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| Poke Weed is prolific, and 60+ species of birds like it - more than any other source of food. The birds also plant it with abandon - fertilizer. |
I showed Randy our Poke Weed specimen. Last year I let it get a start and kept the above ground portion up all winter. Tiny birds like such perches simply because they are so weak.
By spring the old plant was white on the outside and hollow and new growth was coming up. It had layers of organic matter, chiefly coffee, and cardboard to keep it looking neater. I had a pile of loose cardboard, too much for the recycle barrel, so I used that to cover the rather messy mulch de garbage (say it in French, much more elegant that way). That included all the altar flowers for winter, plus a few egg shells for the fanatics, and anything else to improve the soil. I never include food garbage because they stink and attract the wrong customers.
To keep the cardboard in place, I added some wood mulch. Leaves can also be used. We import leaves rather than export them.
The renewed Poke Week was looking dry, so I poured gallons of stored rainwater at its base. The next day it was filled out and ready to grow more. More than seven inches of rain would weigh down the cardboard and wood mulch, keep all the organics moist, and encourage red wiggles to turn everything into the best soil over time. Molds and all the creatures of decay take part.
This attracts the ground feeding birds, which are always looking for insects and worms. Any organic mulch will bring birds to look under the shade for a bug to take to the nestlings, so a mulched is by itself a bird feeder.
