I saw my first robin yesterday, a happy sign of spring after a long winter, and it inspired me to clean out the bird houses around the yard and hang a basket of goodies for birds to build their nests. The cardinals, chickadees, finches and winter wrens stay throughout the year, but it is always a welcome sign to see the summer birds arrive once again. For my bird goodies, I just use a feeder basket that can be purchased at most grocery stores and bird feed suppliers, and fill it with strings of cut yarn no longer than five inches. I keep it as natural as possible, using wool yarn not overly treated with chemicals or dye. The birds have already pulled some of the strings and will weave them into their nests.

Birds seem to love my garden, especially the central arbor, even though it arches over a well-traveled gateway to the vegetable garden beyond. I have begun to call this the nesting arbor. Five nests were built last year within the wisteria vines that cover it, and throughout winter I keep the bird feeder well stocked.

There are lots of good reasons to make your garden more welcoming to birds. For example, it is no secret that birds are a natural form of pest control! Most garden birds eat a diet of seeds, berries, and insects. Additionally, in late spring and early summer, birds are busy filling the mouths of their hatchlings. Baby birds like nothing better than freshly caught bugs! However, that isn’t to say that birds aren’t an issue at times, especially if you don’t have a bird feeder. They will try to dig up any seeds that you have buried for their dinner. I know a few people who have had to get in touch with a bird control service (you can see an example of one at – https://www.apexbirdcontrol.uk/service/anti-bird-netting-poole), so it’s just one more reason to keep those bird feeders stocked so that they won’t make a meal out of your lovely garden.

This is excellent news for gardeners, because garden pests are usually at their peak in late spring and early summer. Birds can therefore save us lots of headaches by combing our gardens for cabbage worms, whiteflies, aphids, earwigs, grasshoppers, cucumber beetles, grubs, and other pesky pests! Which reminds me, you can learn more about some of the most common garden pests to be on the lookout for this spring here: https://www.pestcontrolexperts.com/. If you prefer home remedies better than pest control experts, there are options for that too. Especially for rats and other rodents like gophers which damage plants and crops, need special control. They can destroy the plants and also make horseshoe-shaped mounds. Gophers are sensitive to strong smells, they are known to dislike the smell of fish scraps, castor oil, peppermint oil are which you can easily try. However, you might need to ask for tips from the pros on how to trap these pests properly. When you adopt such home remedies that are chemical-free, you won’t harm the birds, just the rodents.

Some of the birds that I have befriended also love to nest in a couple of the trees in my garden. To be honest, it is about time that I got the trees in my garden pruned as quite a few of the branches could do with tidying up. I know that my friend recently contacted a Lake Oswego tree service to prune the trees in her garden so I think I am going to do some research online to find an arborist in my local area. Some things are best left to the experts after all and pruning your trees is definitely one of those things. I would not want to disturb any nests after all.

Anyway, here are a few pictures I took of the nesting arbor in my cottage garden this morning. It may seem colorless, but if you look closely you’ll see the wisteria has begun to bud…

Bird basket full of nest building goodies.
Notice the nest above from last summer that I haven’t had the heart to remove.

Cleaning out the old nests before spring birds arrive to build new ones.
The mama bird who stayed here last summer loved morning glory seeds.
And I wondered why I didn’t have many seedlings last year. Now I know. 🙂

As you can see, I don’t chase my squirrels away from the feeders.

Cardinal and finches taking their turn on the feeder.

I never see the nests that are built on the nesting arbor until fall when the leaves shed from the vines, but I do enjoy watching the birds jumping in and out of the arbor with treats in their beaks for their eager young ones. Their high-pitched tweets echo throughout the garden when Mama arrives back in the nest.

Nesting arbor in summer.

Wherever you are in the world, may signs of spring be in your midst!
Best wishes,
Jan

I have been tucked away in my office writing, so I haven’t done much this year to my little cottage garden. However, my garden didn’t seem to mind, because summer has arrived in full bloom without me. I have more hummingbirds this year, butterflies, birds, and bumblebees than ever before. In the mornings, when I walk around with my first cup of coffee, it is like listening to a symphony of nature. It is so beautiful. One day I’ll have to post a video on my blog or directly on my Instagram story so you all can enjoy the birds with me. I suppose I’ll need to look at getting some free followers before I start posting online, I’m not much of an Instagrammer!

My garden is only small but I love it just the way it is. At the minute, it’s manageable. However, when I get older, I may not be able to keep on top of all of the jobs that need to be done to ensure the garden looks lovely. In that case, I’ll probably need to find someone who can sort my garden for me. Perhaps a company like https://www.lawncare.net/ could maintain the garden, it’s worth keeping a business like that in mind for when we all get older!

Although my garden is smaller than others, I was speaking to one of my friends from Australia the other day though and she told me that she is currently in the process of having a granny flat built her in a large garden. Her parents are not as mobile as they used to be so she wants them to live as close to her as possible. It turns out there are plenty of granny flat builders in the Sydney area who can create the granny flat of your dreams provided you have enough space. I thought it was such a lovely idea as caring for your loved ones is so important.

Back to my garden now though and I love perennials, and I tend to choose hardy ones that come back each year without fuss. Peonies, poppies, Dutchman’s pipe, climbing roses, wisteria, clematis, honeysuckle, and allium are all in bloom. Everyone always asks how much time this takes to maintain, and truly, it isn’t much. I do one round of weekend weeding and mulching each year in the spring, and then let it go for the rest of the season, except for an occasional offender I might see while walking about in the evenings when my husband is grilling. Of course, there’s the odd job in the garden we’re not able to do ourselves unless we want to put ourselves in harm’s way, trying to tend to or remove a tree being the one that pops into my mind. If we ever have a need to do these tasks, we’ll likely use the arborist services (like those found here – www.treeserviceremoval.com) for assistance.

Although, for whatever reason, clover abounds in my flower beds this year. I’m just going to take that as a sign of good luck. Here are a few pictures I took yesterday. There will be another round of photos come mid-summer, when my daisies, coneflowers, dahlias, sunflowers and morning glories arrive.

Until then, here’s a little photo stroll through my garden in June…

Pinks and poppies spill over the walkway.

Open the garden gate to where the lanterns have been hung.

Pick a bouquet of peonies for the table, and don’t mind the ants because they are working hard to pollinate them for next year.

Grapes have begun to grow. They were a gift from a library patron and are over five years old now. Maybe this year we’ll try to make wine. Or drink someone else’s attempt and eat the grapes.

Boil some sugar water and fill the feeders.

For the hummingbirds to enjoy.

Hostas keep the clematis’ roots cool.

The gate keeper assesses the situation…

And then snuggles into her favorite shaded spot.

The climbing roses have begun to open. They get one uninterrupted bloom before the Japanese beetles hatch and much away.

The Dutchman’s pipe vines its way around the garden bell. Look closely and you’ll see it’s in bloom. Maybe this year we’ll get Dutchman Pipe butterflies.

Hope you all have a wonderful summer!

Best wishes,
Jan

(post transferred from original blog)