Homesteaders

[rancher hicks]

some say it is safe.. I am sure it is safer than sevin or Pyrethrum http://www.motherearthnews.com/orga...rol/how-to-use-bt-pesticide-zw0z1304zkin.aspx
also different strains for different bugs.http://www.planetnatural.com/bacillus-thuringiensis/

Thanks.


Everyone else: Did I mention that I saw a pair of Baltimore Orioles? I think I did, but I've never seen them before in all my years so I was really excited to see them.

 

[duluthralphie]

I am having a regular visit from a red tanager this summer. I had one pass through last year. This is the first time we have had one all summer..

A new bird is always exciting.... (at my age it does not take much to excite)...

 

[rancher hicks]

I am having a regular visit from a red tanager this summer. I had one pass through last year. This is the first time we have had one all summer..

A new bird is always exciting.... (at my age it does not take much to excite)...

Same here. I got excited to see a Hummingbird today. Do you know why hummingbirds hum?

 

[ldawntaylor]

Hi,

A frequent lurker and occasional poster here.

The hummingbird hums because of how fast its wings beat.

You probably know they will come to feeders and such. They need a sugar/water syrup. You can bring 1 quart of water to a boil and then dissolve 1 cup of sugar in the boiling water. My mom adds a couple of drops of red food coloring. Some people buy syrup from a store. Some even buy the syrup that has vitamins added to it.

Personally I doubt my sugar water is the birds only nutrition source so I just let mine be a "snack station" assuming they are getting their nutrition from the flowers plus the bugs they eat.

Lisa

 

[rancher hicks]

I did know that about hummingbirds. Feeding and all. We used to live in the city and it was a rare thing to see a hummer. That's why I was surprised. We were given a feeder but I gave it away as I'm not up for keeping it set for them. I'd hate for something to happen to them if I neglected it.

Anyhow. Why do hummingbirds hum? : Because they don't know the words.

Now for why I logged on. I have a climbing rose. Grew from cuttings of my next door neighbor long ago. Each year I try to get it to survive the winters AND mice who have girdled it a couple of times. It makes it back. BUT this past year I put hay and hardware cloth around the base and wrapped it with burlap, in hopes of getting the canes to survive and flower this spring. It only blooms once. Still it did not. Some canes survived but not enough to cover the arbor and bloom.

What can I do? My neighbor never covered hers and some years it would bloom profusely. It wasn't on an arbor, but draped over the chain link fence near the back of her house and sheltered somewhat between our houses, as we lived in the city.

It got one flower this year and the new canes are up high. A couple will be over the top of the arbor. What can I do to get this thing to survive into next year?

 

[Molpet]

I did know that about hummingbirds. Feeding and all. We used to live in the city and it was a rare thing to see a hummer. That's why I was surprised. We were given a feeder but I gave it away as I'm not up for keeping it set for them. I'd hate for something to happen to them if I neglected it.

Anyhow. Why do hummingbirds hum? : Because they don't know the words.

Now for why I logged on. I have a climbing rose. Grew from cuttings of my next door neighbor long ago. Each year I try to get it to survive the winters AND mice who have girdled it a couple of times. It makes it back. BUT this past year I put hay and hardware cloth around the base and wrapped it with burlap, in hopes of getting the canes to survive and flower this spring. It only blooms once. Still it did not. Some canes survived but not enough to cover the arbor and bloom.

What can I do? My neighbor never covered hers and some years it would bloom profusely. It wasn't on an arbor, but draped over the chain link fence near the back of her house and sheltered somewhat between our houses, as we lived in the city.

It got one flower this year and the new canes are up high. A couple will be over the top of the arbor. What can I do to get this thing to survive into next year?

when you prune them makes a difference , I gave up on roses after the Jap bettles showed up LOL
http://www.starkbros.com/growing-guide/article/all-about-climbing-roses

 

[Woodsdweller]

Same here. I got excited to see a Hummingbird today. Do you know why hummingbirds hum? 
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Ummm.. cos their singing is horrendous.

 

[Raech]

Well I got productive today, after the daycare kids went home i got all 3 house's yards mowed. As was doing mine I noticed that I had a tomatoe starting to turn yellow!!! My first tomatoe starting to turn, oh I want to runa round the yard dancing.

 

[rancher hicks]

What's up with my Cosmos. I have them in pots and they are doing fine except for one plant. It's all wrinkly and looks sick. The other plant looks fine................so far. Any thoughts?

 

[Beekissed]

Put a load of wood chips on the garden this evening where the chips were too thin. Got ripe maters out there which I intend to dehydrate. Getting yellow squash now. Corn is tassling and earing up, beans are getting tall, some tomato vines are topping 8-9 ft. , though they are just cherry tomatoes. The rest are at the 6 ft. height but all have blight, so it won't be long before they succumb to the fungal infection. Peppers are all blighted as well, as are the potatoes.

Picked up four young cockerels from my sister today...she's one of those folks who don't like to kill chickens, so I get the benefit of that now and again. The sad part is that all her hens go to waste as they die of this or that, so that meat is entirely wasted and her birds suffer before dying. Some things you can't fix.

Hope to get a chance to pick up more spare roosters here and there this season for extra meat...that's meat I didn't have to put much money into at all, so it's a win/win.

And that, my friends, is real chicken math....addition and then, later on, subtraction too. These cockerels will hang around here free ranging until they are big enough for eating and then will be put to good use.

Got another broody...that's three hens in the broody buster pen right now. Need to put up a spare roosting space for young birds that are growing out....thinking about using a part of a pallet for that.