Lessons I'm Learning

      If we've learned anything over the last 35 years living in the country, surrounded by woods, it's that we are part of a very complicated web - a fascinating and sometimes frustrating web. Each year the cohorts in this web teach us something new, including new skills.

      For example, the birds have taught me how to wrestle with bird-netting. I hate the stuff. It's worse than a pile of a coat hangers. And I hate some of the birds because of it. Especially the robins.

Culprit!

The blue jays too, though mainly because they're just noisy bullies.

      But, I have to remind myself that they earn their keep in other ways, like eating bad bugs. At least the robins do – not sure about the jays. I offer temptations and they're quick to partake - thank you very much.

      I can confirm that robins love berries, at least some kinds: strawberries, blueberries and gooseberries, for sure. They like others that I haven't planted, such as currants and cherries. They used to love my elderberry too, but I dug it out. Sometimes they get the chokecherries before I do. But, oddly, they don't like raspberries so we don't have to net those. Everything else we do. Well, except the rhubarb. They don't like that either.

     

No netting! Just the side fence. 

Today, I took the netting off the biggest strawberry patch, which takes as long as it does to put it up. It's been a great strawberry year, but they're slowing down with the heat. Fine with me. With all that danged bird netting, picking them is backbreaking. You have to hunch down and/or crawl around, trying not to squish berries in the process. We got plenty. The birds can have the puny few left.

     Meanwhile, I'll be trying to get into the blueberry cage gracefully. Once in, it's fine. We've rigged it up so you can actually stand up and walk around. Bliss!

White string holds netting down around blueberries on either side of funky "door"

       I haven't figured out how to make a good entrance to fenced/netted spaces. Maybe because I'm too cheap to invest in a truly elegant door or gate. I'll have to think on it and maybe figure out something better. No matter what I use, bird netting will catch on it. Guaranteed. And clothespins used to hold it in place will too. Need to raise your blood pressure? Just open a package of bird netting.

    

    The birds taught me not to leave loose netting around the edges of the berry cages because inevitably one will get caught and not survive if we don't see it to release it. So, I spend a couple of hours “sewing” the sides down with string (and unsewing when I take them down). Also, they can find the smallest opening they'll fit into - and within minutes of putting the netting up. Truly amazing.
     We have to take the netting down at the end of the season since we learned the hard way that snow and ice will pull anything down left up in the winter – even when we tried using chicken wire as the “roof” for the blueberry cage. Ice even pulled the clothesline post right out of the cement base once!

     

Elmer Fudd's "wabbits" visit here too

What the birds don't go after, something else will. Our garden, about 1/3 of an acre, is fenced against deer and has worked pretty well. No sooner had I got that up years ago and was feeling pretty smug, the rabbits taught me that they could get in – no problem. Rats. So, I put a much shorter chicken-wire fence around the perimeter. It helped for a while, but they learned how to jump above it (I swear it's a new Olympic sport) – or where there are depressions under the fence. So, Don puts wire on much of what he plants, especially the starts, to keep the bunnies and the birds away. Works fine, but then there are the slugs, symphylans, grasshoppers, flea beetles, aphids, bean beetles... It's an unending education.  And the garden is anything but aesthetic.

Young runner beans will soon consume the trellis

   

The deer leave most of the flower garden in front of the house alone because they've taught me what they don't care for. However, they do love the runner beans we plant on our front porch to create "walls" of shade, so those get netted too (sigh). But it works! The hummingbirds and butterflies can still get to the beautiful red flowers when they blossom.




  

The only fence the hops need is one to climb, and this isn't tall enough, but they make do. The lavender in front is buzzing with bees all day long. Soon, they'll move to the hop flowers. Lavender and hops are both used to make you relax - no wonder the bees like to sleep here!





 The hop vines are so rambunctious they're starting to take over one of the wren boxes. Maybe it will help deter the bully blue jays...

The garden is a great place to sit and meditate - if only there were time, and not so many critters to out-fox!