Need more birds in my yard, but how?
9 years ago
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- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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How many yards of compost will I need to topdress my lawn?
Comments (6)I guess I am lucky. Compost is free here in Lincoln, Nebraska if you are willing to load it through a city landfill compost program that makes excellent compost from city yard waste, ten bucks to fill a pickup for you with a loader-- but they will only put in a yard, my truck will hold two yards. The stuff is even chemically analyzed for nutrients and contaminants prior to release by the local university. Initially I had them load if for me, until I realized how light this stuff is.... you back your truck up to their mountain of compost, then basically just pull it down into the truck bed--- 15 minutes and full, even with weakened arms from MS. I went from a heavy clay in my garden to the richest soil I have ever had, with zero additional fertilizer. All the veggies are giants. Last year I tested it on my lawn in a small area, it looked messy and black for a weak or so until the first rain, then was awesome. This spring, multiple loads from the dump to hit the entire yard in early spring before the big rains. Folks talk about the difficulty of spreading, but at least for me, a piece of cake. Open the pickup bed with a full load, then drive a big pattern over the yard(when soil dry so doesn't make tracks). Spread some, then drive forward 10 or 15 feet, then do it again. Afterward, get out the mower or garden tractor with the blade set quite low. Any little piles that were too heavily hit are easily spread by the mower blade. Now I am just monitoring to make sure I don't use too much, especially in my garden where high nitrates might cut my tomato production. So far the only problem I have had from very heavy doses seems to be that the compost will crust over and dry out a little faster if it is too thick....See MoreMy back yard has become a bird nursery
Comments (2)Thanks for the response, Loris, and so glad you enjoyed my article! I agree, the young cardinals are noisy, but then all the baby birds are when they want food! I love it, though, because we have our windows open, and as soon as I hear them squawking, I can rush over and watch. Today there was a squirrel doing contortions trying to leap from our hammock to our mixed seed feeder, and it was so funny watching him. We have that feeder strung on a string in the very middle of the back yard, so they can't jump onto it from any trees or straight up. And the squirrels don't seem to care about any of the other seeds, other than the one for sunflowers, but we finally learned at got one of those spring ones that close up if something too heavy lands on the perch. The few squirrels that originally tried it must have passed the word on to the rest, hardly any squirrels try to get seeds there any more. Happy Spring--and right around the corner, Happy Summer! Darlene...See MoreID request - new bird in my yard
Comments (3)Jeff-that would be my guess too. They have a unique way they bob their tail when they are sitting on a branch or line. We always get a mom that nests under our carport (Central Illiniois) and it is fun to watch how many bugs she brings back to feed the babies. Kara...See MoreHow can I attract blue birds to my yard in the winter?
Comments (12)kendra2 i was surprised to see that you are in MA and in zone 5 and have year round BB's. I am in SW Vermont in zone 4 (or 4B depending on where you look) and have been seeing BB's later and later each year and wondering what is going on as i thought they went south for winter. It is hard to tell from the posts what is happening because not everyone identifies where they are located and what zone they are in but it appears they will overwinter wherever they can. It seems unimaginable that BB's would overwinter in my region because it can go to -20 here at night and be in single digits for days at a time. Typically there is a stretch of 2 or more weeks in winter that don't exceed the teens. These temps are mitigated only slightly till one travels at least 75 air miles to Albany and the lower Hudson valley. Nevertheless, I have seen BB's later and later in the year on nice days until I eventually stopped seeing them in late November. This year I saw groups of BB's around the nest boxes on nice days several times in November and December. On Christmas eve I saw a pair perched near the house going into the snow to pick up something. This weekend is supposed to be in the high 40's and i kind of expect to see them again. So my question is: are they overwintering here or making "day trips" to their nesting grounds and why on earth would they be doing that in such a difficult environment when they could be in Carolina eating fresh fruit and bugs? Lou...See More- 9 years ago
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gracie01 zone5 SW of Chicago