Bye Bye Birdie

If you remember, I mentioned that our past gardens had been plagued by birds and squirrels. So far, I haven't seen evidence that we're having the same problem this year, but I am trying to be proactive just in case. 

My friend told me that her grandmother tied aluminum pie plates to the tops of her stakes to scare away the birds. I googled this idea, and found that it can be effective. I also read that other gardeners have been stringing up old CD's in an effort to keep birds away. It seems the birds don't like the noise, the movement, nor the shine given off by the pie plates or the CD's.

Thinking about these three factors, and because a large part of the enjoyment of gardening for me is simply spending time admiring how pretty the garden is, I came up with an idea that meets ALL of these criteria. 

Noise? Yes, a beautiful tinkling sound.

Movement? Yep.

Shine? Uh huh.

Pretty? Yeah, baby!

Living in a town full of junk souvenir shops can have its perks. It's super easy to get your hands on these capiz shell wind chimes on the cheap. So far it seems to be working. I haven't seen any birds hanging out in the garden. We'll see what happens when the itty bitty green tomatoes start ripening. *fingers crossed*