Last year a cute little Downy Woodpecker came to spend the spring with me.
This year the tree favored by this cute little creature has since been cut down. I worried that this year they won’t have their nesting tree and won’t come back.
Well today I sat and watch several DWs visiting the yard possibly looking for a nesting site.
I hope you enjoy the little Spark Page I created from last year!
See the Downy Woodpecker close up and enjoy the “little” things in life.
Does the thought of digging a new garden make you just opt for a large potting container instead?
This is no one’s favorite garden chore, but there’s no way around it. Your chosen site will probably have grass on it or at least weeds. These must be cleared somehow before you can plant anything.
Tilling without removing the grass or weeds is best done in the fall so that the grass will have a chance to begin decomposing during the winter. Even so, you will probably see new grass and weeds emerging in the spring. It’s better to either remove the existing vegetation completely or to smother it.
NO DIGGING for the “patient” Gardener
A sharp flat-edged spade can be used to slice out the sod. If you have poor soil and need to amend it with organic matter or other nutrients, removing the sod may be your best bet, so that you can till in theamendments.
Removing sod can be heavy work, and you wind up losing good topsoil along with the sod. If your soil is in relatively good shape, it is possible to leave the grass in place and build on top of it. Place a thick layer (8-10 sheets) of newspaper over the garden bed and wet it thoroughly. Then cover the newspaper with 4-6 inches of good soil. The newspaper will eventually decompose, and the turf and weeds will be smothered. There may be some defiant weeds that poke through, but not so many you can hand weed them.
Starting with good soil means you won’t have to add a lot of artificialfertilizerto your garden. If you’ve fed the soil with amendments, the soil will feed your plants
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Imagine having a bag of Figs in your refrigerator for about a year. No one is going to eat them! I decided to take that practically full bag and plant the figs in “my growing pot”. (That’s the pot for all my experiments!)
I totally forgot what I planted since I frequently stick flower stems, seeds, etc, into that growing pot, anything really, just for fun.
Much to my surprise some nice large green leaves popped up. I put a photo onto Facebook to try to get help identifying the leaf. (I forgot what I planted – it was a year ago) Everyone guessed wrong. It turned out to be Fig Trees!!!
The fig is similar to a maple leaf in the background
I have two in the ground but they sure liked being in that pot best!
Pineapple
This pineapple , you guessed it, is of course the green top of one I twisted off – bought at the store!
Black Eyed Peas are fun to grow
Black Eyed Peas
My friend gave me a baggie full of beans and said they’d put nitrogen back into the soil. Yes bought at the store!
Celery
Now that growing pot got taken over by Celery. I just pulled 7 out and placed in garden.
Sorry to say they are not store bought. They actually grew from seeds, I tossed in a year before!
Watch how to grow more store bought vegetables from my garden friend.
Please to announce another recognition for doing my part to save the Monarchs.
The metal plaque will be placed along side of the Backyard Gardeners Recognition to providing the important habitat to wildlife.
We can all do our part by simply providing host plants imperative to the survival of the species.
Milkweed plants are part of the complete cycle needed for caterpillars to gorge themselves before the cocooning stage can happen.
This plant you see is a “snack” for maybe 1 caterpillar. The leaves would be stripped in a few hours. So you see, we need to be diligent and plant as much as we can!
Please keep pets in and safe from attacks as it is Coyote mating season.
In the 30 years as a Deltona resident, this is the first time I’ve heard that Coyotes are lurking around!
There have also been reports of wounded cats and dogs on the Neighbors App. Typically Coyotes aren’t usually a threat. I’ve learned this from posts by neighbors as well as the Sheriff Dept.
Also the lakes (watersheds) are full. If you haven’t been on India Blvd lately, take a ride and see how high the water table is. What could have been burrows, could now be flooded forcing Coyotes out into neighborhoods. That’s my opinion.
“Deltona Lakes” are back if only temporarily.
The “Neighbors App Alerts” have been helping our neighbors monitor car thefts, break in’s, crazy activity “AND” find their LOST pets.
It’s free! I think it’s pretty neat.
Our local law enforcement has joined as well to help in real-time and It’s anonymous – by radius. Share with your neighbors!!!
Deltona Garden Community 