I have added to the Garden Accent Heaven website additional decorative garden stakes from The Encore Group. These garden stakes also have rain gauges on them. They come in a variety of designs. These designs will help you to add that special something to your yard and also help you track the rain fall your lawn and garden is receiving at the same time.

Butterflies Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Hummingbird Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Hummingbird Rain Gauge

Golf Bag Rain Gauge

Bird Nest Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Bluebird Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Gold Finch Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Ducks Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Horse Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Cardinal Garden Stake Rain Gauge

Hummingbird Rain Gauge

We are visited each winter here in the Pacific Northwest by large flocks of Trumpeter Swans. They winter in the delta of the Skagit River near Mount Vernon, Washington. Here are a few photos I took this year of them.

Ever notice that when you are trying to take photos of ducks, geese or swans you mostly get photos of them moving away from you!

Linda purchased red runner pole bean seeds this spring.  Linda selected Red Runner Beans for three reasons:  their height would provide shade for the house, the red blossoms attract humming birds, and the beans are edible.The package said they grow to be 9 to 10 feet tall. She started to germinate them in her greenhouse between two damp towels until  sprouted.

I needed to have a bean trellis built for her before she could  plant the seeds in the ground. The area where she wanted to grow them was on the southeast corner of the house, in an area where we had just removed five evergreen trees that were way too large and too close together.  We also removed three mugo pine that were badly over grown.  This opened up the whole yard to sunlight.

As I  was wondering how in the world I was going to build a trellis 10 feet high, the idea came to me to just use the side of the house as a support. Once this idea came to me it was easy. The netting that Linda purchased at the nursery was 7 feet wide. I had an area 9 feet wide where she wanted to plant her pole beans. I dug three holes the first two 7 feet apart and the third one 2 feet from the second about 18 inches deep. I purchased three 16 foot treated 2″x4″ at the lumber hard.  I put them into the holes, nailed them onto the eves of the roof, back filled the three holes and tamped the dirt.  Next I ran 1″x2″ furring strips up the posts on 24 inch centers. I started the first cross strip 6 inches above the soil.

Plant Netting Material

The netting material was 20 feet long. Linda and I rolled it out on the ground and cut it into two 10 foot pieces. I next stapled the netting onto the frame I had built starting from the top. I put the 7′ x 10′ piece up first. Once it was securely stapled in place I took the other 7′x10′ piece of netting and stapled it onto the remaining 2 foot wide area of the frame. Once the netting was securely stapled in place I  used a pair of scissors and trimmed it to size.

Now that the pole beans are in the ground and the trellis is built I am waiting to watch these beans grow and find out if they really can grow to be 9 feet tall.

Robin

Hiatt Jelly & Mealworm Stake Feeder

Until recently I would have said no – except for perhaps mentioning that Robins will occasionally come to a fruit feeder with an apple or grapes on it. But, several Robins in our yard are “really” taking a liking to the Hiatt Stake Feeders I fill with live mealworms for the Bluebirds. Note with the nesting season now in full bloom, now is a great time to offer mealworms to Bluebirds. I like the stake feeders as I can place them where I can best view the birds feeding from them.