For the past couple of weeks, since the transplants were set in the garden, something has been quietly attacking them. At first I considered cutworms but the tomato plants were being nipped at the tops not the lower stem. I covered the bed with plastic and that was the end of that. Next I would holes dug into the soil and decided the birds were hunting bugs for their babies. The next attack was on the squash and I noticed a leaf missing here and there. That did it for me.
Time to stand guard. A bird had made a nest at the corner of the garage roof overlooking the garden and I watched as she swooped down on the squash and nipped off another leaf. I also observed her plucking a pea plant out of the soil! Luckily I happen to have a few very large pieces of light-weight non-woven material that would be perfect to act as a blanket over the raised beds and fend off the marauder. I covered all the plants with a blanket and so far it's working.
Do you have any suggestions or know of ways to keep the birds from raiding the garden?
Next project .... a scarecrow ?
UPDATE 05/20/2013
The scarecrow helped, but barely, after a day or two that miserable bird got the idea. Also tried a pinwheel in the bed but the bird seemed to enjoy it.
Latest resort: this morning I covered both tomato and squash bed hoops with bird netting. Now,
let's see that bird get through that.
That being finished (I hope) I need to deal with the squirrel who has started digging into the beds looking for the food he stashed away last fall and I got rid of long ago.
As they say, "if it's not one thing, it's another".
Happy Gardening! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment