Chicks Flew The Coop

Procrastigardening. A "Before" and "After" mini project report.

I should have been studying for a FINRA licensing exam. I may hate myself for letting most of the weekend go. But I couldn't. I needed to calm myself, needed to be in the garden.

One of the gutter planters along the parapet railing has always been inhabited by hens 'n chicks - a legacy of one of Sissy's indoor planting failures. Everything else in that succulent pot had died, survived by a small clump of hens 'n chicks, maybe even barely at that - they might have been sickly, or had pests; she brought them up and they went outside, and survived that winter, and many since. That gutter planter was overflowing, growing over the side, with chicks smushed up against the railing.

I recently set up the bird bath again (after it was disassembled from last year's terrace construction work). It came from Vietnam, shipped, after a trip there by Mama Hen and Papa rooster. There was supposed to be a figurine of a girl, but she either arrived broken, or not at all, or grossly out of scale. So I inherited it, without the figurine.

The basin got dirty quickly, as did the water. There was never a good perch for the birds. So at some point, I decided the robust moss in some of the planters could simulate water. The moss-as-water plan just never worked - the moss never grew in as lushly as I hoped, and when it was dry, it just looked sad. So over the last few days, I added a few stray chicks that had fallen out and separated from the hens. Yesterday, thoughts racing in my head at how behind I am in my studies, I decided to go whole hog on populating the basin with chicks.

I began pulling candidate chicks and realized carrying them in my hand wasn't going to work, so went looking for a vessel. Voila! Rediscovered a seashell - I think from a trip with law school friends to the Delaware shore - that was tucked away during last year's terrace construction and temporarily forgotten - and deposited that first little clutch of chicks.

[Aside: Isn't the orange thing cute? Gotta love New York City curbs. Not sure what it was conceived as - stool? plant stand? side table? It may move inside, or maybe just stay outside and extend the indoor pop of orange scheme to the Jardin.]

Finally, the shell with all the migrant chicks was perched in the center of the bath basin, ready for them to be resettled. 

It rained Friday, so the moss was soaked, and there were some pools of water - seemed like a gentle way for them to transition into their new home.

Final result in the last photo. Decided to leave the shell out as a water receptacle for thirsty pollinators. [I had thought about getting a small glass terrarium and tiny solar fountain for the center, but solar burblers don't seem to come small enough.] Fingers crossed that the chicks like their new home and grow and thrive.

Fingers crossed that I survive this exam. The procrastigardening continued today, only moderately abated. And I had sworn, after the first, "easy," exam that I wouldn't do this. Yet, here I am, a week out, doing just that. Sigh. It is a mental illness. 

Years ago, in college, I took a babysitting stint from Sissy's roommate when I should have been writing a Chinese Foreign Policy paper. I never did manage to finish the paper and took a C+ in the class - on the strength of my exam grades and participation in the class. It remains the lowest grade I have ever received. We still refer to the behavior as "Chinese Foreign Policy."

Hoping I haven't Chinese Foreign Policied myself. There remains a week to see how it goes.