Omigosh! It's Gardening Time!

Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh!  This Spring got away from me!  All the gorgeous, beautiful, warm weather, and I failed to take advantage.  I admit it, own it, and regret it.

We've had many, many distractions this year.  We had a European visitor for a few weeks, and in the middle of that, a family medical issue out of town.  So you see, I've been a tad bit distracted.  When I felt like getting outside, the tree pollen counts were outrageous so we had to stay inside and close up the house.  (We went out distributing flyers before Easter, and we only lasted about an hour.)

But I did get my purple martin house up!  I watched the migration map, and saw they were nearby in mid-March already.  I got the house and pole out of the attic, cleaned the poles and wiped down the house.  This year I was smart and coated the poles with a little Vaseline to make raising and lowering easier (and to keep the dirt out of the poles where they intersect).  That little trick has worked well.

So I got the house up, with little pluggy things to keep out the sparrows (who had been hanging around for days).  On March 28, I saw a few in the neighborhood, and pulled out the plugs.  I saw a martin checking out the rooms, but the free wifi and cable amenities didn't win him over.  Now I have sparrows again.

This week, after the expected foul weather, I'll clean them out once more, and see if that helps lure the martins back.  I'll lower the house this morning, to keep it from blowing away, and put it back up on Monday after extracting the nests and fumigating for bed bugs.

Speaking of nests, when we removed the cover from our retractable patio awning, all seemed well.  Then I plugged it in and lowered it, and a robin's nest fell from the center area, along with two eggs, unfortunately.  Those goofy birds do that every year, and every year we forget about it.  We don't want to remove the cover too early, but did find we needed it recently, with the hot sun out so early.  Can you believe temps were in the 90s in March in Omaha, Nebraska?!

I promise pics.  Just not of the fleurs, because they've bloomed and faded already.  I have much growth action on the trees, and a new statue off the patio.  And there is so much work to be done.  I think the pollen levels are lower now, so as long as I can breathe out there, I'll make the effort.  Stay tuned.