With the rains washing away most of the snow, it's tempting to go out and stick a hand into the dirt in the garden for comfort. But it's still a little early, and you don't want to ruin the soil's tilth (proper structure and nutrients to grow healthy crops) so I'll talk a bit today about plantings you can put in your gardens to attract and feed our feathered friends.

We feed the birds year round and our back yard usually looks like Logan at 9 a.m. with everything from Juncos and Titmice to Blue Jays and Yellow Finches. We also get lots of Mourning Doves, and Red Tailed Hawks and Peregrine Falcons have been known to visit.

The first of the hummingbirds will be coming on schedule around May 1, so it's just about time to get the feeder out of its winter hibernation and into action. April is the time to get your hummingbird feeder and put it out. If you don't have one, the Wild Birds Unlimited Store next to Shaws on Boston Post Road has a fantastic selection.  

Hummingbirds are very territorial and will come back to the same area and feeder, so you want to put your feeder in the exact same spot for at least a couple of years, then you could move it within a reasonable distance if you need to in the future. You can buy commercially prepared food mixes or you can make your own. To make your own is very simple: the ratio of sugar to water for their food is 1:4, or ½ cup sugar to two cups water. Use warm water to disolve the sugar and let it cool. For best results change the sugar water every few days in hot weather so it doesn’t ferment. We have had several generations of hummingbirds that have been visiting for years and we hope they tell all their friends and invite them all along to visit.

There are some bird friendly landscaping basics that you should follow, the most important being that birds require a combination of food, water and shelter. These are best provided by a combination of man-made devices and natural plantings in close proximity.

Starting with man-made devices, the ideal layout has two feeders and a birdbath or water dish. For placement, draw a triangle with thee equal sides of around 6 feet in length and place the feeders at two of the points and the birdbath at the third. We got our wonderful tube-type feeders and handsome birdbath at Wild Birds Unlimited and the folks there are very helpful and knowledgeable.

For our gardens, we have one upright with two feeders — filled with songbird mix and thistle seed. The other upright has one feeder filled with black sunflower seeds. Our birdbath has a tiny electric heater in the winter that keeps the water from freezing, and we change the water a lot as the height also makes it a perfect dog water bowl. When it gets green and black mold we clean it with a very mild bleach/water solution – never use soap or chemicals and always rinse thoroughly.

Once you have located your man-made devices, the fun begins. The first thing we did was plant a couple of “Birds Nest” spruces flanking the birdbath, about 6 feet away. They are low, evergreen shrubs with very thick branching and provide safety in a hurry to the ground feeders from predators in the sky.

Next, we planted a weeping flowering cherry closer to the house that the birds are constantly using as an eating perch. Also, when the year’s hatchlings come along with their parents to eat they will use this tree as a starting point until they get the hang of landing on the feeders. They usually figure it out pretty quickly, especially the Cardinals.

About 20 feet behind the feeders we’ve planted a bird smorgasbord of woody, deciduous shrubs of varying heights that have even attracted the family of seven wild turkeys that live behind the original Walker Farm. The birds’ favorite appears to be the elderberry bushes, which grow very quickly and have pretty flower clusters that ripen in the fall into purple berries that hang so low that the turkeys can reach them from the ground. Elderberries grow quickly and can get unruly, so you have to cut them back regularly. It's also best to plant them along the edge of your property where you don't care if they spread, because they'll definitely do that.

Intermingled are a few clumps of native dogwood shrubs, red chokeberries, high-bush cranberries, viburnums, blackberries, raspberries, mulberries and a few others. They all have berries and great fall foliage. With these and any of your bird-friendly shrubs keep in mind that when pruning, prune once a year and prune hard, don’t be constantly trimming. If you constantly trim you'll encourage dense, short twigs that could make it difficult for birds to escape from a predator, so you could be inadvertently turning a natural shelter into a dangerous trap.

Even though they’re not attractive, try to leave a few dead trees nearby - just be sure they’re not going to fall on your house. In addition to furnishing holes for nesting, the trees attract insects that are the food source for woodpeckers of all types – we usually are visited by a huge pileated woodpecker that looks exactly like Woody Woodpecker from the cartoon show. The upper bare limbs of the trees also provide perches that the Mourning Doves seem to love for viewing their world and making sure the coast is clear of predators.

Our flower garden in front of the shrubs has a variety of flowers to attract birds and hummingbirds. Hummingbirds are attracted to bright red to orange colored flowers, and while they prefer the trumpet-shaped flowers that complement their bill shape, they will feed on other types of flowers as well as plants that harbor the insects they eat for protein. They love the bee balm with its red blossoms that open mid-summer and continue for over a month. We’ve also got one sad specimen of red honeysuckle vine that smells great to people and has a wonderful nectar within. As a bonus, their fleshy seeds are a favorite of the neighborhood mockingbirds in the fall.

Another great bird friendly flower in the garden is the columbine, which prefers shade but will do fine in a partially sunny spot. Together with lupines, delphiniums, bleeding hearts, snapdragons, and tall phlox they make up the bulk of our bird-friendly flower plantings.

When planning your garden for the birds you won’t go wrong if you think from the bird’s point of view – give me a place with food, water and shelter (from both predators and the weather) and I might just settle down and stay a while. And while I’m at it, if I’m happy, I might just provide you with a beautiful little song.

Garden Trivia for today:

• Wheat is the most widely grown plant in the world.  It has been cultivated for more than 7,000 years in every continent except Antarctica.
• The compass plant (Silphium laciniatum) is so-called because its lower leaves tend to line up in a north-south direction.
• Botanically, there is no such thing as a pumpkin. Pumpkins are certain varieties of squash, which through local traditions and use, have come to be called pumpkins. Squash and pumpkins belong to the family 'Cucurbitaceae', which also contains cucumbers, melons and gourds.
• The onion is a lily, botanically.  Asparagus is also a member of the lily family.  The name "asparagus" comes from a Greek word meaning "sprout".
• The eggplant is a member of the potato family, and is also known as a garden egg, melanzana or aubergine.