Hummer Watch and Other Projects......

Good Morning!  I am outside on the patio having my coffee and hoping to have a hummer sighting.  I always see one on Memorial Day, though last year my husband and I saw our first one in early May.  It hasn't been unbearably hot yet, but we are supposed to be in the 90's today and tomorrow.  I hung my feeders yesterday and added a couple drops of blue food coloring to the nectar so my hummers are going to be having purple nectar

I am going to be finishing my gardening work early this morning before it gets hot.  I have some helichrysum and St. John's Wort to plant.  All my St. John's plants perished for some reason.  Two of them may have been simply from old age but the other 2-I don't know.  The only St. J's that I have in the ground look like seedlings that were sown from last year's plants.  So I suspect I may have a shortage of oil this year.  I also bought a stevia plant.  Not sure where I'm going to put it.  We have run very late getting our mulch in so I am going to cut the comfrey and lemon balm plants to the ground to make it easier to put out mulch.

I am still working on some perfumes.  I want to build a musk accord tonight with ambrette seed extract, cistus absolute, patchouli, myrrh, angelica root and maybe some jasmine.  Since we are having plenty of sun I am also going to make some more flower essences today and tomorrow-but I need some brandy first!  I am going to do valerian, lavender, roses, and arnica.

I am also going to be working on some natural pest control.  I have a bad case of little red spider mites on the patio so I am going to make insecticidal soap with neem CO2 and castille soap and water.  I may also make a brew of Neem CO2, rubbing alcohol and water to spray directly on the little bastards so they'll die.  We also have ants invading our dining room.  This is a room where we only eat when we invite the whole family over for special occasions like Thanksgiving so there's no food in there.  I have no idea why they are there but I will fix it.  I am also going to come up with a chili pepper CO2 mix of some kind to put around the flower pots for the Hibiscus.  The squirrels are actually climbing the hibiscus and sitting in them while they eat the leaves.  Last year we had rabbits chewing off branches.  Apparently hibiscus leaves are a rodent delicacy.  I am also attempting to grow Calendula again this year and the squirrels always chew those to the ground-so we are going to have a chili pepper barrier..............