calling any one from missouri

[jthornton]

I've had a hummingbird at my feeder for the last few days and I noticed yesterday that my Arkansas Travelers have blooms and the strawberries have berries on them, one was ripe enough to toss down to Monique but she didn't get it, Sweet Pea beat her to the berry. Lately when I call Monique from the deck seems like that is the new "all chickens to the front" call lol.

Speaking of fertilizer all the bags of potting soil I used say they contain fertilizer for 6 months. My raised beds are a mix of last years compost, last years potting soil from the old raised beds and some top soil my neighbor gave me. So I'm wondering if I need to use fertilizer in there on a regular basis or not? Also my deck planters are fresh potting soil so I wonder about fertilizer for them too. I was reading my bag of Epsom Salts and it said to use 1 tablespoon per foot of plant every two weeks. That seems like a lot, what do you folks think?

JT

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I had to look up what epsom salt does for plants because this was new to me:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/epsom-salt-gardening.htm

... I’ve just used potting soil and top soil mixed for tomatoes and peppers in raised beds and containers in the past, and never really even fertized it much...

... we would compost in the raised bed a bit from fall to spring...

... but I might be the wrong person to ask... I’m not a great gardener... our plants have always done well.. but I wouldn’t say spectacular.

Maybe you could do an experiment with epsom and no epsom?

 

[SueT]

I will be interested to hear how the epsom salts experiment goes, I have no experience with store bought fertilizers at all.
I've used only chicken compost, and had a lot tomatoes last year from about 8 plants. I canned and canned and canned. Froze some. But this year, I haven't felt like planting any warm weather veggies with all this rain and cold. I only have 2 short rows of radishes and lettuces planted. The radishes are literally popping out of the ground with this much rain.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Iris of the day... we’ve got a steady slow rain for the day....so it’s soggy

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Iris of the day... we’ve got a steady slow rain for the day....so it’s soggy

View attachment 1771522

I love that one!
I don't have any like that.

 

[jthornton]

We had a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak couple at the feeder yesterday afternoon. I hope they are nesting somewhere near by as the male is very pretty to watch. And yea I had to get my bird book out to remember the name of that species lol.

JT

 

[OhZark Biddies]

We had a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak couple at the feeder yesterday afternoon. I hope they are nesting somewhere near by as the male is very pretty to watch. And yea I had to get my bird book out to remember the name of that species lol.

JT

Ohhh yay!

Last year they showed up the same time as the orioles and hung around for a couple weeks....

.... I gave up on them this year... thought maybe the rain made them move on without stopping or something....


...guess I better make sure the feeders are filled!

 

[jthornton]

guess I better make sure the feeders are filled!

What do you feed them? They were in my hanging feeder that only has BOSS in it.

JT

 

[OhZark Biddies]

What do you feed them? They were in my hanging feeder that only has BOSS in it.

JT

Yep BOSS is what I have for them...last year they’d camp out on the feeder in front of the dining room window and plow through the seeds, lol

I just checked the recent sightings on the Audubon bird app ( warning: bird geek alert! )

... and they’re in my area too ... I just haven’t seen them ...

I’ll keep a sharper eye out now that you mentioned them though!

 

[jthornton]

What do the blue tear drops indicate?

JT