When we moved to our new house last October we were worried we wouldn't get humming birds like we did at our old property.  (It backed up to a large creek and got a ton of wildlife)  Before I even put the feeders up this spring, they were hitting our bell baskets.  Schmoopie put a small glass one out in front of my office window and it took them all of an hour to find it.

3 hours ago, paco said:

When we moved to our new house last October we were worried we wouldn't get humming birds like we did at our old property.  (It backed up to a large creek and got a ton of wildlife)  Before I even put the feeders up this spring, they were hitting our bell baskets.  Schmoopie put a small glass one out in front of my office window and it took them all of an hour to find it.

ours holds about 2 cups of nectar. they’ll empty that thing a couple times a week. we make the homemade stuff, 1 part sugar/4 parts water.

We make our own as well. It’s easy enough. 

anyone have issues with crows picking garden clean?  They’re eating hot peppers cucumbers, gourds, blueberries literally everything. Been trying to scare off with non lethal bb gun, but it’s honestly just ruined gardening for me. Any hints or should I just quit until they move on?

 

My one neighbor throws all kinds of ish outside for animals to eat and we have gotten fox and other animals we rarely see with crows just coming in and chasing most of songbirds off from area 

On 7/11/2022 at 9:19 PM, xzmattzx said:

Does anyone know what this bush/weed is?  It was planted before I bought the house, and I have trimmed it to a stump, and it comes back with a vengeance.  I need to take it out, roots and all.  But I find little stems popping up everywhere; out of cracks in my driveway, in my garden, and out back in a woody area.

 

Here's a close-up of the leaves on this bush that grows like a weed.  If anyone knows what this is, so I can begin to understand how to combat it, I would love that.

Last year I made hot sauce with peppers from my garden.  Besides peppers added garlic, ginger, salt, honey, Asian vinegar, water and some tomato paste to thicken up.  Simmered for 2hrs and strained.  Tasted great with nice amount of heat.  Stored in fridge but the heat was less with every use.  This was my first try.  Any thoughts on why it lost it heat ?

12 minutes ago, Talkingbirds said:

Last year I made hot sauce with peppers from my garden.  Besides peppers added garlic, ginger, salt, honey, Asian vinegar, water and some tomato paste to thicken up.  Simmered for 2hrs and strained.  Tasted great with nice amount of heat.  Stored in fridge but the heat was less with every use.  This was my first try.  Any thoughts on why it lost it heat ?

I find peppers have different heat profiles. The same peppers can even change depending on where they are grown, the soil, etc. The heat might fade over time in the variety you have grown. But I really think it's the combination of flavors marrying in the fridge after you cook the sauce. It's covering up the heat. Try a sharper vinegar to cut through the flavor. Or add some heat, use more peppers, add some cayenne/chili powder, etc. Make it hotter to start with so it's hotter after the flavors meld together.

Not sure if this fits here, but I will ask anyway.

Can dead sod be re-grown/brought back to life someway/somehow? I am seeing conflicting stuff about it on the inner webs.

My wonderful dog pees all over the backyard. Which I had sodded back in April. There are like 20+ dead spots all over the yard from her pee. 

28 minutes ago, LacesOut said:

Not sure if this fits here, but I will ask anyway.

Can dead sod be re-grown/brought back to life someway/somehow? I am seeing conflicting stuff about it on the inner webs.

My wonderful dog pees all over the backyard. Which I had sodded back in April. There are like 20+ dead spots all over the yard from her pee. 

Mix a few table spoons of this into her water and you should be good to go. 

45 minutes ago, LacesOut said:

Not sure if this fits here, but I will ask anyway.

Can dead sod be re-grown/brought back to life someway/somehow? I am seeing conflicting stuff about it on the inner webs.

My wonderful dog pees all over the backyard. Which I had sodded back in April. There are like 20+ dead spots all over the yard from her pee. 

We make sure to walk our dog at least twice a day, even though we have a large back yard. It has cut the "pee spots" more than in half. 

 

LMAO

I actually tried something called ‘Pet Rocks’. A rock goes into her water bowl, the nitrates fall off the rock and goes into her water. She drinks the water and it kills the stuff in her pee that was killing the yard. It worked but only temporarily. 

40 minutes ago, LacesOut said:

LMAO

I actually tried something called ‘Pet Rocks’. A rock goes into her water bowl, the nitrates fall off the rock and goes into her water. She drinks the water and it kills the stuff in her pee that was killing the yard. It worked but only temporarily. 

Pets are prone to various bladder issues as it is, I personally wouldn't chance that type of product.

On 7/25/2022 at 10:02 PM, xzmattzx said:

Here's a close-up of the leaves on this bush that grows like a weed.  If anyone knows what this is, so I can begin to understand how to combat it, I would love that.

Does it flower?  If so, can you send photos?

I'm obsessed with only planting plants in my yard native to this area so a lot of times Ill just google when I find an oddball

If you cant identify it by the leaf or flower, you can get a little technical about how the leaves are arranged on the stem and the growing form of the plant, the bark color and texture, etc

This is dumb but I would just do a google search for like "plant with serrated ovate leaves" as that appears to be the leaf shape and that's how Id describe it.

On 7/25/2022 at 9:09 PM, homerpat said:

anyone have issues with crows picking garden clean?  They’re eating hot peppers cucumbers, gourds, blueberries literally everything. Been trying to scare off with non lethal bb gun, but it’s honestly just ruined gardening for me. Any hints or should I just quit until they move on?

 

My one neighbor throws all kinds of ish outside for animals to eat and we have gotten fox and other animals we rarely see with crows just coming in and chasing most of songbirds off from area 

Yeah been having the same issue. There have been a ton of crows this summer Idk why. They've left me enough and haven't taken everything so that's nice of them. Really theyve only been eating tomatoes. Cucumbers and peppers both hot and sweet have been untouched.

On 7/25/2022 at 9:09 PM, homerpat said:

anyone have issues with crows picking garden clean?  They’re eating hot peppers cucumbers, gourds, blueberries literally everything. Been trying to scare off with non lethal bb gun, but it’s honestly just ruined gardening for me. Any hints or should I just quit until they move on?

 

My one neighbor throws all kinds of ish outside for animals to eat and we have gotten fox and other animals we rarely see with crows just coming in and chasing most of songbirds off from area 

If you tried the lethal version of said BB gun, I'll bet they don't come back 

19 minutes ago, mikemack8 said:

If you tried the lethal version of said BB gun, I'll bet they don't come back 

Was just doing one pump shots. My kids were worried I’d kill them

59 minutes ago, BirdsFanBill said:

Yeah been having the same issue. There have been a ton of crows this summer Idk why. They've left me enough and haven't taken everything so that's nice of them. Really theyve only been eating tomatoes. Cucumbers and peppers both hot and sweet have been untouched.

the destroyed my strawberries, all pepper and my blueberries. Too be fair I didn’t bet the berries which I will going forward. 

Anyone ever have a pawpaw?  

This guy I know has a secret spot and man we had to hike our arses off, but I got like 40 of them.  Had to be like 100 trees, couldn't believe my eyes

 

Honestly I dont love the taste it's just awesome that these are native, they look (and taste) like a tropical fruit

pickin’ up pawpaws, put ‘em in yer pocket

pickin’ up pawpaws, put ‘em in yer pocket 

pickin’ up pawpaws, put ‘em in yer pocket 

way down yonder in the pawpaw patch

1 hour ago, Mike31mt said:

Anyone ever have a pawpaw?  

This guy I know has a secret spot and man we had to hike our arses off, but I got like 40 of them.  Had to be like 100 trees, couldn't believe my eyes

 

Honestly I dont love the taste it's just awesome that these are native, they look (and taste) like a tropical fruit

Paw paws seem to be coming along, getting more and more popular in the last few years.

 

I'd like to plant a paw paw tree at my house at some point.

11 hours ago, Mike31mt said:

Anyone ever have a pawpaw?  

This guy I know has a secret spot and man we had to hike our arses off, but I got like 40 of them.  Had to be like 100 trees, couldn't believe my eyes

 

Honestly I dont love the taste it's just awesome that these are native, they look (and taste) like a tropical fruit

A buddy that I used to work with introduced them to me. I really liked them but nobody else in my family does. They have an almost custard like texture and taste like a cross between a banana and a mango. Largest fruit that is native to PA.  And they do not keep very long at all after they’re picked which is why grocery stores don’t sell them. 

10 hours ago, xzmattzx said:

Paw paws seem to be coming along, getting more and more popular in the last few years.

 

I'd like to plant a paw paw tree at my house at some point.

If you do, research them first. From what I remember they take a really long time to start producing fruit. I want to say maybe 10 years or so? Unless I’m thinking of some other obscure fruit tree my buddy planted in his back yard. 

I'd also like to try and get a yuzu tree growing.  They are the only citrus tree that can tolerate the climate in this area.

On 9/16/2022 at 9:22 AM, Imp81318 said:

 

If you do, research them first. From what I remember they take a really long time to start producing fruit. I want to say maybe 10 years or so? Unless I’m thinking of some other obscure fruit tree my buddy planted in his back yard. 

This is correct

I bought and planted one a couple years ago and its only grown about a couple feet.  Which amazes me even more that the ones I found were like 80' tall...incredible.

The other thing is that theyre understory trees, so if you plant them in partial shade theyre obviously not going to grow quickly.

I made two loaves of bread and they came out great, and saved some of the pulp in my freezer so I might try a pawpaw pie.

I don't know what horticulture is but it sounds a bit dandy if you ask me

I am still watering my back yard. Dried out a lot this past month and the sod I had installed back in April looks a bit more dead. 

The google says a yard can be watered up until the first freeze.