My summer-fruiting raspberries are now enjoying their second year in my garden, and we are enjoying them, too.
I’ve been picking at least this many every morning. They don’t last past noon, so no chance of me having enough to cook with. We don’t care – they are too tasty to resist!
The birds can’t resist them either. The wee finches and sparrows and tits leave them alone. As do the giant crows and rooks and ravens. It’s the middle sized birds that found my bounty – starlings.
Luckily for me, the day they started to ripen I was asleep on the couch downstairs, just a few meters from the back door (sliding glass type). Spottie cat the mighty hunter saw the robbers and set up the alarum. Okay, actually? He went ‘mehmehmehmeh! ikikikikik!’ at them, and that woke me up. He did sound a bit different though, so I got up to see.
Dammit! I never thought I’d have bird troubles, and had no netting or anything else handy at 4:30 am to keep them away.
But I’m a quick thinker, and came up with a solution instantly. All I had to do was get my bare feet wet in the dew, and the problem was solved!
Neko will just have to live without her huge octopus until the growing season is over.
Does it really work??? I mean my gardener has this psychedelic bicycle-riding frog on a pole and the birds just ignore it.
So far! I think the big scary eyes and the snakelike legs are the key.
Clever! I don’t have to worry about wild birds nabbing my raspberries. It’s my dogs – chocolate labs – who are very adept at jump/standing on their back legs, grabbing fruit in their mouths and pulling the stalks down. My chickens can’t resist their sweets, either.
I suppose the dogs chase off the wild birds? My dog hasn’t figured out they are edible yet – but she knows that a tomato is tasty!
Best scarecrow ever..must be the eyes. The figs are ripening here – the squirrels are test tasting and tossing the rejects to Molly.
Augh!!! So glad not to have squirrels locally. There would be a fight!
A very novel idea. I hope it works.
So far so good!
Brillian! And a totally you solution. That’s why I love ya! Mwah! š