A garden attracts all kinds of life, not just raccoons. Right now, I have lots of animal friends in the garden. My neighbor feeds the birds for me because seed on my balcony tends to attract the squirrels. We've built a pretty big community of bird species. I love to watch the birds. I have a pair of cardinals that visit the pine tree at the NE corner of the deck. The male if bright red with a dark black mask. The female is more of a brownish red, not nearly as bright as her mate. I've been spotting them since the winter. There is also a flock of at least 20 house sparrows that live around the garden. Unfortunately they don't get close enough or more slow enough for me to get more than a grainy picture, and I've been trying almost all day. In the winter, I will put the suet feeder back out and throw handfuls of seed onto the deck; maybe I can get some better pictures then.
I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of the hummingbirds. I got a male and a female rubythroat last summer. I have two feeders out at either side of the deck, I've also planted hummingbird flower mix in a hanging flower box, and spread petunias throughout the deck. When the hummingbirds get here they will have plenty to eat. In the meantime, this cute little ant found the nectar today and stopped just long enough for me to snap this photo. Ants are great because they carry pollen through the garden. I don't mind the ants, but there is an evil carpenter bee that lives in the corner of the roof. Carpenter bees look almost exactly like a bumble bee, except they are slightly smaller and their abdomens are shiney instead of being fuzzy all over. Carpenter bees nest in the wood in walls, decks, or the roof. You know you have a carpenter bee because it will look like someone drilled a perfect 3/8'' hole in the wood, and you will see a sawdust like substance on the ground below. The female stays in the nest while the male keeps guard outside. Male carpenter bees can't sting, but they are still aggressive. Sting or not, it is totally freaky to be sideswiped by a giant bee while you're working in the garden. The best way to get rid of them is to fill in the nest with expaning foam insullation and seal off the whole nest.
I also tried a new experiment a couple day ago. My idea was to take some 2'' shallow aluminum dollar store cake pans and plant ground cover or small rock garden plants among short decorative grasses. They are meant to be used as fillers underneath the herb garden and stair-stepped plant stand; and are better seen from the ground looking up at the balcony. I found a great deal ($1.89!) on six-packs of flowers at K-Mart. I planted assorted colors of Alyssum, Blue Lobelia, and Blue Hawii Ageratum. I planted a mixture in rows across the the trays and sprinked the blue fescue grass in between. It's kind of like mini-lawn. I will keep the grass trimmed short when I comes up and I am also looking for more varieties of decorative grass seed, which means a trip to my favortite place - MENARDS! 
I cut holes in the bottom of the tray for drainage and filled with potting mix. Potting mix is better in a container garden because it weighs less and drains better than soil. If the garden is on a balcony it is good to consider the weight limitations of the structure. A good trick is to fill the bottom 1/4 to 1/2 of the container with some light, recycled material. Styrofoam peanuts are perfect - my parents had a full trash bag of them in the garage that they were happy to part with. I did four of these trays, and used the leftovers for a small one. I put two large trays in the bottom of the greenhouse. I am hoping that the soil and the plants will help retain the humidity better than the two trays of water that evaporate faster than I can refill them. If my experiment goes well, I have room for a couple more trays and I will create a few more with different plants, maybe succulents next time. Happy Gardening!
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