5/9/23 Mother nature needs our help.   Garden for our grandchildren and the pollinators.

Clear, calm, 36 degrees.  Was 33 earlier.  Mostly sunshine today with a strong NNW breeze, a high of 60.  Clear tonight with a light WNW breeze, a low of 36.

Sunshine tomorrow with a strong WNW breeze, a high of 70, a low of 47.  Sunny Thursday with a brisk NW breeze, a high of 78, a low of 47.  Scattered thunderstorms Friday with a WSW breeze, a high of 75, a low of 53.  Sunshine Saturday with a NW wind, a high of 68, a low of 43.  Partly cloudy Sunday, Mother's Day, with a strong NW breeze, a high of 65, a low of 45.  Partly cloudy Monday with a strong WSW breeze, a high of 65, a low of 46. Partly cloudy next Tuesday and Wednesday with stiff NW breezes, highs about 65, lows of 45. Partly cloudy Thursday, the 18th and Friday, the 19th with possible showers Friday afternoon.  highs about 66, lows about 49. Westerly breezes the next four days with some sun, lots of clouds, highs near seventy. lows near 50.

     Bekah had a frost this morning.  Nature is reminding us it is still too early to be putting plants out that like warm weather.  Don't let a few warm days lull you into thinking summer is here.  Plant potatoes and onions, fruit trees, shrubs and get the soil ready.

     Yesterday Bekah and I ordered more Coast of Maine products and put in another nursery order.  This year customers seem to be growing lots of vegetables for security.  People are looking to the future by planting fruit trees.  They are buying shrubs and perennials because they want their homes to be an oasis of beauty and serenity.  Coast of Maine sales have soared because the more people garden the more they realize that for flavorful and  nutritious vegetables the soil must be fed, not just the growing vegetables.

    I made a chicken/cow/bird seed trip.  That put a dent in my pocketbook!  I considered not getting more sunflower seeds but I still have a lot of birds coming to my feeders.  No hummingbirds or orioles.  Hummingbirds have come to the feeders just a few miles south.  Yesterday I emptied the feeders and put fresh hummingbird food in them.  I put out fresh jam and a fresh orange for the orioles.   They get hummingbird food in their feeder.  Thanks to the Andrews plugging the holes in my house eves I don't have many blackbirds.  Mostly just the red winged black birds that nest in the swale across the road.  The flock of grosbeaks that came in seem to have moved on.

     The sun is shining and the breeze will blow away the black flies.  New mulch around my perennials is on the to do list today.  Watering and transplanting always seems to be on the list.  May God bless you on this day, Sally