Choice Morsels

This morning I spent a couple hours updating search tags for my various Zazzle products in my store. Those are what help shoppers find what their looking for.  Better tags = more views. Then lunch, then outside to work. My veggie garden has turned into a sea of Marigolds: You can see a Gulf Fritillary Butterfly enjoying them. I planted for the sake of the tomatoes that drowned in too much rain, but the Marigolds live on. Their roots are supposed to kill off nematodes in the soil, so it could be a good thing. I'll pull them up after frost. This Weeks Project: Enlarging the Back Bed This bed is in the back corner of my yard. It's under trees and I've left it a sort of natural, woodsy state. It's full of vinca & liriope ground covers, daffidils, day lilies and shrubs here and there. A good fringe of grass was growing along it's border, crawling into this bed, while on the other side, was a huge bare spot. Typical. I decided to simply enlarge ...

Today is quite springy--almost warm and my back yard is suddenly filled with birds! Cardinals, Doves & Jays. Plus I just filled the squirrel-proof feeder with fresh, sunflower-seed heavy wild bird food, so Chipping Sparrows, Chickadees and even a Nuthatch are darting in to grab a seed! I saw a Hummingbird stop by the Hummingbird feeder, too--much to my surprise.  I don't usually see them so early, but then I don't always have a feed still relatively full of nectar hanging out there! It was old nectar. Since October. So I quickly made up a batch of fresh nectar, cleaned the feeder and refilled it. Though, I don't think birds really have taste buds. I want to work outside, though I'm giving them a chance to enjoy the fresh food a bit first, because my presence will disturb them once I do go out, since my project area is near the feeder. The photo below is my current project: walling in my veggie garden space and raising the dirt level. Next: a sho...