Garden Solutions - February 2013

 

You would think that we gardeners would spend the winter months curled up by the fire, perusing seed and bulb catalogs and daydreaming about our gardens in the warmer months ahead. That is well and good from about Christmas to mid-January and then we start to get the itch – you know the one – our fingernails are just to clean and it’s time to get our hands in the soil. A great way to satisfy your green thumb during the winter is to tackle a classic indoor gardening project. Mini gardens have become all the rage. They can be open topped terrariums, saucer planters or low dish gardens. The imagination can run wild with ideas to make it a “playful” space. My granddaughter loves to play with my gardens by moving in dinosaurs or fairies and playing “Princess Stories”. This is great way to get the children interested in plants.

It is also time to think about starting any garden and flower seeds in the house that you may want to grow this year. The choices are many. Our last frost date is around May 1^st, so back up the weeks on the calendar for seed starting so you know when the best time for planting in the house would be. Ample light is very important for this task. Seed varieties can be found in many forms also. Besides the tried and true varieties grown for years, heirlooms and organic seeds are now readily available. Botanical Interest is a wonderful line of garden seeds that offers health and recipe information on the packets. They are great for the beginner gardener.

 

Now going beyond the garden, from dinner on a city rooftop garden to watching football in suburban outdoor living rooms, we Americans have once again fallen in love with the great outdoors. Outdoor living is more than dressing up patios with a few containers. People are transforming their ordinary backyards into “specialty rooms” complete with kitchens, bars, televisions and even heaters for cool nights. Flowers, trees and shrubs are being used as accents, room dividers, carpets and curtains. As we go outdoors more often with our families, friends and pets, it is only natural to think more consciously about how safe our own backyards are, giving way to the new twist in outdoor living: the “eco-chic” movement. Environmentalism is on the upswing and is changing everything from the types of cars we drive to the food we eat and even the way we garden.

 

And last but not least, February is National Bird Feeding Month. So if you have not enjoyed this hobby before, it is not too late to start. Bird feeding is an entertaining and educational pastime that can be enjoyed by everyone. You can invite the kind of birds you want to your yard by choosing the right feeder and food they prefer to eat. They are many bird behaviors and seed preferences. The “sit and eat” birds stay at the feeder while they eat. Goldfinches and Siskins prefer Nyjer seed offered in tube feeders, and Cardinals and Grosbeaks prefer black oil sunflower seeds form a hopper, or platform type feeder. The “grab and go” birds include chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches and Woodpeckers. They take a seed and eat it somewhere else. They prefer black oil sunflower and peanuts out of the shell or split. These bird types come to tube, hopper or platform type feeders. The “floor feeder” birds are the ground feeding birds that may also eat on an elevated feeder. Juncos, Sparrows, Towhees, and Doves are in the group.

There is a coming event to be held in Washington that will offer great information on wild birds in our area. Interested in naming all of the beautiful birds that visit your backyard, and attracting more? Your invited to “Life in the Landscape,” A Winter Bird Workshop, on Tuesday, February 26th at Hillermann Nursery & Florist. A Seminar and Question & Answer Session will be held from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m., and a “Birds in the Hand” Banding Demonstration will be held from 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. The Missouri River Bird Observatory will teach you how to identify birds, the species you are most likely to see during Missouri's winter, and how to make the birds at home in your yard via bird-feeders and landscaping. A one-hour seminar will be followed by a bird-banding demonstration where you will get to see birds up close and personal! Likely catches include cardinals, woodpeckers, and chickadees. Learn more about the Missouri River Bird Observatory online at http://www.mrbo.org/.

Until next month,

Sandi Hillermann McDonald