a nest in the cobalt garden

So we have had storms the past two days and a total of about two inches of rain which leaves most of the outside stuff pretty muddy to work on so I have been weeding yesterday and today.  I was able to weed the potatoes in the cornfield because they had grass clippings spread in the walk spaces between the rows.  Because it was moist the weeds pulled easily. 

The other place that I was able to weed was the white fence.  I have a 60 foot fence that hides part of the overflow pipe for the septic system.  There is pampas grass at the west end and next to that are the peonies.  Next to the peonies is the cobalt garden section and the rest is perennial flowers and a few grasses.  There is a water feature that has sprung a leak and a cement bench and at the east end a butterfly bush.  I have not had a chance to work in that garden as I have chosen instead to mow and plant vegetables first when the weather cooperates.  With all the rain that we have had this spring the weeds are three foot tall or more. 

I started at the peony end and was working on pulling the weeds there and then moved closer to the cobalt bottle tree and the bird bath.  There was this persistent bird who ran along the top of the fence and moved to different locations close by where I was working.  She looked like this.

I am not a bird watcher so I don't know which bird is which but she was talking up a storm and I assumed that i was getting close to her nest.  My plan became to keep weeding, keeping a careful lookout for her nest and then if necessary leave that area with its protective weed cover.  When I got a little closer i noticed that the group of dead plant stalks that she is sitting on in the second picture was where she had her nest.  

In that stand of dead stalks about a foot off the ground she had built her nest and there were five eggs.  I hope that I have not removed too much cover for her to protect her nest.  She probably figured I would never get that flower bed weeded and she might have been right!  I took a quick picture and then moved down to the other end of the fence to give that side a little attention.  Another storm is possible tonight.  Hope she and her nest will be okay.

mason bee house

One of the projects that I wanted to get done early this spring is to make a mason bee house for the orchard area.  Mason bees are great pollinators and I am hoping that if they can be encouraged to hang out in my yard that we will have better chances at fruit.  Last year we planted two pear trees and two plum trees.  They are planted near the two apples that were planted the year before.  In the same general area are the transplanted black raspberry canes, the blueberries and the potager.

Yesterday I built the box for the mason bee house.  Last evening I painted it blue and today when I was in town I cut the lengths of bamboo that i had purchased for this purpose into 4 and 1/2 inch lengths.  Today I hung it on the fence and filled it with the short bamboo pieces.

Here it is ready for occupants...

Here is what I started with. Scrap wood.

I was able to use the pieces the lengths that they were.  The back is a piece of old 2x6 and the sides, bottom and top are all 1x pine.

The holes are predrilled and the screws started

the right side is attached to the back

attaching the base

the left side is added

Adding the roof

Painted blue and hanging on the fence

filling up the box with the bamboo pieces

Okay bees--we're ready!

 

zeus

Today before the snow got started I took down the last of the winter decorations from the fence and replaced them with a couple bird houses.  They are blue and they are hanging near the bottle bush that holds the blue beer bottles.  If I put the blue bird bath in the same area it will be kind of a cobalt garden. 

I have two more birdhouses to hang.  These are flag colors and will hang on the barn alongside the fencepost flag.  Hanging those involves a ladder and a helper. 

In a related project I am planning to make a mason bee house to attract pollinators to the yard.  Mason bees do not sting and they will lay their eggs in tubes.  I have several lengths of bamboo that I can cut down to short lengths and place them in a box that will hang near the garden and orchard.  Perhaps if I paint the box blue it can hang in the cobalt garden. 

Today while it was snowing Cody and Sadie and I heard a very noisy vehicle.  Not sure at first what it was, I looked out the window and eventually saw a dark pickup driving in the field along the ditch across the road from our house.  We watched him travel east until he got to the approach by the dredge ditch and up he come, onto the road.  So of course we had to go check it out.  Turns out he went into the ditch west of our house just past the approach about halfway between our house and the neighbors, drove at an angle thru the ditch, up into the field and continued along the edge of the field until he got to the next approach.  Although there was very little snow on the road in front of our house, where he went in the highway was covered full width with a snow/slush mix.  Luckily he didn't hit the first approach and I imagine he didn't dare stop because he surely would have gotten stuck in the mud.  That ditch is pretty steep so I am wondering if he caught the edge of the approach as he went across.