The sparrows have taken over the garden, so Mr. Granny and I headed out toward the raspberries armed with bird netting. As we neared the garden gate, I noticed movement inside the netting covered hoops that protect my beets, spinach and chard from the flies that cause leaf miner damage. The movements immediately became frantic, as the two young birds, who had somehow managed to get under the netting, saw us approaching. I went on through the gate, and lifted the clamp off to open one side, and one bird escaped right away. The other bird, however, went to the other side of the enclosure, and Annie, who had followed me though the gate, pounced. She missed the bird, and I was able to shoo it to the other side and safety, but the hoop netting could not withstand being pounced upon by a 30-pound dachshund. I have no idea what kind of birds they were, definitely not sparrows. I think they were probably young starlings or cowbirds.
Something tells me it's not going to offer much protection now.
That's a bummer, granny. I'd have to whip out the ol' shotgun......
ReplyDeleteNeedle and thread. I was doing that the other day with my row cover. The bad wind storm we had the other week ripped some nice holes in it.
ReplyDeleteOh Granny! Sorry to see your torn netting. I just returned back from purchasing more tulle! Atleast it wasn't the bird that tore the netting(we don't have dogs!)
ReplyDeleteHow did the birds even get into the enclosure?
It's too bad we have to cover everything to keep the birds out! I love birds, but I do wish they would leave things alone. They even pecked about 5 of my eggplants to death, so I have to put little cages around them.
ReplyDeleteEG, you'd shoot Annie? My Annie?
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Daphne, I was thinking maybe a smaller hoop. That bed, at 4 feet is really too hard for me to reach across, so if I made a 2' wide bed just for spinach and beets, which would be easy to cover and uncover.
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Random, operator error. I was out there yesterday and didn't put the netting back on tightly.
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Villager, I had to plug the holes in my bird houses this year, they just did so much damage last year, I'm not going to entice them with fancy digs! They haven't been bad until the last couple of days, and suddenly there are hundreds of sparrows in the neighbor's walnut tree...and they love my garden :-(
I don't blame the birds with such tasty looking morsel those greens would make..I'd get trapped every time :o)
ReplyDeleteI can see a plate of them with some butter slabbed on them ..yummy!
Ginny, those poor things were frantic! I didn't look to see if they chewed up the greens, but Annie put a few footprints in the newly planted carrots.
ReplyDeleteNothing to do with gardening, but a little brown bird has built her nest in the bottom of my Big Green Egg. Obviously, there can be no meals cooked out on the grill until she moves on.
ReplyDeleteDianefaith, we've suffered through so much sadness with baby birds plummeting to our patio from their nests near the roof, we now have stapled screens over the front and back of the beam to dissuade birds from nesting there. One can become very attached to the tiny ones, even though they are in the nest but a short time.
ReplyDeleteThe turtle is pretty! I hope her eggs safely hatch into lots of healthy babies.
I had a chuckle at this one. I can just see the dog pouncing, the birds freaking, and the net tearing. Ahhh, the adventures of pet ownership. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat an opportunist Annie is. LOL! Sorry about your netting.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Mr. Granny needs to get a BB gun for his birthday. I love birds, but the sparrows have killed one too many bluebirds around here. And , um, I don't think a dachsund is supposed to weigh 30 pounds. Maybe she needs to eat some lettuce!
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I find it interesting the differences in what we deal with in our gardens in different parts of the country. We have hundreds of birds on our property and they never touch my gardens. We do have lots of wild berries, though, and plenty of insects for them to eat instead. Our biggest pests are the raccoons in the sweet corn. It is almost impossible to grow to the point of picking with those pesky critters around-- even next to the house!
ReplyDeleteAwww, I'm sure everyone involved got their adrenaline going for a little bit. I'd fix it with duct tape. There's nothing that stuff won't fix!
ReplyDelete~~Lori
Kelly, Annie enjoyed every second of it. Otto just stood there barking!
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Rachel, I needed some new pot scrubbers. I think I can make quite a few now ;-)
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Sue, she's been on a green bean and baked chicken diet for two years. It's hopeless. She was just meant to be a chubby girl with crooked teeth, and a great personality! We love her anyway, even though she's not the lap dog she would like to be.
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Langela, at least the birds didn't annihilate the peas this year. They usually snap the vines off nearly to the ground.
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Lori, it was a comedy of errors all around. I wish I had a video of the mayhem that ensued, it was quite comical.
That's a hole that you could drive a new truck through! LOL! I have never had a bird try to get under netting before? Once I had it covered that was the end of any bird invasions.
ReplyDeleteKitsap, I had inadvertently left the netting a bit too loose at one end, but I'm surprised even one bird would go under it, let alone two birds. They looked to be very young, maybe they just didn't know to be afraid of netting. I'll bet they are now!
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