Hummingbird Feeders & Fall Planting / Seeding

I was talking to one of my favorite curious customers at the Hendricks Farmers Market yesterday about all things Fall: planting, seeding, & supplemental wild bird food.

I really believe in planting for birds, but certain times of year it makes sense to supplement wild food - especially when its been a dry year, wild-lands don’t have as many available blooms as they could have, & / or you live in town or adjacent to areas that spray, thus reducing available food to our wild friends.

I recommend: YES - get those hummingbird feeders out - even if you had not yet this summer. As fall hits, the male hums head out first. They typically have good weight to make the full migration flight safely. The last hums hanging out, are this year’s babies & their momma’s.

The young & moms have an incredible task of DOUBLING their weight prior to their long flight, or sadly, they may not make it. And anyone who’s seen how they zoom around has likely wondered: how do they ever get full with all that buzzing around?

They make me hungry just watching!

By putting your feeders out now: you support their efforts to bulk up & get to enjoy bringing them closer to your favorite sitting spot.

And No - you don’t need to buy expensive pre-mixed, or packaged.

Just boil up one part white granualed sugar to four parts water, and get that feeder hung. No need to add red dye, it’s not needed and not beneficial to them.

It may take a day or two for them to find your feeder - but when they do - enjoy nature’s show.

I’d say better than whats on TV 😜.

& Don’t worry - they will let you know if it’s gotten cloudy and needs a rinse & refill.

Often by dive bombing the nearest human: hey, where is our fresh food?!

It isn’t necessary to provide all season, but just like extra fruit hung (or yes the debateable grape jelly) in Spring as the Oreole’s first arrive and wild food is low in availability, putting out your feeders now supports their migration and can impact how many return next year.

An added bonus: they will remember and come say hi in the Spring.

Fall planting & seeding is also on the task list.

I really believe nature does it best, and as you see your native perennials going to seed: thats nature sending a smoke signal: get those seeds out.

I recommend mixing your seeds with sand and a little extra seed start mix, or old potting soil if you have some lying around.

You want your sand & anything added to it to be slightly damp, and then mix in your seeds & sprinkle with joy.

The sand in particular helps you see where you are spreading and also sticks to the seeds a bit, allowing them to settle to the ground where they should be & not just blow away.

Plus, many perennial seeds have better germination rates with the cold stratification - some absouletly need it to sprout.

What about planting?

In Fall, the biggest worry is root establishment prior to winter, which means: water, water, water. Morning is best, especially as night temperatures drop. You want to be right on the base of the plant, a good long drink, every other day, so it has time to soak into the ground.

You don’t want soggy ground with cold or possible frost / freeze temperatures on the roots, so morning is best this time of year if you can.

The water also helps create channels in the dirt where you planted them, for the roots to easily climb down deep.

Fall often means, being home a bit more, as summer activities wind down, and getting them growing and set in the ground now means extra food for migrating AND winter birds.

A fall settled plant may need a little spring watering, it’ll depend on winter temps & moisture, but the growth you’ll get next year will be more than spring planted.

AND - all plants not planted, held over for winter, by almost all growers, often need potting up. That means: more soil, larger container & a higher price come spring.

I don’t WANT to have to charge you a few more dollars per plant, just because it didn’t get sold and planted the year prior.

Plus: by leaving your cone flower heads on, not cutting back the aster and others, you provide more habitat for the buggy’s that crawl in to rest until next year & the winter birds will thank you with their presence, help spread the seeds in a natural way, and you allow the perennial roots to pull back the good from their growth, to strengthen their spring growing.

Come spring: snip, snip & use the plant material to add to your garden boxes to refresh the soil or simply lay around the flowers as natural free mulch. All those good nutrients will break back down into the ground, where they belong.

I hope everyone needing it got a good rain overnight. The Cocorahs gauge said 1/4” out westy-west.

It was likely quite a bit more, the runoff into my nursery suggests over an inch. That darn breeze always gets in the way of truly accurate collection - but thats ok.

Yay rain!

See you in the sunshine - bring all those questions.