Baby Robins

When looking at the nest, you see nothing. Then the mama robin lands nearby and the little heads pop up, beaks wide open, begging for that juicy bug. We've been watching the robins build their nest and we saw the mama sitting on the eggs. I've noticed that the daddy robin also feeds the babies. And when it's chilly, the mama sits on the babies. Our Sunday morning was spent watching the parents feed the babies. And I find myself watching, distracted from things like laundry and bill paying.

Surviving the Cold

Hopefully all your tender plants survived this weekend's cold snap. I know that I covered as much as I could and as far as I can tell everything seems okay. Crazy Minnesota weather!

The people of Minnesota are hopeful. On Sunday many indulged in their traditional Mother's day shopping spree for bedding plants. I am happy for the nurseries, of course, but I am hoping people store their plants in a warm place since we're up for some more cold nights. Plants from the greenhouse need to be hardened off, meaning gradually exposed to the outdoors. They've been babied at the nursery. If the soil or the temps are too cold, the plants might survive, but they won't thrive.

I realize that many plants will be picked over when I finally go plant shopping, but I have started some specific varieties in my home and I am overhauling my vegetable garden, which won't be done for a while. More on this later...

Kitchen Garden Date Change

The Howard Lake presentation of The Kitchen Garden has changed dates from May 15 to Saturday, June 5, at 11 am. The presentation will change slightly to reflect the later date, mainly because we should be planting tomatoes and such by then (hopefully). Only in Minnesota can we have warm 70 degree F temps followed by snow a few weeks later (predicted for Northern Minnesota Friday).

Weeding

This weekend's main gardening activity was weeding. So far I have two main kinds of weeds--grass from the lawn entering my garden beds and mini trees. We live in an oak forest so I pulled some baby trees and then I removed acorns that the squirrels missed over the winter...handfuls and handfuls of acorns.

In other garden news, the ants are active and exploring my house. I am on crumb patrol nightly.

Also, the strawberries are blooming. The old fashioned lilacs are supposed to be blooming, but they might not be getting enough sunlight. I try to keep up with trimming back the woods every spring and fall, but the crowns of the trees are well beyond my reach.

I love this time of year. I try to sit on the porch even when we've got wind chills. (Sometimes my hands get too cold for me to hold the book I'm reading so I have to call it quits.) Being outside is good for my soul.