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Gardening with Birds

Spring means the arrival of flowers and greenery, but it also means the arrival of spring birds too! If you want to attract more birds to your yard this spring, take a peek below at some helpful tips on how to attract spring birds. You will find that with just a few steps, you can create a yard that is bird friendly and inviting.

One helpful tip to bring birds to your home today is growing native plants. With Audubon’s Native Plant Database, you can find the best plants for the birds in your area. Growing bird-friendly plants will attract and protect the birds you love while making your space beautiful, easy to care for

Birds and native plants are made for each other, thanks to millions of years of evolution. Large, colorful fruits feed birds and, in return, birds spread the plant’s seeds far and wide, supporting whole ecosystems. Native plants are also important hosts for protein-rich native insects like butterfly and moth caterpillars, which nesting birds need to feed their growing chicks. For their part, birds have shaped their entire life cycles, including their migrations and feeding habits, around plants.

Sparrows love thickets and tall grass, so plant patches of blackberry thicket and wild grasses to attract them. Blackberries and wild grasses offer fruits and seeds as food, and they also provide nesting habitat, shelter from harsh weather, and foraging grounds where sparrows, along with other birds like warblers and chickadees, can hunt for insects. Willows, sagebrush, and other dense or shrub-like native plants are also good for attracting these birds.

Northern Cardinal, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Scarlet Tanager are attracted to elderberries and sunflowers. Sunflowers attract a wide variety of bird species, and so are practically bird feeders that you can grow in your yard.

Colorful finches are attracted to the colorful flowers in the daisy (Asteraceae) family. Daisies, which include sunflowers, thistles, and asters, produce the small seeds favored by finches, and also the downy fibers used to line nests.

Hummingbirds love sweet nectar and wildflowers are a perfect way to bring these tiny birds into your garden!

Don’t forget birds love fresh water to drink and bathe in. Provide fresh water in a bird bath (if you installed a winter heater now is the time to remove it) and add a feature to make the water bubble or trickle. These sounds will let the birds know the water is there. Having water bowls around the yard are also appreciated by birds.

***Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop started this year offering wildflower seed packets for anyone who would love to start a garden to help attract, hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees! Follow the link to see the packets (under $3& free shipping)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/676890803/wildflower-seed-mix-non-gmo-butterfly

There is a nice app that is easy to download onto your phone to help guide you on finding the perfect plants to attract birds in your area it the Audubon Bird Guide app and it is a free! You will have a complete field guide to over 800 species of North American birds, right in your pocket. Built for all experience levels, it will help you identify the birds around you, keep track of the birds you’ve seen, and get outside to find new birds near you.

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Gardening with Hedgehogs

Hosting a rich Eco-system will promote natural pest control and a thriving habitat for small critters and for your beautiful flowers! Known as the “Gardener’s friend”, Hedgehogs aren’t just cute, they’re also valuable pest controllers. They love to munch on slugs and other pest, keeping your flowers and herbs blooming throughout the spring, summer, and autumn. The hedgehog is an insectivore with a voracious appetite – an adult can easily eat up to 200g of insects a night! That means it would take a single hedgehog only three months to munch its way through a slug-infested garden.

Leaving an area of your garden wild naturally unkempt is a great way to help wildlife and little hedgehog’s come into your garden. Hedgehogs need three things; food, water and shelter. And pretty much all of those can be achieved with a good compost heap. Hedgehogs and other wildlife can then use fallen leaves, twigs and dead vegetation to build their nests. In the wild areas also provides a home for the insects that hedgehogs and birds love to feed on. Also by creating a pile of old bits of wood can give the hedgehogs somewhere to hide, sleep and hibernate. Choose a quiet spot that is unlikely to be disturbed from November to March as this is when the hedgehogs will be hibernating. Hedgehogs are able to swim, so may be attracted to garden ponds. So if you have a pond, create a sloping edge using rocks or wood so that they can climb out with ease. This will also be useful for frogs and toads.

So this spring when you start your gardening, and would like a little help from a gardener’s friend try to do less gardening. Yes, really. Leave wild patches, plant hedges and, if you have the space (and you dare), leave patches of brambles to grow freely.

Flymeawaycreations shop has a cute hedgehog 3D printed planter to bring a little nature into your home! Follow the link to see the cute fellow!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/671702069/hedgehog-planter-for-succulents

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Terrarium Planter DIY

Succulents require little care, making them well-suited for jars or bowl garden terrariums. They grow slowly and require little water. Jars provide an enclosed yet view-able growing environment for succulents, making them suitable for teaching children about planting and growing!

Succulents are native to areas that receive little rainfall; therefore they prefer to dry out between watering

You can create your own mini garden by recycling an old jar, bowl, or a unique object lying around the house! Getting children involved helps teach them responsibility for their plant, and teaches them a little bit about nature!

To begin your garden use these steps below:

Add a 1-inch layer of gravel or small rocks for drainage. (Depends on size of container, use small amount if container is small)

Add a layer of potting soil. It is a good idea to get potting soil made for indoor plants if you can.

Place small ferns, succulents, or even cacti in your soil. You want to keep about 1 plant per 1-inch diameter, if possible. Generally, plant your largest plant first so you leave enough space. (You can use one or more than one plant in your mini garden)

Once you have your plants planted add a small layer of decorative material: rocks, moss, or sand, sea glass, and shells to create a special look!

TO CARE FOR YOUR TERRARIUM IN A JAR:

Try to keep a bit of humidity in the jar. If there is a bit of moisture on the side of the jar, it’s fine. If not, give the jar a gentle spray of water or drip a bit of water along the side of the jar. It is generally not best to simply pour water in the jar. And, over watering can happen very quickly! A little bit is all you need

To ensure that your terrarium will be successful, keep succulents and cacti together, and keep fern and tropical plants together, because they require different amounts of water and soil. You’ll want cactus soil for the succulents and regular old potting soil for everything else. The rocks are used as a false drainage layer while the activated charcoal helps keep the terrarium healthy, and the moss can be used for decoration and to help soak up and retain water.

The plants in a closed terrarium require high light but no direct sunlight. … However, keep in mind that a balanced terrarium should have a certain amount of moisture on the glass. A completely enclosed terrarium requires little or no watering but when in doubt, always water less.

Anyone can enjoy creating and customizing a cute glass jar terrarium with the easy to assemble, DIY kit found at Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop!

*You can choose the kit with glass jar, supplies, and plant OR kit with only supplies & plant *

The kit includes: (1) small bag of white rocks

(1) 2oz bag of soil & sand mixture

(1) small bag of moss

(1) small bag with 2 starfish, 2 coastal sea glass, 2 coastal seashells

(1) mini sempervivum succulent

(1) small glass jar: Height: 4&1/2″ Width: 2&1/4″

(1) Care instructions for plant & Directions to set up the terrarium

This could be a great gift for that special someone in the family, girlfriend, or teacher!

www.flymeawaycreations.com

Medicinal Succulents

“This is for informational purposes only. Do not use any plants medicinally without consulting your doctor first.”

Adding succulents and cacti to your home help keep your fresh air and remove toxins from the environment. Plants absorb our respiratory waste (carbon dioxide), and they convert it into plant carbohydrates to build strong bodies that in turn create pure, clean, life-empowering oxygen for us to breathe. There are several succulents that have health benefits. Below are three succulents that I have growing in my home and that my family and I use when needed.

ALOE VERA: Leaves & juice of leaves

Aloe Vera gel is widely known to relieve sunburn and help heal wounds. But did you know that your favorite potted plant can be used for much more than sunburn relief and household décor?

Skin care:You can use aloe vera to keep your skin clear and hydrated. This may be because the plant thrives in dry, unstable climates. To survive the harsh conditions, the plant’s leaves store water. These water-dense leaves, combined with special plant compounds called complex carbohydrates, make it an effective face moisturizer and pain reliever.

An alternative to mouthwash: In a 2014 study published in the Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences, researchers found aloe vera extract to be a safe and effective alternative to chemical-based mouthwashes. The plant’s natural ingredients, which include a healthy dose of vitamin C, can block plaque. It can also provide relief if you have bleeding or swollen gums.

Peppermint:

Peppermint is a hybrid cross between water mint and spearmint. It has high menthol content. Mint leaves collected from the garden can be added to tea as it steeps. Mint tea is known for its stomach soothing properties. It aids in indigestion, cramps, nausea, and colic. Peppermint oil can also be used to soothe a sunburn, or joint pain from arthritis.

Lemon Balm

Lemon balm is a member of the mint family. It gives off a tart, citrus scent like lemons. Lemon balm is a natural antiviral. When used to make tea, it’s great for fighting colds, flu, and fevers. It is also used to calm nerves and upset stomach, and to aid in headaches, as its properties naturally decrease blood pressure. Fresh leaves can also be crushed and applied to insect bites and stings. It acts as an astringent, and helps soothe and reduce swelling and inflammation.

These succulent and herbs above can be grown indoors and start out any many of the planters that are found on the Etsy shop Flymeawaycreations. To see all the different planters at the shop follow the link below:

http://www.Flymeawaycreations.com

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Bears & Succulents

Did you know leaves and flowers form the largest, most dependable portion of the black bear’s annual diet? They seek tender plant parts with nutrients in a digestible, fluid form. In spring, many young plants fit that description. Early foods are catkins (flowers) of aspen, willow, hazel, and alder. Emerging leaves, grass, and small plants come next for example, grass succulents such as horsetail. Green vegetation alone is not enough for black bears to thrive and reproduce, so berries, fruit, and other sources of the land are in their diet as well.

Horsetail is found growing wild along stream banks and river bottoms throughout North America and can also be grown in your favorite planter as well. The primary requirement for growing horsetail is abundant water. It will grow in sandy soil or clay, but is most profuse in rich topsoil. It is happy to grow in part shade or full sun. Horsetails are grown from nursery plants, not seed, so to find this beautiful succulent you will need to visit your local garden shop. When you take this succulent or any other beautiful succulents home remember to water carefully. When growing your succulent keep the plant moderately and evenly moist. Excess water can cause the stems to rot and even kill the succulent. Horsetail works well in a hanging basket and decorates a mixed cactus and succulent container. Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop has a new planter, which was inspired by Black bears. When visiting the shop you can find a cute bear planter, which you can choose a black, brown, or polar bear! These small planters are not able to hold large succulents, so the best option would be air plants. As for the hanging planters that can be found at the shop will work well with larger succulents such as Horsetail or even a few cactus plants!

You can follow the link to check out the Bear or hanging planters for that special succulent!

www.flymeawaycreations.com

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