hummingbirds

The hummingbirds are back! We just cleaned out our hummingbird feeders and set them out with a fresh “nectar” solution. Within 24 hours, the birds started coming by regularly for the first time since last year. We had the feeders out all winter, but the sugar water was old. What I can’t figure out is how they know that there’s fresh food for them in the feeders–can they smell it? They’re feeding more vigorously in the mornings and evenings. I love watching them zip around. Here’s a crude photo of one bird that has been coming back repeatedly for the past couple of hours.

If you want to make your own hummingbird nectar, there’s an easy recipe here.

Flower Power

As an addition to my vegetable garden this summer, I am also learning a bit about flowers. Since my favourite part of growing anything is in the eating, I have been particularly focussed on growing edible flowers. Pictured here is tonight’s salad with a few fresh garden greens along with flowers from my chives (lavender colored flowers) and calendula (orange and yellow flowers) plants. I have yet to taste the calendula but I hear it’s a lot like cucumber. I am also growing borage and nasturtiums whose flowers I also plan to add to my salads. But they’re still little seedlings so the flowers won’t be ready for a while yet.

The Wasp Nests and the Waspinator

This year, it appears there’s been some sort of peak in the wasp population… at least there is in our backyard. We had one nest that was started last year, and already two in the works this spring. We’ve been lucky enough to find them early and nip them in the bud–i.e., my husband was sent out with a pesticide in hand that traps them in the nest and suffocates them. I usually don’t allow the use of any kind of pesticides in my yard, but when it comes to wasps I make an exception, especially now with Maya spending time out there. My biggest worry is that a wasps nest will be built somewhere that we can’t readily see and will be large and well-established by the time we figure it out. So, I’m looking for ways to prevent this from occurring. In the interest of doing things as naturally as possible, we’re going to experiment with something called the Waspinator which is an artificial wasps nest that you hang in your yard. Supposedly the Waspinator will deter wasps from building a nest because they are territorial insects and will want to avoid spending time near an enemy nest. Hopefully this works… I’m open to any other ideas for preventing this problem from recurring. Anyone?

Post-Natal Family Vegetable Garden

When I was pregnant, I felt horrible. I had brutal morning sickness for the first trimester, and waves of it came on throughout my entire pregnancy. Then, just as my nausea began to subside, I was hit with a terrible bout of heartburn which only increased in intensity right up until I gave birth. Needless to say, I was not myself and I couldn’t do the things I normally enjoy. This meant that, among other things, my yard and my vegetable garden were completely neglected last year.

Now that gardening season is upon us again, I am determined not to let my yard go. The flower garden is almost totally cleared of weeds and looking quite healthy. Even more importantly, I spent two days this week clearing a mass of weeds out of my vegetable garden, and I’m proud to say that I have already planted the following veggies: peas, lettuce, spinach, broccoli and carrots. I also bought 6 amazing little tomato plants of the “sweet million” variety–they were on sale for 0.77 cents each at GardenWorks in Victoria! I also bought a peppermint plant that I will put in a little herb window box as soon as I get my old planters cleaned up. And there will be much more to plant in the weeks and months to come!

It’s so important to me that I teach my daughter, Maya, the value of growing her own food. By growing a family vegetable garden I hope she will learn the following lessons:

1. She will understand where her food comes from, a connection that is often lost on children
in our modern supermarket oriented society.
2. I also hope to teach her the positive effect that backyard gardens have on her own health
as well as the health of environment. By growing our own food we will reduce our ecological
footprint and ensure that the food we eat is grown free of harmful chemical pesticides that are
used in the growth of conventional produce.
3. She will gain enjoyment and personal satisfaction through watching her plants grow from
seedlings to ripe vegetables which she will find taste immeasurably better than anything
that can be purchased in a grocery store.

Does it get any better than that?