Tuesday, May 12

Boosting the defences

Regular readers will know that we have something that I call a living lid which covers our pond filter chamber.

The lid consists of three shallow trays in which are planted sempervivum and sedum.

Regular readers will also know that since I planted this up each year something devastates it. The prime suspects are the wood pigeons and blackbirds. This year has been no exception.
We have absolutely no idea why this planting is targeted and when we mentioned the problem at the local nursery when we bought replacement plants the guy there said that he had never heard of that happening before. I guess we must just have delinquent birds.


We had already bought some sempervivums and sedums to replant the trays but there seemed no point replanting unless we gave the plants some protection. The issue was that this is the garden and not the allotment and so we didn't want to have something that would be annoying to look at.

Whilst I planted up the trays AGAIN ...
Martyn set to and constructed a frame - one that would not detract from the planting so he used as little wood as we could get away with.
I stained the wood the same green as the summer house and at the same time stained the frame on which it was lodged - a job that I have intended to do for a while.

We brought a piece of black netting from the allotment which we stretched and stapled to the wood.
The netting is fairly fine and black so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb and the plants are still clearly visible through it.

The only thing left was to finish off the ends of the wood so it looked more as though it was meant too be there - if you know what I mean, We found some wooden cupboard knobs that seemed to fit the bill and so these were stained and glued to the ends of the wooden 'legs'.

Now it's fingers crossed that this provides an adequate deterrent to the unknown vandal.


Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

22 comments:

  1. I hope that does the trick.

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  2. I hope it does the trick for you, I have a hanging basket at the side of the house & birds keep on landing in it & flattening the plants.

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  3. That looks very smart. The only thing missing is your 'wildlife camera' so you can take incriminating photos of the visiting delinquents when they come to cause more damage and find they are thwarted!

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    1. We set one up last year which pointed to it being the wood pigeons or the blackbirds, Jayne - it was inconclusive,

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    2. We set one up last year which pointed to it being the wood pigeons or the blackbirds, Jayne - it was inconclusive,

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  4. Good luck. I hope it works for you.

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  5. Beautifully done, I hope it works. I'm having trouble with blackbirds in the garden at the moment, they're constantly rooting around in the pots and pulling clumps of soil out.

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    1. They do tend to make a mess looking for bugs don't they CJ

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  6. Would it be too unkind to say that your construction looks like an upturned table? I reckon it will do the job though, whereas probably nothing else would!

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    1. I never realised that you had a cruel streak, Mark :)

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  7. I have exactly the same problem, I suspect it's birds after nesting material as they seem to like the moist soil under the gravel....or rooting for worms....I love your solution, I'm sure it will work!xxx

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    1. We wondered whether they thought the sedum looked like a cluster of juicy grubs, Dina

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  8. It's the blackbirds. I've watched them countless times in my troughs and pots. I rigged up something far less attractive and it does the job. It looks great Sue. I'm sure you'll have happy semps and sedum from now on.

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    1. I hope that they appreciate the effort Angie :)

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. That is just lovely! Martyn did a fantastic job with the frame. I adore succulents, and would love to incorporate more into our garden.

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    1. I'll pass on your compliments, Margaret

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  11. I've heard of birds uprooting plants in living roofs on buildings - they get round it by using planting trays covered with fine chicken wire mesh and getting the plants to grow through the mesh until big and dense enough to resist pulling from birds.
    However if the birds just eat the plants, it's difficult to think of any solution other than a complete barrier!

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    1. Maybe once the pllants know together we can release them from captivuty S and D

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