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Archives for May 2007

Working in the garden – Spring cleaning

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Well I managed to finally get out into the Garden on Sunday. It was a lovely day and it was high time that I got out there to tidy up my garden and begin pruning the roses.

Last Autumn I didn’t even manage to put my garden to bed. By this I mean I didn’t do the usual winter protection. I was just too ill. So I’d have to say that I really haven’t done much in my garden at all since perhaps last September and at that time it was mainly only watering the garden.

That’s 7 months of not doing any garden work. Do you know how my body is feeling right now?

I was outside for about five hours. Once I got started I couldn’t make myself stop. Surprisingly I felt pretty good while I was working away. However once I got back inside I began to notice that my back was stiffening up. Now the bottom of my left foot is numb. I guess I must have a pinched nerve in my back! Oh the damage I do to myself when I garden. I tell you – it’s an extreme sport for me.

There are so many plants growing it’s unbelievable! Some are way ahead of themselves. For instance, my daffodils rarely make an appearance before mid-May, yet I have two that are up and blooming and more to come. Some of my supposedly later blooming Tulips are also up and about to bloom. What else was growing well? Strawberry plants, raspberry canes, several clematis, helebores, columbine, monkshood, toad lilies, regular lilies, oriental lilies, several types of tulip, hyacinth, muscari, lavender, Chionodoxa, snow drops, sedum, astilbe, geranium, new york asters, phlox, hostas, trilliums, peonies, rudbeckia, honeysuckle vines and on and on. I’m sure I’ve missed some of the perennials that I saw out there.

I believe that most of the roses will end up surviving. There’s a lot of dead branches but there’s life in the lower areas. Some are quite hardy and are already leaving out at the tips and upper branches. I didn’t survey each rose because I was trying to systematically work my way through the garden one area at a time.

I think I managed to tidy up half of the back garden beds. If my body cooperates I’ll go back outside later today and try to finish up the back. Then I’ll have to do the side of the house, the front garden and boulevard. Oh my … it’s a lot of work!






Get a better look at the birds in your garden with Bird Watching Binoculars

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Well, it’s the beginning of May and those of you who enjoy bird watching have probably started to notice that a number of birds that migrated South for the winter are beginning to return. The birds that over wintered are becoming more and more active too. Building nests, perhaps even starting to lay eggs and raise young ones.

I love watching the birds that visit my garden. We get a number of common birds, but occasionally we’ll get a visit by birds that are not all that common to our general area. Once we even had an escaped parakeet enjoying our feeders daily.

If you enjoy watching birds as much as I do you should think about getting a pair of bird watching binoculars. You can use them to get a better view of the birds visiting your yard, and you can bring them along on road trips using them to find interesting birds in the trees or by the edge of lakes and streams. If you’re really enthusiastic you might even consider joining a bird watching group. I would assume that these groups are quite busy at this time of year with new members and lots of bird watching outings.

Eagle Optics has a wide selection of bird watching binoculars. The prices are low, and their customer service is superb. If you are a bird watching enthusiast you might opt to purchase a top of the line pair of binoculars, if you do, you can easily get financing on orders over $200 if you need a little help getting the binoculars that you really want.

One other thing that I like about Eagle Optics is that they have a Google Checkout payment option, and Free UPS ground shipping to the 48 contiguous states!

If I were going to purchase a pair of bird watching binoculars I’d probably get mid-sized binoculars. They are light weight and as with their size, they are in a medium price range as well. Eagle Optics has their own brand, and they also carry Nikon, and Pentax in the mid-size range. I’d have to take a good look at the features of each one to decide which brand and model I’d most enjoy using, but I can tell you that those are great brand names.

Check out Eagle Optics for yourself and get a brand new pair of binoculars so that you too can enjoy watching all the birds visiting your garden or area this spring.

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