Monday, August 28, 2006

Re-establishing territory

When I returned after a month away from my garden, I discovered tomato carnage. I’m pretty sure it was the crows. Not only had they pecked away at tomatoes INSIDE the garden but they would fly the half eaten tomatoes out to the lawn and finish the deed. My lawn and garden pathways were littered with half eaten tomatoes. I also had a problem with some critter eating the leaves on my sweet potatoes. I suspect it was the deer.

Much of what I have been up to since I returned is reestablishing territory. This is MY garden, not yours. In years past a neighbor’s dog regularly established territory on the posts of my garden fence, and I’m sure it went a long way toward keeping the deer away. But alas, Toby the black lab has moved to the Pond and I am left to solve this problem on my own. I put up bird netting over the tomatoes, and I sprayed Bobbex on the sweet potato leaves. The first evening I was home, right about 6:30, eight crows flew in for dinner. I went out there and noisily shooed them away. They haven’t been back since.

Then this weekend, with the help of house guests, I built my first scarecrow. It sits out there proudly as sentinel against the crows.

1 comment:

Karen said...

I feel your half-eaten-tomato pain!
We've tried everything natural--Liquid Fence, cayenne pepper, etc., and still, they're eaten! I always thought it was rabbits or squirrels--maybe it is birds! Hope your scarecrow works. Enjoying your blog.