Masterful clouds, acorn woodpecker fun & a fawny face

Post winter storm sky, this morning.

Forecast calling for stopped rain, and a return to the weirdly warm temps of highs in the 60s.

And from a wee bit ago, before the rains added more watering hole options for the birds,

we'd been rich in avian visitors...

Two males. The females have black between the cream and red on the head,

so the sexes are very easy to distinguish.

Therefore, lady on the left, gentleman on the right.

Whoop! Waterbowl is slippery (and in need of a refill).

And a cutie (male mule deer fawn) stopped by to lap up breakfast,
namely some of the bird seed we'd flung here and there.

Hope you all are well.

I am feeling VERY grateful for the rain we finally got.

Hooray!

xoxobb

ordered $41 worth of seeds for garden...

  
Woah. Three days ago ordered a ton of seeds for sundry goodies for the garden, including things inspired by my chatting here with y'all (red amaranth, the "three sisters"). Then today ordered 3 kinds of sunflowers. Just talking/thinking about it here helped me realize I really wanted them, so why the heck not?

(poor bee has biobabbler on her bum)

Then, inspired (3 days ago), I drafted a little list of yard work I could do this week to help prep for it.

Then (2 days ago) it snowed. And snowed again.

Hmph.

So, all things I might dig, etc., are covered in snow and DRENCHED, so I should probably wait.

In the meantime, what are your garden plans?
Have you ordered seeds already? If so, what? If not, will you?
What are you most excited about?
What do you dread?
What works, what does not, and do you know why? Esp. re: the climate/soil conditions near you.

What works here:

Tomatillos. They are so happy here, they're weeds. They grow and sprawl and bloom and draw bumblebees like mad. I get volunteers every year. They must love hot, dry days and at least tolerate cool evenings, of which we have many.

What doesn't work here:
Raising tomatoes and peppers from seed. Since I have cats, cannot raise things in the house, which is required to get and keep soil at 70+ degrees. It gets cool here every night, and I will NOT spend $50 for a mat to heat the seed tray for the green house. Just won't. So, buy plants from local nursery in May.


I'd love to hear about your gardening experiences and plans. How do the ecological conditions where you live play into it all?

biobabbler