I came to this forum in search of this very same topic. I have not fed hummers in the past, I was really just working on getting my gardens established. Last fall I had a hummer come through my yard and I didn't even have a feeder out (I remember seeing him at one of my perennials but I don't recall which one.) Anyway, this year I've added more hummer-friendly flowers even though none are blooming right now I did set my feeder out 3 days ago just in case. My neighbor told me she had a Hummer at her feeder last week so I'm guessing I might've missed my window. I've noticed that the robins (most numerous bird in my yard) are constantly flying around the HB feeder and landing on the shepards hook that the feeder is on. The feeder is Very close to a small lilac shrub (didn't bloom this year - too new I think) and a very mature cherry tree. All the birds in my yard LOVE the cherry tree. I haven't even had to set out a bird feeder this year, I just toss stale bread out once every few weeks and they have a field day between that, the cherries and the worms/grubs/insects in my yard. I just wonder if it's too much bird activity for hummers?

Birds are often the culprits for excavating new seeds; and small rodents. One system which may work for you is to get some small mesh 'chicken' wire to put over a row of wire hoops pushed well into the ground. Fasten the wire to the hoops. When the plants are up you can either leave the protection there until you're ready to harves - or move the wire across to a new site. (Aside: if you have found a source of trashed supermarket trolleys those baskets make very good protection for young plants and small patches of strawberries ;-) ) For the euc's: ask on the Australia forum. There are many species of Eucalyptus. Bear in mind that if you get more rain than the Blue Mountains your plants are going to grow much faster. For the tomatoes - generous holes with the soil well-mixed with plenty of compost, a stake or other means of support, and the recommended serving of fertiliser, followed by reliable watering. A trickle system would probably work well and ensure that the leaves aren't left damp. For soil-planted plants - you might want to investigate what it would take to install a watering system on an automatic timer. Trickle is probably more economical and effective than sprinklers as such. For plants you're growing on, or house plants - might be worth looking at capillary watering pads. (More forums to look at!) PS unless you have access to vast amounts of material - and mechanical assistance - your compost heaps will never supply all the organic stuff you'll want in your garden. It pays to allocate a chunk of the garden budget for buying in. If you develop the habit of always adding a couple of gallons of compost to the soil whenever you put in a new permanent plant - and a six inch layer when you renew your beds for annuals and bulbs your soil will steadily improve and so will the water-holding capacity. Mix it through rather than burying a layer. In some soils buried compost can become a toxic mess. Clay can be particularly bad this way. Keep the humus in the top six inches. If you're not home often enough to water things week by week - a deep watering and a hefty mulch layer can help plants carry over. Usually established plants will be fine. It's just the new ones that are making roots to escape from the root ball that can seriously suffer. Bare-rooted planting can take a year or so to create a decent root mass. With that in mind you might want to work a patch at a time to give the high intensity care needed to get plants well-established.

Carol Oh my yes....I had forgotten about those egrets until you mentioned it. It was horrible and right across the street from an elementary school. Really was quite unbelievable that there could be so many of the nasty things. So no, the grackles are not as bad as that. But there are more of them in my area than any time before. I truly dislike them. Randy If I didn't live where I do I might be tempted to use like methods of grackle control but would likely end up in jail....haha. However they don't roost on my property they just visit and fly through all time. I really don't know where they are roosting. But don't have large enough trees on our property. I need to post another tread about the potential problem we do have here in our neighborhood and even worse than birds. COYOTES! Believe it or not my across the street neighbor saw two of them right up on her patio looking in the door recently. And her husband has seen the pair two different times with the neighbor's cat cornered! Now this is really crazy living where we live! G.M.

I know you are going to think I am crazy, but I think the Grackle is a beautiful bird. However, I don't have Grackles around my place here in BA. I don't even know if they are numerous around here even tho I do see them occasionally in some parking lots, like Walmart. My son, in OKC, has them and despises them.