When we first tilled up the soil, we had many a pretty bird come visit to dig up the freshly lifted worms. They were oh so pretty and we thought about how they might eat some of our garden with how many appeared, so we read a bit online and people suggested that getting a bird feeder would draw them there instead of your garden.
So we hung a bird feeder and feed they did! They got so restless feeding that quite a bit of the seeds dropped all over the ground. All of them enjoyed the bird food, except the robins.
Our strawberries were just barely starting to come on when I realized that they were all suddenly gone and even the leaves were sorely damaged. I had remembered seeing the robins back there quite a bit, but thought they were just digging for worms since that spot of our garden seems to get a lot of water. I was wrong!
Well, netting may eventually appear over the strawberries, but for now I took some online advise and spread some toy snakes and also some shining snakes around the strawberries. I have not seen any robins in the 2 days they've been there, but I think I need to move the snakes around or something in case the birds get too smart.
As for the bird seed that fell all over the ground, it has attracked a family of mice! No joke! I see them scurrying from under the fence (must live at the neighbor's, whew!) and to the bird seed at least 20 times a day and that is when I have time to watch.
I bought some normal mousetraps and within 10 minutes, caught one by the tail. It escaped after about 3 minutes (which is really quite long), but I could have killed it with a shovel if I hadn't been squeeling and disgusted and not knowing what to do.
If anyone has some great advise AND a heads up for other fabulous animals I may encounter with a garden, it would be appreciated.
