‘Tis Saturday morning and I am puttering with my several favorite projects.  After I publish this blog, I will plant the tomato seeds in a Lego container (costing 99 cents from Goodwill–with [my] many holes drilled in the bottom).  Have you noticed that I have a lot of items that are red??  Later the tomato plants will be transplanted in an upside-down planter.

I tossed about one quart of bird seed in the grass, hung the whole peanut feeder (wreath) for the squirrels, rehydrated mealworms for the Bluebirds, and refilled sunflower seed feeders. I recently moved the straw wreath from outside light fixture to the storage-room door. Look, the birds have already started pulling straw out!! Likewise they are pulling fabric and string from the other container.  (My “critters” support my emotional health.)  ~~  If it gets warm enough… I may spray paint the old wrought-iron posts.  I’m so anxious for a really nice warm weekend so I can start positioning baskets in the trees for potential bird nests.

Tomato Harvest Versus Planting Date

Doing my research: Tomatoes information from the Farmer’s Almanac.

Starting seeds indoors.

Best planting dates.  Look at the information on their chart (below):  

(So I’ll wait three or four days.  In years past, I had great success planting by the moon.)

Doing my research, I found the advertisement for this tomato tree. All the details, and fancy picture that you could “zoom” for better detail, etc. “No longer available.” I wasn’t considering the purchase (because quite expensive) but the picture substantiates my belief that I really need to stabilize the hanging basket. My assembly won’t look exactly like the one in the picture but I believe I have enough “stuff” for a sturdy hanger. I see this as a challenge!! I don’t want my brain to vegetate, ha! (“Vegetate” = become a vegetable.)  All the articles about upside-down planters discuss the huge amount of water to sustain the plant(s).  ~~  I have a concern: Will the plant(s) survive for a week when I leave for camping events??  I have reservations for two events this Spring.  

Well, I exerted a lot of almost non-existent energy to spray paint one wrought-iron post and erect it.  It is 63 degrees as I write this (at 4 PM) and it has been a delightful afternoon, weather-wise.  I’ll accept an “E” for effort but the project gets an “F” for failure.  I don’t have enough strength to drive the pole into the ground.  I hammered, and hammered, and ruined the top of one post!!  I put the Bluebird house on top… and the whole thing toppled to the ground!!  (Not that the Bluebird house is very heavy.)  The bar-bells have too small a diameter so I couldn’t use them to secure the post.  (But they will work for future projects.)  I drove a smaller post in the ground and have the two tied together.  Frankly, I’ll have to give more consideration (and effort) to this specific project. (If we have any wind, I fear it will topple over.) I don’t think I can dig a “posthole” because the ground is full of tree and vine roots. (But I’m not giving up!!)

I revisited the Old Farmer’s Almanac site and noticed their recommendations re: Backyard birds.  With gardening tips, and birding, I have an enormous amount of reading!!  ~~  Isn’t that picture cute??  Not one of my pictures.  It arrived with dozens of other interesting pictures–from one of my blog followers.

My dreams–and plans–just get better (and bigger) every day!!  I read about “hanging gardens“ and think I’ll graduate to several pails and several plants!!  Hard to believe but I already have a pipe framework similar to the one in the picture.  I bought them (pipe) in 2004 when I was camping in Quartzsite, Arizona, selling EcoQuest air purifiers and water filters.  Reportedly, over a million RVers congregate near Quartzsite, on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, November through February.  Folks flee the harsh weather in the Northern states, and Canada, for Arizona’s wonderful winters.  Back to the topic of pipe framework(s): I bought… from hardware stores, in tents, with everything imaginable.  I bought, and created, extra signs.  I improvised an awning to protect my merchandise from the occasional rain.

It is irrational when you think about the fact that long links of galvanized pipe, and fixtures, were moved from Quartzsite to Lancaster, California, to Ohio, and Ohio to Shelby, North Carolina.  From a PODS storage to Waxhaw, North Carolina.  This Spring and Summer I may put them back in service!!  At least, at this moment, the project is intriguing.  Yes, I already suspect that my furry and feathered friends might steal my veggies.  ~~  I think I’m ready for the challenge!!

Too cold to work outside in the yard!! Extremely cold weather after months of a mild Winter. So I did a few “creative” things with baskets–in preparation for Spring. I recently purchased The Joy of Birding, A Beginners Guide, by Kate Kowinski. I’m learning a lot for my bird watching experience. Cardinals will nest in a cavity with an open front. (The last picture [above] is a decoration [from Garden Ridge] of a Cardinal on a nest.)  I’m creating such an environment with baskets and a wood bowl (on the left, first picture). Next to the bowl, a bamboo box that entered my apartment full of exotic tea bags.  I thought it would be nice to return the bamboo to nature.  The basket on a limb is just an example of what I will do in the nearby woods.  In the future I should be able to report back regarding the birds’ acceptance of my offerings.  ~~  While working on projects, a big kettle of homemade beans was simmering.  Yum yum!!  Smells good, too!!

Forty-four degrees when I ventured out (briefly) at 3:00 PM to fill the sunflower seeds feeders. My weather channel reports 44 “but feels like 34.”

Scrapes of paper, cotton from nutritional supplement bottles, string, and ripped rags to assist the birds building a nest–in a new clean suet feeder. I read this suggestion in The Joy of Birding, A Beginner’s Guide.

Postscript, 1:00 PM Sunday 2/12/12: A cold and windy 37 degrees when I drilled a hole, for the hook, for the nesting material. I was anxious to complete another project!! The container is outside my patio door, under the eave (so things [hopefully] won’t get wet) where I’ll be able to see the birds appropriate stuff for their nest.

Actually, it is 5:00 PM, Monday, February, 13th.  I wanted this to follow Burr-r-r-r it’s cold!!  ~~  I shopped three Thrift Shops today (after my trip to the chiropractor).  Here are the purchases that were quite inexpensive (compared to my previous retail-store purchases).  What a stroke of good fortune to find the wreath of straw.  I anticipate the birds will take straw for a nest.  Several more woven-wood baskets.  A new “top” for one old wrought-iron post.  (You’ll see it in use, in the near future.)  A small butterfly house that may never house a butterfly.  That one was one-tenth the cost of similar houses at bird supply retail stores.  The scarecrow is so cute; I couldn’t resist him!!  ~~  Do you think I’m entitled to say: “If I supply it, they (birds & butterflies) will come”??  Time will tell!!

Postscript, 6:00 PM: The sun is down but there is still some daylight.  There are–without exaggeration–over fifty birds on the feeders and scratching for seed in the grass.  I throw bird seed in the yard early each morning and hope the birds have found  all… before evening.  The squirrels, raccoons and possum search, too, and (frankly) I want to ration the furry critters.

I’ve spent a small fortune on bird feeders and “seed & feed” for my fine feathered and furry friends. Now I have some major medical expense so my elaborate spending is curtailed!! Instead of a $45. umbrella stand (at Sam’s Club), I spent $11. for two “bells” (as in bar bells) from Goodwill. I know that hanging baskets can be heavy and I don’t want to risk hanging them from the eave. (I don’t want to create damage to a rented apartment.)  I’m planning to attempt planting tomatoes in one of those upside-down planters. So-o-o-o, poles pounded in the ground might topple over in the wind, or from their own weight. It is my hope that the “bells” will help hold the pole in place. Time will tell!!  The pictures are simply an illustration of something I will do in the yard–when the weather warms up.  My upside-down planter was “free” from another JAARS resident.  I have a $5. bag of organic planter soil.  Tomato plants shouldn’t cost very much?! If you read the link (above) you’ll see that the planter can do double-duty. So I’ll transplant one or two Nasturtium plants to the top of the planter!! ~~ Question: Have I taken my backyard projects to the extreme?? Is it time to say “enough”??