Hummingbird Babies

When I moved from the wilds of New York to New Mexico’s high desert, I worried that I would not have the abundance of birds we had in our gardens. Silly me times ten! It is now the end of November and although the hummingbirds have made their way south, there are still many a feathered friend to keep me company.

This summer, whenever I would go sit out on the front porch a hummingbird would whiz by and periodically come back to check on me. It finally got through my thick head that she must be building a nest in the large juniper tree at the corner of the porch. I went inside and spied on her through the window. Sure enough, she was building a nest. She never let me get too close, but I managed to snap some neat pictures while she was away, and I took a video of her settling into her nest. They settle like hovercraft. I know, I’m disturbing wildlife here, but come on, hummingbird babies! After I got a photo of the babies, I stopped stalking them. I didn’t even see the babies fly away. -Jen

Hummingbird nest next to my thumb for scale

Nest with eggs

Babies! Just hatched.

This is a movie of mama flying in and settling on her eggs. She wouldn’t let me get very close.

N.B. in the video Tree calling out from the background “nutmeg chicken!” – an experiment with a recipe gone bad. The goal was jerk chicken but the result was…. nutmeg chicken!

Garden Sponges and Vertical Mulching

Garden sponges (also known as vertical mulching) are a great way to keep trees and shrubs watered in New Mexico’s dry climate. This is especially helpful with our sandy soil which doesn’t hold water well.

The concept is very simple:

1. Dig a pit 1 – 2 feet away from the tree or shrub you are planting.

2. Fill the pit with biodegradable material that will break down and hold water: straw, junk mail, old phone books, paper waste, old clothing, etc.

3. Cover with straw or other mulch to keep your garden looking pretty.

4. Fill the sponge with water

Here are some photos of a sponge that I created adjacent to a new Pomegranate tree.

I dug the hole about 16” from the tree. The hole is a foot deep, a foot across and 2 feet wide. I have my garden “claw” in the hole to give you an idea of how deeply I dug.

Dig hole for sponge

I used the soil from the hole to create a berm around the sponge and the pomegranate tree. The berm will help keep water near the tree where I want it.

You can dig a hole big enough to fit a straw bale, or a foot square –just enough for junk mail. If you are planting a tree that will grow very large, you may want to create a sponge near the base of the plant –to provide moisture while the tree is growing- and one several feet away that will tend to the plant’s growing roots as it gets bigger. And hey, while you’re at it, plant one on both sides.

It takes a lot of junk mail or old bank statements to fill a hole –trust me. I had saved a pile of old clothes that were too ragged to take to the thrift store or use as rags. These were gone in no time.

My first layer of sponge materials were paper recycling: old journals, scrap paper, grocery store circulars.

First layer of sponge fill

My second layer included clothing (all those old shreddy bandanas I just couldn’t part with).

Second layer of sponge fill

Next came green material (weeds, garden trimmings) and then a topping of spent hay from the goat pen.

Top sponge with hay from goat pen

Moon and Stars

We planted several varieties of watermelons this summer, but only our Moon and Stars sized up enough before frost.

We’ve been saving seeds of this heirloom open-pollinated variety for years, bringing them with us to New Mexico from New York. Moon and Stars has a beautiful dark green rind speckled with deep yellow splotches. The flesh is bright red, juicy, sweet and, yes, full of seeds (easy to spit).

The melon grew better here than in our cool Catskills garden. It must like the heat and intense sun. It was a vigorous vine despite my erratic watering (we’ve since installed drip!) and unamended soil. -Jen

Moon and Stars