture didn't turn out and every time he came around there was too much activity going on, meaning he didn't stick around. One day soon...I promise I will have the perfect picture of one of my favourite birds. :)

 Blue Jay

They love the peanuts I put out for them!!

 Yellow Finch

These pretty fellows seem to prefer the black oil sunflowers over the niger seed!? 

Wren

You can see her peeking out the 'door'. She makes her home in this old bird house every year. (at least I like to think it is her coming back each year, or maybe it is her daughters returning home to raise their young?) :)

 Chipmunk...he loves the peanuts...heck, he loves it all!!

I love the birds...and my most relaxing time is sitting in my garden with my camera trying to catch all the activity in my own backyard.