Mother Nature's Nursery

I am getting the food nursery ready, no paint chips required, just earth, sun, rain and worms. And, if I didn't see this in print, I wouldn't believe it. Last year, I had a "harvest" of 1 (o-n-e) cherry tomato...not plant, but fruit. One, about one inch in diameter. I hesitated to pluck it and eat it. But I did. Gone in one sweet gulp. Such a trooper.

This year, I am on it. With my son's help, I just planted 5 (f-i-v-e) tomato plants with companion orange marigolds for good luck. They are all heirloom varieties. Two are cherry, three are biggies...and, all will come to fruition, I hope. To give myself a few kudos, I am great with herbs and they are doing wonderfully...rosemary, lavender, several basils and thymes, chives, two mints, a couple of sages and a gorgeous golden oregano. And, I have a brave Swiss chard in a pot that is going well and a couple of potted figs trees are hanging in there. But, other plant life under my thumb suffers, or at least it has in the past. Here are pix of my new tomato babies...

While the "kids" are growing, here is a recipe for those sweet hummingbirds that are hovering over my brood.

Hummingbird Nectar

1 part sugar to 4 parts water

Boil the water first, then measure and add sugar, at the rate of 1/4 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water. Let cool and store excess in fridge until ready to use.  Do not add food coloring or honey, which ferments or artificial sweetener, which had no nutitional value for birds either.

Clean feeders about once a week. Rinse with one part white vinegar to four parts water. Check with the National Audubon Society or this site http://www.hummingbirds.net/ for more helpful info.