Most of you know that, because of large trees, most of any gardening we do is in the side yard. Due to some major life events this past year, there was no gardening at all. Partly due to time constraints, but mostly to do with lack of motivation.
Looking out the kitchen window was fairly depressing, so I set out to add some minor points of interest on which to gaze while doing my least favorite chore of washing the dishes. I love to watch wildlife out my window, but because we have always had cats, very few species dared to entire our yard. Now that we are kitty-less I decided it was time to start feeding the birds again. In the past we felt it pointless and almost cruel to provide a “kitty-buffet” for not only our brood, but the multiple strays that wondered in. Now that we have none of our own, we have fewer feline visitors.
We put up corn feeding stations for the squirrels, who now provide us with much entertainment, and two bird feeders. We only feed safflower, nuts, and black oil sunflowers in hopes to pull in the specific species of birds. Along with the feeders, I provided a “make-shift” watering spot as well. Every day, as I would stand at the sink, I wondered how long it would be before the little darlings found the bird feeders. Every day I was met with disappointment….UNTIL TODAY! Today, my patience was rewarded with the site of two finches!
This week we also actually planted some mums that I had sitting in pots on my front porch in hopes of saving them before another (major) freeze. No sustainable vegetable gardening going on here at the moment, but I figure that about February I will be perusing seed catalogs and dreaming of a greener side yard for spring.
