I am using two upside-down planters this year in the hope of extending my season. I am using "Sub-Artic Plenty" tomatoes, a bush tomato that was first developed in the 1940's to provide the US Air Force stationed in Greenland with fresh tomatoes. They have a unique ability to set fruit under cool conditions. I started them earlier than others, and already have blossoms. I am hoping that at the end of the year, when the weather turns colder, I can move these hanging plants back into my green house and they'll keep on producing for a while longer. I'd even be willing to run the space heater if we had a cold snap (as long as there was warmer weather in the forecast). Obviously, I can't afford to run the space heater all winter long! ($$$) I will be very interested to see how it all works out. Like Omega, I have the Gardener''s Revolution, so she has really given me a "heads up" to make sure the self watering part works. If not, I have those "watering spikes" that you hook up to either a 1 or 2 liter pop bottle (after you've cut the bottom out of the bottle), and I can water them that way. Hadn't thought of putting any plants in the top, but come to think of it, as long as they're not heavy feeders. that would be a way of keeping the soil in place and holding in moisture. Good idea. Thanks! MacThayer

Spiders...ick. That milk jug feeder is an excellent idea - I may try my hand at one. I like the terra cotta dish feeder that I fashioned. I've never had trouble with the dishes freezing or cracking, but yeah, they do fill up with water, snow, etc. Mine hold either Niger, Canary Seed or Canola. The House Sparrows never feed from them. I got DH to make a couple of hanging platform feeders that are screened on the bottom. We drilled holes around the outside frame and fed thru a bunch of cord, used a keyring as a hanger. I'm pretty sure I've posted pics of this before. They work well for mostly all birds except the big ones. The House Sparrows initially didn't like all that cord but they've now gotten used to it and feed from there. At least they don't knock all the seed out. Speaking of sunflowers, we dried some heads this year. Last year I just stabbed them onto a nail on the birdfeeding arbor, but this year I used 3 lengths (4', I think) of rebar, poked them in the ground (one straight up and the other 2 at an angle from the same point in the ground) and then put the heads on top of that - tres cool looking. The uses for lengths of rebar never fail to amaze me. I'd like to do another one - a 6' length straight up then 5 shorter ones at an angle around the tall one. Or, 5 different lengths close together all sticking straight up.

Good idea,.. it helps for birds what can hang underneath.

You are probably correct about the corn and millet but my intended purpose is to photo document as many species of birds as I can. To that end I put out a large variety of foods that will attract all birds, whether they are consodered desirable or not. In fact,as long as I keep the feeders full I see very little actual competion between any of the species. Now I will freely admit that sometimes I have to refill the feeders 2 or 3 times a day and I scatter a considerable amount of seed as well as Bread, orange peels and apples on the ground but I get the apples free and 10 loaves of bread for a dollar, and there is an upside to this method. 1. The Squirrels actually prefer the bread.: . 2. generally the starlings and sparrows prefer to feed on the ground, here again, often preferring the bread to the seed, not to mention that there is a flock of 31 wild turkeys that come in shortly after daylight to get the bread and corn that is left on the ground. Even the Bluejays and Cardinals prefer to feed on the ground and often I see a half a dozen species of birds feeding right alongside a squirrel or chipmonk and on two oc occasions I have seen a groundhog feeding with the birds. Now I am sure that I could get a more selective clientele if I changed the menu but at my house Nobody goes away hungry.