Thank you, green garden and kimmsr. I can see one of the problems is that I use the no till method- plant an area, put down newspaper and mulch in between plants and leave it alone- requires little weeding. Also, this being sand, the roots of whatever is planted adds organic matter. But, I am putting down some compost now and will do some raking in areas that are not so thickly planted- maybe that will help some. I would like to have a bad-tasting spray to put on the worst hit plants- start w/ that next spring and protect those plants before the grasshoppers destroy them. (Would you believe that the grasshoppers have done a lot of damage to a large holly shrub that I have? Why can't they eat the wild holly in my yard instead of my precious "Christmas Jewel" holly???) I don't know if it will make a difference but I hope I will be able to plant some rye this fall- at least that will improve the soil. Thanks again, Brandy.

How nice this thread got bumped! I enjoyed re-reading it and thinking about how much the yard has changed in a year. My bird-friendly yard is evolving. Have made great progress removing invasives, particularly Bittersweet, Buckthorn, and Norway Maples (treework cost me $2000 last year and there's still one GINORMOUS Norway maple left). There was a lot of brush created by all this tree/shrub work. Some was burned this Spring, right smack in the middle of the Oriental bittersweet patch, but the rest is in piles. The brush piles attract a lot of birds, particularly Sparrows, Cardinals, Juncos, and Wrens. The birds also love the back half-acre, which is wild and full of Crabapples, Choke Cherries, White Pine, and still some invasives like Honeysuckle and Autumn olive. Also making great progress on growing bird-friendly natives. Purchased another 50 native tree/shrub seedlings from the NH Nursery. That makes 130 total between this year and last - all of which ultimately make berries/nuts for the birds and wildlife. Most of them are in holding beds and haven't flowered yet, too little, but I've given away some and started to plant out a few. I winter-sowed many native species of perennials, annuals, and vines. Exactly where all this stuff is going, is not completely clear at this point, but I'm creating lasagne beds like crazy! The birds are always flitting around the yard and it's only going to get more interesting and fruitful for them (hopefully). It's great!

its easy to make a pvc pipe pole and either bury the end of the pipe in the ground or a small bucket of cement so it stands up well. make sure its away from trees or fences or other things a squirrels can climb and jump across to the feeders. Squirrels and chipmonks can't climb the plastic pipe you can put 3 way T fitting on the top so a short pipe sticks out two ways. you can hang a feeder from each side either by a shepards hook or a hole in each side to use a cable or chain to hang the feeders, Put a platform on one side for nuts or fruit or bigger seeds and a hopper feeder or tube feeder on the other side for sunflower or saffflower or choppped nuts or raisens.

In my zone blue jays love webworms. The worms become abundant just as the chicks are hatched & the adult jays collect so many it looks like they're carrying bundles of yarn in their beaks.