Fred,

To keep your bird baff clean, you gotta hose it out every day. Really no shortcuts. You could hook up a battery powered timer to a hose bib and direct a hose to spray it out automatically every day.

Concerning your vine, well, "He who smelt it, dealt it". Got any pics or better descriptions of leaves and flowers? Could it be balsam apple or skunk vine?

Jerry

jerry is right .
I have 4 bird baths and hose them out almost every day .
Once in a while I empty them completely ,
and scrub with just a brush - no soap or bleach .

With weeds - dig when ever possible rather than pull .
Whatever the weed- ya gotta get to the root of the problem .

Hi Jamie! Always nice to see you posting!

I think what you are hearing about the fountain is the only answer. Constant filling, refilling and occasional scrubbing. I have 2 small birdbaths and I have to hose them out every couple days to keep them looking nice. (Which means, of course, that they don't always look nice! But on Saturdays they are beautiful. lol)

I don't know what your weed is, but it sounds like this might be a good job for just a small application of RoundUp. I know many people don't like to use it, but if you have something that you can't get rid of any other way, it may be what you need. Apply it to the lowest leaves you can so it has a better chance of getting to the roots instead of just killing it back to a node.

Kate

Hey Jamie! Nice to see you posting. How are the fur babies?
I'm betting your weed is balsam apple. Very smelly, pain in the butt stuff. I'd lay down some newspaper and mulch or keep pulling. Newspaper and mulch works better.

Here is a link that might be useful: Check it out!

Well I can't argue with the advice on the fountain. I figured being more diligent about its upkeep would be the answer...crap! Just kidding! You are all right. I need to get out there with a brush, the hose and some elbow grease.

As for the stinky weed, I'll try to take some pics to post. Jerry and Marion, it could be a balsam apple, but I'm not sure. All I know is that it stinks and grows like gangbusters and I detest it. Kate, some roundup might be in order, especially if I can find its epicenter of growth.

Marion, thanks for asking about the fur babies. They are both doing very well and get more stubborn with every passing day. Just gotta love little German dogs!

Thanks everyone for responding!

I was also thinking about the vine msmarion showed. The leaves look like small squash leaves, the whole vine is pretty soft, the fruit look like squashes, but they open to show big red seeds. You have to stay three jumps ahead of this thing, because the seeds resow the plant everywhere.

Ignore the stink, find the main stem, and get the roots out. Then clean up the dead vine, being sure to get all the fruit. Then, watch the garden and yard carefully - the first little tendril you see, pounce on it, and eliminate it with extreme prejudice!

Hiii, Jamie!!! *waving happily* So good to see you posting!

I'll bet anything your vine is skunk vine (named for the very obvious reason you described so...ummm...elegantly! Hehe!) Balsam apple gets bright orange fruit which pop open and spread big seeds around. And it has little flowers like eileen mentions. It is very easy to pull out, and very tender, too. Easily crushed. If your vine resists pulling out, has no flowers or bright orange fruits, and really, REALLY smells bad, I'm guessing skunk vine. (Balsam apple smells unpleasant, but not quite as noxious as skunk vine.) Both are very invasive and hard to get rid of. I suggest you pull and cut all you can, and then carefully apply Round Up to the rest using a paintbrush to be sure you don't spray any on your hedge. Good luck with it.

There are some folks who tie sprigs of lavender and other things to float in their birdbaths to keep them clean longer, but I really believe in just rinsing and refilling daily, myself. I do it when I water the plants in the morning, and it's pretty quick. I use the jetspray setting to splash all the dirty water out, and then I refill with one of the regular, softer settings, et voila! Done in 60 seconds. Okay maybe a tiny bit longer, but not much.

If I have a lot of birds, I do it twice a day, but more because they splash all the water out than because of dirty water. Don't worry about algae in the bottom of the birdbath. It doesn't cause any real problems, and frankly, I think it looks more natural than sparkling white stone, but that's an aesthetic thing.

As for the real scrub it up and leave it shining cleaning, a stiff brush is usually all you need, but you don't have to worry if you want to bleach anything. Just rinse it carefully before refilling. Bleach evaporates very quickly, and doesn't leave any residue that is harmful to birds. Soap, no. Bleach, not a problem if you really need it and you rinse well. But usually a scrubbing with a brush will take care of it. (BTW, when I say I don't mind how algae looks, I just mean the darker, mossy looking type. Not that nasty, slimy string algae that you get once in a great while. THAT has to go!)

Good luck with it all, and don't be such a stanger. We miss you. (And the doggies, too. My little Maks is a year old now, and so darn cute! He and Potter are real buds.)

Marcia

Marion:
Your vine is cerasee - a medicinal vine grown in tropical climates. It is used to cleanse the stomach ehrn used as a tea and has been boiloed to use ob babies (or adults) with exzema. It does not smell very pleasant but is effective for a stomach ache. The berries are also edible - they have a sweet taste although the vine is extremely bitter.
At one time it was even touted as a deterrent to cancer.
For what it'd worth!!!