It’s been years since I had really clean windows on my car on a regular basis. For me, clean car windows went out when self serve gas stations became the norm. Watching a service station attendant carefully clean the windshield while he or she pumped gas is a luxury I miss. However, not only have most full serve gas stations been replaced by self serve, but unfortunately, many rural ones have disappeared altogether.
Some things never change. One of them is the hope that gardeners harbour what this is going to be the best year yet. So how can we make this garden year remarkable? Last week we mentioned this is a good time to round up recyclable containers for starting you seeds indoors. Next we’ll look at potting mix. Don’t scrimp and save on this component of your project because cheap potting mixes will usually result in poor plants.

he bird wasn’t close enough for me to make a positive identification but this much I could determine - it had soaring down pat. It was a huge bird, drifting effortlessly on the breeze, usually gliding forward but it interested me to see that sometimes it drifted in reverse. It was no higher up than twice the height of the trees along the road. I’m confident that although I couldn’t see it well enough to make a positive identification, that my soaring feathered friend could see quite plainly what was going at ground level.

You may be familiar with all the novels Snoopy started over the years that began “on a dark and stormy night.” Well this isn’t a novel and the night wasn’t stormy but it was dark as nights have a tendency to be.
My story took place earlier this week when I went out after dark to throw out some scraps for the birds to enjoy the next day. My outside light doesn’t count for much as it is simply a light bulb high up at the peak of my house so I was just barely able to see in the snow some of the Styrofoam plates I had tossed into the black waste cart a few hours earlier. When I put them in the cart it was already almost full with random chunks of Styrofoam packing material. The lid had blown open and the wind had done the rest.

The passing of years changes one’s perspective on many things and for me it has affected the matter of what trees I should be planting. Back when I was in my 20s I chose trees with an eye to what the mature specimen would look like, how big it would be and how it would fit into the rest of our plantings. No matter if it grew slowly it was worth the wait.
Time passed. We bought another farm. On this farm was a stand of Lombardy poplars that the previous owner had planted some 15 years before but now they were tall and elderly. Over the next few years, there were more dead branches every year and it wasn’t long before they were all gone. The website ehow.com tells us these trees rarely last more than 20 years and that was the case at our place.

No, there’s no bluebird on my window sill but there’s a huge flock of starlings on the ground below it. There’s a spot of bare grass there and as far as they’re concerned it’s the place to be right now. It’s interesting to watch them with their beaks buried in the grass, hunting for insects with reckless abandon. But is there anyone on guard, looking for incoming hawks while the rest eat? It appears not. Maybe they embrace the “safety in numbers” philosophy and numbers there are. I’d estimate that there are around 200 in that one flock.
Later I noticed they had discovered the spot in the snow bank where I threw out some turkey gravy yesterday. There was very little of it left when they were finished.

No, there’s no bluebird on my window sill but there’s a huge flock of starlings on the ground below it. There’s a spot of bare grass there and as far as they’re concerned it’s the place to be right now. It’s interesting to watch them with their beaks buried in the grass, hunting for insects with reckless abandon. But is there anyone on guard, looking for incoming hawks while the rest eat? It appears not. Maybe they embrace the “safety in numbers” philosophy and numbers there are. I’d estimate that there are around 200 in that one flock.
Later I noticed they had discovered the spot in the snow bank where I threw out some turkey gravy yesterday. There was very little of it left when they were finished.

Garden Gate reader Donald Gallant responded to a recent column in which I wrote about the house sparrows in a parking lot in Charlottetown. He tells us they have disappeared from his area of the city and it’s now about three years since he has seen them. We’d like to hear from other readers regarding these birds.
Donald also tells us he once had a crow that would eat out of his hand. It amazes me how quickly crows will show up when we throw out kitchen scraps, particularly is we are in the habit of doing so.
Thank you for your comments, Donald.

Tis the season when we find ourselves spending more time sitting by the fireside but unfortunately little rodents also set their sights on finding a way into a warm house for the winter. So, I am always on the lookout for the proverbial “better mousetrap." There’s an interesting spin on an old concept in Stokes 2012 Seed Catalogue. The trap is an imitation block of cheese to which you attach an empty beverage bottle in which you have placed some peanut butter. The mouse winds up in the bottle and then you just move him on to a new location. Does it work? I don’t know but it would be worth a try for those like myself who are not keen on conventional mouse traps.

Where’s my camera when I want it? Home on the tripod! Driving down a city street recently I came across a spectacular crow. From his neck to the end of his tail he was salt and pepper in color. He flew just as I got to him and he spread out his splendid salt and pepper wings. He was a sight to behold. Beautiful? Not really but certainly interesting.
Then I moved on to a large, busy parking lot. At first I thought there were leaves blowing around but it turned out there were oodles of house sparrows flitting here and there between the cars picking up what scraps they could find. I expect that in that particular location they found lots of French fries.

Garden Gate readers Garth and Peggy Drummond of Freetown have a red-bellied woodpecker visiting their bird feeders on a regular basis. This bird is listed in the PEI Field Check list of birds as being an occasional visitor in winter and spring and accidental in summer and autumn. This one must be an early check – in for winter residency.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website tells us that this woodpecker has a black and white barred back and a red cap. In the “cool facts” section, they tell us that these birds sometimes wedge nuts into crevices and then whack away at them to break them into pieces. They store food in cracks of trees and fence posts for later use.