A Little Garden Ingenuity

To extend my harvest, this year I planted Good Mother Stallard pole beans in large pots.  The idea seemed like a good one, but oh were those seeds slow to germinate.  I even contemplated replanting at one point, but finally beautiful little pole beans emerged.  They really were darling and I was absolutely in love.  Totally worth the wait!  Then one day last week, I came home from work and discovered that all of those delicate little bean leaves were gone.  Someone had wiped out my entire crop of pole beans in a day! 

After a little investigating, I've determined that the culprits were a flock of birds.  Probably Robbins or starling, as they are most common in the neighborhood.  I fretted for most of the evening, even telling my husband that those birds are no longer welcome in my back yard!  Of course try to enforce that rule!!  In the end, I turned to an easier method of protecting my newly planted crop...

Onion bags!  I contemplated spending money on netting, but then I noticed two bags of onions in the pantry and set to work devising a shield around my pots.  I simply peeled off as much of the label as possible without ripping the bag and then cut off the sealed bottom.  I stretched one open end to fit around the middle of the pot and the other open end provides some extra light for the plants.  Now, any bird trying to mess with my beans will get wrapped up in netting -- a pretty good deterrent so far!