Weekly Garden Thread - May 20-26, 2023 [Bird Chirping Weather Edition]

May 20, 2023 | Diana in WI/Greeneyes in Memoriam

[FamiliarFace]

I love those poppies! I wish I had some in my yard!

I have a couple of Celandine poppies that have finished blossoming. They are some of the first real Spring flowers that I see here.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

The Bridal Wreath Spirea hedge is a great place for cardinals to nest! I hope you have some hidden in there!

[Pollard]

Got my mater/bean trellises set up. I only own one Forstner bit but it happens to be a 1 inch which is the same size as my sucker rod. They drill such nice holes.

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Such a snug fit that I didn't need to attach the chain to the posts to hold things together so I just ran some 3 1/2" deck screws through the chain/turnbuckles.

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The center set of poles are so tall because I didn't want to cut any more down. I have 12 footers sitting here and cutting in half again gives me 6' posts for my electric fence. I cut the two outer sets to 8' but that left me with four pieces 4' long which are of no use so I left the center set the full 12'. With 2' in the ground, that leaves them 10' tall. If I have to climb a ladder to harvest pole beans from vines that get 10' tall, I'll be ok with that.

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Kind of wish I'd have drove the center ones in another foot for 3 foot in the ground but I didn't want to make it hard to get them out later plus it was already dicey using a t-post driver while on the second highest step of a ladder, with the ladder on dirt with a slight grade to it. My ladder is also missing one of the brace arms which makes it a little dangerous even on level ground.

That center set looks goofy being so tall but maybe I'll get lucky and have beans hanging 10 foot in the air. I need to see if the place I got the sucker rod from still has them so I can get some more. They're really handy and drive into the ground a lot easier than t-posts. Just can't use them in the dips because they'll pull up/out pretty easily too. For the electric fence, I take a grinder and cut grooves for the wire to sit in. No insulators needed on fiberglass rods and the cost ends up being $1 per 6 foot post.

The rows are running Northeast/Southwest so hopefully things won't shade each other too much.

Need to get the rest of my maters in the ground. Prefer a cloudy day for that but the forecast is sunny days all the way out. Best I can do is plant them this afternoon after the sun is down past the trees. Ordered a 14 foot square shade cloth to go over top of the trellises for July/Aug or if it's like last year, June/July/Aug. Shade cloth won't get here for a week or so which is too long to wait for planting because I have 18" tall maters sitting here in 4 inch pots. I'm sure I'll have to tear off some circling roots as it is. Gonna go out and get my holes dug at least this morning while it's cool. Gotta build a little raised bed for my Shisito peppers. I'm spoiling them this year with organic raised bed mix.

I work tomorrow and Fri and then have Sat/Sun/Mon off so I should be able to get those high tunnel frames welded up and hopefully get them in the ground too. Now I have a problem where the tunnel is going though. Horse Thistle popped up there this year dammit. I'm sure there's chiggers and ticks put there too so I'm going to mow really short around the thistle, wait a couple of days and then start digging thistle out.

Son, get your gloves and let's go meet Mr shovel and Mrs Thistle.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Merlin Bird App (Free) I have not used it so cannot give any guidance on it.

https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/?mc_cid=4620a77399&mc_eid=16e8a93ef2

Part of the mission of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is to help people find the answer to “what’s that bird?” We know sorting through a massive field guide, using search engines, and other resources can make it really challenging to figure out what you just saw—our goal is to make that challenge easier.

Merlin is designed to be a birding coach for bird watchers at every level. Merlin asks you the same questions that an expert birder would ask to help solve a mystery bird sighting. Notice that date and location are Merlin’s first and most important questions. It takes years of experience in the field to know what species are expected at a given location and date. Merlin shares this knowledge with you based on more than 800 million sightings submitted to eBird from birders around the world.

Merlin also asks you to describe the color, size, and behavior of the bird you saw. Because no two people describe birds exactly the same way, Merlin presents a shortlist of possible species based on descriptions from Cornell Lab experts as well as thousands of bird enthusiasts who helped “teach” Merlin by participating in online activities. They’ve contributed more than 3 million descriptors to help Merlin match your input with the most likely birds. When you identify a species and click “This is My Bird,” Merlin also saves your record to help improve its future performance.

Some people experience birds through the viewfinder of their camera, and putting a name to the bird they just photographed can be both rewarding and educational. The Photo ID feature in Merlin allows anyone with a camera to snap a photo and get a list of suggestions. Photo ID is yet another method to help you identify the birds you encounter.

We launched Merlin in 2014 with the goal of adding more species and more features in time. We appreciate your feedback about what’s working for you, what isn’t, and features you’d like to see. If you’d like to support our efforts to continue developing Merlin, please consider making a donation.

We hope you enjoy using Merlin and sharing it with your friends and family!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Great addition, Pete!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a great resource for birding. I don’t have a smart phone, but I use their website when I’m stumped on a birdsong that I hear.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/whats-that-bird-song-merlin-bird-id-can-tell-you/

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Meant to tell you that we have three Northern Catalpa trees in the house yard. Ours are just starting to leaf out - they’re usually the last to do so, along with the Black Walnut trees around here.

They are spectacular when they bloom; each bloom looks like a mini Orchid.

They are messy though - spent blooms and the long pods they drop all over are a pita, but worth it for the show they put on in the late Spring. :)

https://www.thespruce.com/northern-catalp-tree-profile-5072953

[Augie]

5yo grandson Rhett calls them our popcorn trees. lol

The bit of mess they make is a fair trade for the nice visuals.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Good observation there, Sonny! :)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

It's been way too dry for Morel Mushrooms this season; we've only had ONE inch of rain for the entire month of May, but Beau brought me a half-bucket full of Golden Oyster Mushrooms with more to come. Yummy!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Augie; Great picture. (Nice house! Son’s or Daughter’s house I assume. Cistern under that deck? )

33 Yr old daughter loved the cat in the popcorn field picture!

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Pollard. Not quite sure what I am looking at. The high tunnel? Consider some lateral cross bracing to stabilize the center post that supports the middle ridge to the 2 outside post/lintels, or maybe something like 3 or 4 small scissors brace trusses to tie the center ridge to the outside posts together. I think this will bring up a picture of a small truss.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/6051780741902243/

[Augie]

That’s my house. No cistern. Jacuzzi tub.

Dobby the Cat. He’s from San Diego. Prefers the Misery countryside.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"Jacuzzi tub." OK, Well not a fresh water cistern, but a gray water source for the garden the long dry Missouri summer. (Because the pond water is for the perch and bluegills!)

The cat....happy to escape all that sand in San Diego!