High 80's, very muggy. Almost like a broth outside. Storms yesterday, light rain today.

Lots of Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed outside, and loads of small, plain yellow butterflies seen all over the cities. Glade Mallow finally petered out, while Butterfly Weed is still holding on.

Loons heard on the local lakes, and wife spotted our first hummingbird. Counted eight young tree frogs on the window in the evening.

Both Creeping Charlie and Crabgrass are rampant this year. Have had to use chemicals to try to get rid of them.

A Wild Geranium blooming in our pond garden

Nasty year for invasives. The Swallow I took to be tending her nest proved to be dead, her eyes poked out. Placed her and her nest in the woods. Have read about a "halo" put around the entrance to the Bluebird Houses; it is supposed to keep House Sparrows out.

The Creeping Charlie in the back lot is over a foot tall, and the dandelions are overtaking the edges of the lawn in thick, spreading clumps. Sadly, we've had to resort to using a preventive and a spray this year. I would rather do things organically, but have not heard of anything that has much effect on the dandelions. We'd be less militant against them if their airborn seeds and deep, resilient taproots didn't make them one of the most ravenous invasives to compete with native fauna.

Won't allow the chemicals anywhere near the native gardens, so spent several hours pulling out crag grass, dandelions and other non-natives.

Raided Bluebird nest

Opened the bluebird house to find each of the eggs penetrated with a jagged hole and swarming with ants and small flies. Classic sign of a House Sparrow raid. Sadly, while death is part of nature, this is not nature's way. House Sparrows are an invasive, non-native species, introduced (both intentionally and accidentally) by European immigrants.

While many birders use glue traps or even electricity, we can't stomach killing them, and have attempted more passive measures, such as controlling what we put in the feeders and pairing bluebird houses in the attempts to draw Tree Swallows, a native species that can coexist with the bluebirds, but often repel House Sparrows. Will have to try monofilaments to frighten them away the next time a Bluebird makes its home in the box.

If you ever see this in one of your bluebird houses (from what I've heard, it can be a lot more gruesome than this), clean the house out, and keep an eye on the house to make sure the House Sparrows do not move in. If House Sparrows do enter a nesting box, it is perfectly legal and advisable to remove the nest immediately.

A bit of a divergence from native gardening to organic vegetable gardening, but with the rising cost of groceries and living in general, I've decided to throw some vegetables (largely perrenials) into what was formerly a patch of creeping charlie and see what I can do. The pair of tomato plants in my garden got some new neighbors;

• 2XDill
• 1XHorehound
• 3 varieties of pepper (6Xeach)
• Carribean Red
• Tabasco
• Thai
• 1XRasberry
• 4XStrawberry
• 2XWatermelon

Mixed around three shovel's-worth of peat moss, sand and compost into the soil, and mulched with straw and some of last year's partially decomposed leaves, and laid down some edgers to hopefully keep the creeping charlie from the wooded lot behind us at bay.

This is a rather brave endeavor in a 50 sf garden as I haven't grown vegetables since about the seventh grade. The watermelons, strawberries, and raspberries are great for snacking and juicing, and the horehound makes for good tea and candy, and the peppers for good salsa or a bit of zest in pasta sauce. Tomatos are ubiquitous to a largely vegetarian family; good in sauces, juices, and salads alike. The dill can be ground up and used in pasta salad or given to my aunt for pickling.