LADYBUG SAYS... COLD WEATHER STIRS GARDENING QUESTIONS

"What has happened to winter?"

"When is the weather going to get cold?"

These are some of the questions being asked before the first part of the week, when these inquiries were answered by lower temperatures and a white blanket of snow.

Gardeners were also concerned about roses and other shrubs putting out new growth, and spring flowering bulbs coming through the ground. As to the latter, Mother Nature will tell them when to stop their growth and wait there until time to grow again. Time alone will tell about the roses and shrubs.

Feeding the birds is most important during winter weather. Birds require four basic elements to survive--food, water, cover and proper habitat to reproduce.

In the wild, birds select their food from a lot of different materials including seeds, fruits, nuts, flower nectar, tree sap, tender buds, insects and worms. When the growing season comes to an end and cold weather arrives, the natural supply of bird food dwindles. This is the time to lure birds by offering them food to supplement their natural diet.

Food available commercially is sunflower seeds, millet, cracked corn, nuts and thistle seed which appeal to many types of birds. Suet is a choice source of high protein which birds need in cold weather.

There are catalogs of bird feeders, some most elaborate and expensive. Fancy, ready-made ones have their good points, but are not essential. It is easy to improvise suitable ones with few materials. An onion bag hung from a tree is one of the most popular feeders here. It is a favorite spot for the downy woodpeckers. Any pliable, but sturdy material can be bent into containers such as a set of coat hangers pulled into "diamonds" and wired together at the top to make a good feeder for suet balls.

A friend made a neat apple feeder for my apple project at Christmas. It was a large wooden cardinal, with a center circle removed and a wire suspend through the apple. Reports are that the cardinals love one of their own.

Seeds are the mainstay of the winter feeding program. Sunflower seeds are most popular. There are three kinds, black-oil, black striped, and gray-striped. The small black-oil seeds are generally the ones that attract the most birds.

Feeding the birds year around is most rewarding for friends who have an ideal place for an outdoor feeder, located just outside a kitchen window, where it is suspended from an overhang, and because they do feed them all year, they have the widest varieties of desirable birds of any feeding station we have seen.

Many people enjoy mixing different ingredients to create food for birds. The goal is to create items that are packed with protein, calories, vitamins and mineral that birds need. Here are just a few of the many recipes available. Use your imagination to create your own. Remember they enjoy fresh and dried fruits.

BASIC BIRD CAKES

2 cups suet

2 cups peanut butter

12 cups cornmeal

Melt the suet in a saucepan. Mix in peanut butter and cornmeal.

Spoon the mixture into muffin cups and cool.

PEANUT BUTTER-SUET

MIXTURE

2 cups suet

1 cup peanut butter

2 cups cornmeal

2 cups finely cracked corn or other small seed

Melt the suet. Add the peanut butter, stirring until it is melted and well blended. Add the cracked corn and cornmeal and blend well. Pour into paper cups or suet feeders and cool until hardens.

Back in our bacon eating days, all of the bacon grease was saved to mix with oats or other cereal and bird seed and placed in the old apple tree, that was always a favorite for the insect eaters to peck at, under the old bark.

Our neighborhood children friends made neat garlands of popcorn, raisins and dried apricots for our bird friends at Christmas time. These special treats were strung on a string so they could be draped over the limbs of the golden rain tree that replaces the apple tree. The mocking bird was the first to find this delicacy and oh, how she/he loved it, particularly the golden dried apricots.

In addition to food, water is also an essential ingredient in winter. Birds require water to drink, to clean their plumage and to stimulate oil glands in their feathers which help insulate them from the cold. Unlike people, birds do not suffer from cold air when damp.

Most garden birds prefer their water source far enough away from vegetation to allow a clear view of approaching enemies, yet close enough to vegetation so they have a safe refuge if danger approaches. Back in the real Christmas tree years, our old tree would be placed outside near the bird feeders, so they might have shelter, and oh, how they enjoyed that refuge.

Attracting birds with food, water, cover the reproductive habitats can be as simple or as involved as you choose. It is an exciting endeavor that every gardener can enjoy!