Save gas
– garden at home
You won’t read this in any financial report, but when gas prices
go up, folks stay home and
”
nest
”
. At $3.35 a gallon
– sometimes slightly more, sometimes slightly less – the only
places many people drive is to the grocery store with a stop at the
garden center and home improvement store.
Save gas – garden at home
You won’t read this in any financial report, but when gas prices go up, folks stay home and “nest”. At $3.35 a gallon – sometimes slightly more, sometimes slightly less – the only places many people drive is to the grocery store with a stop at the garden center and home improvement store.
So, we see a rise in pool sales. Patio furniture flies out the door. Backyard barbecues are the entertainment of choice. Kids play areas magically appear. And many many people choose to create a backyard oasis with flowering plants, garden vegetables, trees, shrubs and new green lawn. Here are some ideas:
Invite the birds for a banquet. If you have the tools – and the patience – build a birdhouse and invite the winged ones to visit. You can make birdhouses from hard-shell gourds, empty coffee cans, and wood and wire in numerous shapes and sizes.
No skill? You can buy unfished birdhouses to paint and decorate at craft stores such as Michel’s. Or, you can buy ready-to-hang birdhouses at various places such as Ross, Orchard Supply Hardware, Lowe’s and many other similar outlets. Some are so fancy they are used as decor inside the home; birds will never darken their doorstep.
How about a little water? Buckets of water can serve as a birdbath. But to add a little pizzazz to your yard, buy a birdbath made of stone or poly material. The birds don’t care about the building blocks, only the cool water.
Many flowering plants are attractive to birds. Sunflower seed heads certainly have their following. Hummingbirds are attracted to red tubular flowers, and the way to catch their interest is to plant red or orange trumpet-shaped flowers such as petunias, morning glories or hummingbird vine.
If squirrels are a problem, then purchase a bird feeder that is squirrel proof. However, in my experience, a determined squirrel will win every time.
Play houses: Kids love them, and you can start with a fully assembled structure from Toys R Us to little houses that you build yourself.
Or, actually grow yourself. My favorite is the Sunflower House. Use string to measure out a 4-by-4 foot square. Along the edges guided by the string plant tall growing Russian Mammoth sunflowers. In-between put in morning glory seeds. The sunflowers are the walls of your playhouse, and the morning glory vines can be trained over the top to form the ceiling. Be sure to leave a space for the door.
A Bean Teepee is another easy one, and lots of fun. Use poles to form the teepee shape that is six feet in diameter, just as you would when planting any kind of beans. For the Play Teepee, plant scarlet runner beans, which grow fast with orange flowers and big plush bean pods. You can use any kind of tall-growing pole beans, and then enjoy the harvest, while the kids enjoy the inside of their living teepee.
Create a cutting garden: While others buy expensive bouquets of flowers at the grocery store or florist, you can grow long-blooming annuals through summer. The choices are numerous, from multi-branching sunflowers to fragrant marigolds, flashy zinnias and cut-and-come-again cosmos.
One way to enjoy a cutting garden is to plant them in containers, then move the containers around to enjoy the view from different spots. In-the-ground flowers look most striking when planted in a bank of rows, so when you cut some for a bouquet, others will fill in so no blank spots bother your eye. Flowers planted now will last through fall. To avoid wasting gas with multiple trips to the nursery or home center, make a list of all the materials needed for your project. Boards, nails, bags of compost and soil, plants, seeds, twine, fertilizers, pruning shears, watering can, paint – whatever is needed put it on the list. Then buy everything in one trip.
At $3.35 a gallon, you will be glad it only takes one trip.
A Reader Wants to Know: My tomato bushes are growing just fine, but there is no sign of any tomatoes, just a lot of green growth and an occasional flower. What can I do to get some tomatoes?
Joan Says: You notice it’s been a chilly spring, especially overnight. That is why no tomatoes. Tomatoes need hot days and warm nights. Have patience. It will turn warm. Those flowers will be pollinated eventually and you will have tomatoes at long last.
