But Give me a Break, Already! May is HARD WORK!
We get just enough rain (a measly 0.73”) and teasing sunshine to make everything bust out like it’s making up for lost time. The wind rips through here at 46 mph and the air is thick with willow and cottonwood flying fluff fairies. Yes. Try to say that outloud. I dare you.
In all seriousness, the war on bindweed begins. Oh, Convolvulus, with your 9-ft deep roots that run rampant under plastic, zip up through 4-ft mounds of mulch, and even tunnel under concrete – plant pythons that you are, wrapping so tightly around every single thing you encounter, dead or alive, up and over trees, starving your prey by preventing them from eating sunlight, quietly announcing your menacing existence with your white trumpet-of-death flowers, oh perversion of beauty …. Who is more tenacious, you or me? Beware, my friend–my persistent stubbornness will prevail.
And then there is the grass, already shoulder high in the orchard. Scythe to the rescue!
Truth be told, I spend a lot of time doing search and rescue missions. I know there are shrubs and even small trees out there. But I have to be careful: A towhee calls from the top of a shrub – it is a high-pitched trill that I have difficulty imitating — and then it dives down into the underbrush. This is one who nests on the ground. Some thickets are best left thick for that reason.
May is a backbreaker.
It is all about whacking back weeds, hauling mulch, weeding and more weeding, and constructing new compost piles taller than my 5-foot frame, cubed. I confess, so far, I’m a complete failure at composting. Too dry, not turned enough, not hot enough to kill weeds – whatever – I don’t accept the guilt that I am a terrible gardener just because I haven’t built a decent compost pile – but I have to say, there are several huge – and I do mean HUGE – mounds out there, and they are taking up a lot of space! (sorry, no photos) A little watering now and then might help those little microbe buddies multiply, avid consumers that they are.
Ahhh, But May Will Make You Swoon
The sheer density of all the flowers right now is a love potion that can stop me in my tracks – and I can easily spend the next several hours trying to capture the perfect light on a petal, a bee zeroing in on a pollen-covered stamen, or the geometric curl of a flower unfurling.
The bees are dancing on the mustard petals and inserting their heads deep into the cone of yellow sunshine – so dazzlingly bright, I can’t even imagine being surrounded by such brilliance, and then emerging and flying to the next nearby, and then another…over and over — I am drunk and exhausted just watching her – and for that privilege, I let all these wild mustards and kales go to seed every year. My yard is full of them. Thank you, bees.
Best bee magnets at the moment: all the herbs (such as borage, comfrey, catmint, rosemary, sage, thyme), any blooming cruciferous vegetables, such as wild mustards and kale, and anything fruity.
And then there are the flashy exotics: torch lilies and irises. And an old-fashioned, sweet-smelling climbing rose. Although there is a great trend to planting more natives, I still appreciate you.
My Favorite Photo of the Month Award Goes to…. Sleeping Beauty
Greenhouse Greenery
If you remember from April, we were invaded by some very determined red-headed biting ants that were threatening to take over the entire greenhouse. I’ve managed to make them miserable enough that they have either died or abandoned the folly of trying to build pyramids of destruction in my holy space. Their evacuation meant I was able to move things out: wasabi and various shrub cuttings, and make room for tomatoes and hopefully some indigo. The Murasaki squash is blooming very tiny flowers. The roots produce a red dye. Seeds can be purchased from Grand Prismatic Seeds. I love this company. I’m not an affiliate; I just think they are great. (Note the ant. In small numbers, they can be useful. In the millions, not so much.)
Seeds available through Grand Prismatic Seed
May is gorgeous. Check out more photos on the May Flower Gallery page Here.
Birdlife
And May is also just a bit crazy.
Birds are everywhere. Everyone is busy finding food and trying to keep those demanding little fledglings fed. It’s a lot of work! And what a ruckus they make! They follow the parent around, wildly flapping their wings and chirping up a storm. The parent grabs seeds, suet, bugs – whatever is handy – stuffs it in their mouth as if to say, “Ok now – next time, YOU get it!” Their patience and devotion are admirable, because these almost-adult-size kids cause a lot of commotion, and they are like teenagers, always hungry.
To help them out, we added a small birdfeeder (the small red/orange/yellow one) to our current feeder station. (A Mother’s Day gift from our grandkids. It’s perfect! Thank you!)
It’s a great set-up – the best one I’ve made so far: two feeders, one high and one low, and two water stations, one that overflows to the one below. A dripper line fills the upper dish; the bottom dish spills over to water the magnolia tree and other bulbs and shrubs. It also helps to have the little tree near by for them to go in and out of. The suet cage could maybe be a bit higher, but the woodpeckers still access it.
Something about the sound of water, though, really brings them around. They will even stand on the support rod and catch the water as it spills over. Happy hour starts around 5 pm; morning bath & splash and breakfast buffet is about 6 am or even a little earlier at this time of year.
The sun rises about 5:15 a.m. and sets about 9:00 p.m. at our latitude right now. Morning and evening are key gathering times. It becomes a social event.
New at the feeders: the Rufous Hummingbird and Black-headed Grosbeaks. Also the daily fly-by: a very large peacock. More on that in a bit.
New on the Scene: Feline Variety
The birds give hours of entertainment for our newest indoor creature feature: Minou the animal rescue cat.
The birds seem unphased by this predator on the other side of the glass – and there she will stay. “So close and yet so unreachable,” she says. Her tail swings from one side to the next, but I cannot call it wagging. She looks as soft as a cloud but is lightning fast when she wants to be. What can I say. She had been through a lot in her young life and needed a home. She is grateful for a safe place with all the food she can eat, and she seems to appreciate our music. So there’s that.
Speaking of Invasives…
Did I mention Peacocks? We are the Chosen Ones for the 4th year in a row, which pretty much establishes us as the rearing place. They arrive in May, scope us out for dogs; finding none, they locate a good place to nest in the backyard jungle, and then leave in late summer/early fall when the young are old enough to roost in the trees.
The male peacocks are skittish and keep a wary eye out for us. The oldest adult male with tail feathers a good 5-feet long surprises us with his ability to flip them up and quickly turn to go in the opposite direction, no matter how tight the quarters. His curiosity once made him think it a good idea to explore the greenhouse.
He has claimed our residence as his territory, which he loudly proclaims from the rooftops, sometimes at 4:13 a.m. True. A peacock call sounds a lot like a strangling cat, and I am sure this guy would turn our little Minou into mincemeat.
The larger, older peahen, however, seems to remember us fondly. She follows us around, basically undoing everything I try to build or plant.
She is particularly skilled at spreading out mulch, as seen in this photo.
If there is bare ground, she will roll in it, something to be aware of in creating new beds.
Fortunately, I have lots of willows to create small barricades, which are often useless.
I realize now, there is no point in growing vegetables unless we put them inside a fortified enclosure. It would be easier to grow them at the community Pea Patch in town – or forgo the vegetable growing altogether and support the many young, hardworking farmers around us. Which we do.
How many peacocks, you ask?
Sometimes 6 or 7, with more on the way. (I kid you not)
Like, whoa.
Oh but wait, that’s not all…
The deer walk right beneath our window and look inside to see if we might give them a hard time about it.
They have fields of green grass to eat, but noooo… they prefer shrubs. Especially currant bushes, new apple tree branches, and anything newly planted. My new pot of native columbines I had just purchased was particularly tasty. For awhile I thought our orchard was diseased, but then I realized the deer were eating all the leaves off the lower branches. And of course, there’s the birdseed on tap, which they have learned to tip upright to guzzle more freely.
Our greatest success story, however, is the willow fence we built around the raspberries, which by now would be eaten to ankle height. It might not keep out the peacocks, but the deer don’t want to bother jumping over it. We WILL have raspberries this year! (if the bindweed doesn’t kill them first).
And then there’s this critter… She/he hung out for over an hour (in broad daylight!), taking her time to clean up the leftovers around the birdfeeder and unafraid of any potential predators (are there any? The eagles seem to be preoccupied at the moment).
Looking Forward: My To-Do List for June
The list is long, mostly involving making sure all the water lines are functioning, building trellises, cleaning things out, keeping after that bindweed, transplanting a few things out of pots, lots of mulching. But everyone’s garden is different. Margaret Roach at “A Way to Garden”, one of my favorite garden writers, covers a lot of ground with her suggestions. If you are not familiar with her, check her out.
Summer is Here!!!
(Not ready. Just sayin’)
Thank you for visiting!
xox
Blythe
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Wonderful photos and lots of humor. The willow fence is gorgeous! The raspberries will be extra sweet. Glad you have the energy to do it all and share! I adore towhees! But most of all, I applaud you for the fact that a cat has acquired a home with you. She is gorgeous!
Give her a scritch from me.
Ah, Deirdre—-Gardener par Excellence that you are, I am so glad you liked it. Sweet Minou was dropped off at the Humane Society and gave birth to 7 kittens soon thereafter – so she has been around a bit and her past is quite questionable – but she has definitely adopted us and we are quite smitten, even though she has given us all ringworm. We got so much more than we paid for! Lol. How do you put a price on love and connection, right?
P.S. I spent a year in France in an earlier life. You probably know, Minou is a common name for kitty there. She seemed rather French to me, elegant and independent, very intelligent, quite stylish, and a bit aloof. 😉