I saw my first hummingbird this morning! WooHoo! I now have 4 feeders out and ready for them to come back for their yearly visit. I LOVE feeding and watching them so much. So, get those feeders back out of Winter storage, rinse them out well and get some nectar made up.
In case you don’t already know…
Hummingbird Nectar recipe
4 parts Water
1 part Granulated Sugar
Mix/stir together in a pot, heat until it breaks a boil then turn off the heat. Let it cool and pour it in your feeders.
It’s HUMMINGBIRD time in Tennessee! Enjoy!
~ Mark Carter
Filed under: General Blog Entry's | Tags: Gardening, Pruning, Shrubs, Trees, Vegetable gardening
WOW! What a nice weekend! I spent quite a bit of time out in my garden this past weekend. It was sunny and warm and it felt so good after the LONG Winter we endured! I also spoke with many people about the coming Spring season and what to do in the garden this time of year. There are LOTS of things to do now to be ready for the quickly approaching growing season. Here is a short list…
– Spray you fruit trees! Start out with a good Dormant Oil spray. Mix as directed on the label and spray well. This is the first step in a Spray program and is well worth the effort!
– Trimming and Pruning! This is a great time of year to get out there and do some trimming. Many people ask me WHEN to prune their Crape Myrtles, IF you haven’t already, do it now! Cut back you Roses, Ornamental Grasses, Perennials, and most Ornamental Shrubs. Limb up those trees in the lawn and along the borders too.
– Fertilize! This is a great time to fertilize your Shrubs and Trees! This is a great time to fertilize your cool season lawns too. You can use a good balanced fertilizer like 15-15-15 for most chores or you can “Go Green” with a Organic fertilizer like Milorganite. Another GREAT Organic choice is to side dress your shrubs, trees & other plants with Composted Manure! Chicken Poop is my favorite and we have it available at the Nursery.
– Prepare your Soil in the Vegetable Garden! This is a wonderful time to clean up your vegetable garden! Clean out old plants and weeds, till the soil and add some amendments like ; Chicken Poop, Black Cow manure, lime, Epson Salt, Compost and pot ash. After you till your garden space, rake it out and cover the area with black plastic and weight it down with bricks or stones to hold it in place. This will heat the soil, kill off some weed seeds and help you get a earlier start with your planting.
Here’s to Spring and to ‘Living the Life Abundant’…
~Mark Carter
Carter's Water Garden 