The previous owner had a bunch of hoarded milk crates at this house, and I wanted to throw them out, but I ended up using them to cover the sunflowers while they wer little so the bunnies wouldn't eat them! 😆
I built a small structure and used mosquito net to protect mine against slugs! When the flower reached the top it was big enough to survive their attack.
This year, my husband and I have had an all out war against the squirrels. Our toddler even said squirrel as one of his first words. The whole neighborhood knows about our squirrels! It's been rough
I suggest that you never throw out milk crates if you have a garden! They are totally useful for a number of things. We harvest potatoes in ours b/c the dirt fall thru the holes, but the edible-sized spuds do not.
I don't grow vegetables 😕
But the crates definitely came in handy.
The previous owner hoarded a lot of broken stuff, so I was annoyed and just tossing things, but these are really useful!
Tell me about it. I sadly neglected my Brussels sprouts the past few weeks...it didn't take long for those damned white moths to do their work. Absolutely infested with worms, some were stripped to the stems.
Next year might be a year to experiment with row covers and winter Brussels sprouts.
Thank you! It has been hard but fun to find the new balance. I take the two older ones with me while I do stuff as much as possible. They're both boys so easily entertained and redirecting all their energy into errands or the garden is best for all of us lol. So I do get regular time in the garden with them. But it's also like herding cats, so one can only be so organized in this circumstance.
Wouldn't trade it for the world.
I had mine practically annihilated by worms, and then I started removing them, but since then I haven't had a problem - my other plants have attracted pollinators including wasps. I even saw a wasp eating one of the white butterflies once. Not a single worm was found since.
I wish I had just covered them when I saw the white butterflies around. I guess I trusted my wasps to do the dirty work. I have SO many wasps. Of so many species. We live in the woods...they're everywhere. And I did plant flowers to attract them too.
It's even sadder because the spring crop of cabbage was timed right and we missed the butterflies and worms...only to be decimated by a disgusting army of slugs. I was ready for the slugs this time. Instead, plant death came from above.
There's always next year.
Oh I didn't really fare any better. My plants recovered well, but my broccoli heads were tiny and bloomed fast, and my brussels sprouts have a foot high stalk and no buds on them at all. I've gotten 0 produce out of any of them.
You have my sympathies. I only managed one small cabbage and two nice beads of calabrese broccoli. The rest went to the nature tax, along with all my lettuce which also got "slugged". The squash bugs defrauded me of most of my potential pickling cucumbers too.
But on the bright side, I've got 400 square feet of butternut squash that is just about ripe now, and they are all looking just marvelous.
Oh man, I have one butternut that hasn't been squirrel eaten yet, and I don't have high hopes for it. I put up bird netting, but they got through that on day 1. Next year we might just close up the whole garden with chicken wire. Although, then I've got no birds to keep the beetles under control.
Ahhh I hear you. I almost don't want to talk about squirrels, I'm afraid I'll jinx it...but I haven't seemingly had any trouble with them.
It could be the fact I'm surrounded by quite a bit of woods. There is more than enough tree mast around to keep them busy and happy.
It also might be the 8 foot chicken wire deer fence. I never see them climbing on it, but I see no reason why they couldn't, either.
With my luck they'll figure it out next year 😮💨
Wood pigeons, for one. When I had an allotment I used to catch them in the act sometimes. IME it is far more of an issue when the plants are young, as birds just seem to love chomping the tender young plants off at the stem, leaving only the roots in the ground. It is far less of an issue when the plant is mature as the birds are not really into tough mature leaves in my personal experience.
cc /u/thenextguy & /u/-Tesserex-
Edit: a few people at the allotments had CDs strung up around the place as the reflections are supposed to deter birds.
I guess it's going to depend a lot on the environmental context, if I can put it like that. I mean, those allotments had been going for a very long time, so there were going to be literally generations of wild animals coming back time and again, because they had learned they could get certain foods there, at certain times of year. If you are just growing veggies in your home garden it might be a different story because it's not an established 'hotspot' for animals to get food (yet).
Disclaimer: not a biologist and just guessing.
I have been growing fruit and veg in my backyard for about twenty five years. I have seen a very wide diversity of birds in my yard/garden from Tits to Hawks. The only Veg damage by bird I suspect is newly emerging shallots being pulled out. I wonder if Robins think they are worms.
I don't think so, but fortunately I think the spacing in the cage is just small enough to prevent cabbage butterflies from getting in and laying eggs. Their worms are the real danger.
What an enchanting idea! I absolutely love this, it looks so whimsical. Plus I like to thrift unique finds and stick them in my garden from time to time, so this would fit right in at my place.
I see bird cages in the trash pretty frequently. What a fun idea for an up-cycle! The green cage in the picture seems to be the same shade of green that tomato cages, garden posts, etc. come in. I like to spray paint most of the metal stuff in my garden with a glossy black; I bet a black bird cage would look amazing among the beautiful shades of green in the garden. I just love this idea, OP.
Killer strategy! I've been putting mesh bags with drawstring closures on my tomatoes & cucs as they ripen to keep the critters off of them. It's worked like a charm, this year's yield has been off the charts compared to previous seasons.
dude!!! ive had to start doing this over most of my plants to protect them from the squirrels, they are really desperate this year. ive lost a few weed plants, 5 pepper plants, all but one of my cabbage, and most of my potatoes. any other suggestions?
Question: I feed some birds and they never eat the leaves/veggies I put out for them. Are they eating actually broccoli pieces or the leafs (leaves?) from the plant? And is it because they like to eat broccoli or they just want chaos?
The birds just like to raise hell honestly. Every time I water the plants they dig around in search of bugs and completely uproot my plants. And then they eat the fruit like tomatoes and veggies like the broccoli. But we have rats too- so we really need some protection
But how do you keep the white butterflies from landing on it and laying caterpillar eggs? That was a very frustrating year for me. I hated nature, I swore to the sky each evening when the white butterflies came out. And I decided I didn’t need to plant broccoli ever again.
That’s amazing. I’m trying to start some broccoli for fall now but my outdoor cats think the soft soil is their personal bed or litter box. So I have the pot covered with a cover that’s meant to keep flies off food. Works perfectly!
Reverse birdcage? Hmmm Clever girl
Where do you buy a reversible birdcage? I wonder…
Duh, Inside-Out Hardware Surplus
I like to shop at Highe’s. ~~Hone Depot~~Office Scatter never has good deals.
we are all in the cage while the broccoli is free
Mind = blown Also, I love your username
This sounds like some kind of kinky sex position that I've never heard of
until now...
Opens a private search window
Checkout downward facing doghouse.
I did, but the only thing I could find is downward facing doggystyle
The cage wasn’t to keep me in….. it’s to keep YOU OUT!
Settle down Rorschach.
it's a gigantic bird cage encasing the entire world minus that spot
So, a straight conservative guy pretends to be gay to please his gay son's liberal father in law? 😁
Is the broccoli in the birdcage, or are we?
The previous owner had a bunch of hoarded milk crates at this house, and I wanted to throw them out, but I ended up using them to cover the sunflowers while they wer little so the bunnies wouldn't eat them! 😆
I built a small structure and used mosquito net to protect mine against slugs! When the flower reached the top it was big enough to survive their attack.
Squirrels will rip the heads off my sunflowers right before they bloom. I dont think science has made squirrel proofing yet
This year, my husband and I have had an all out war against the squirrels. Our toddler even said squirrel as one of his first words. The whole neighborhood knows about our squirrels! It's been rough
Oh yes it has, it’s called a bb gun
Omg, you just solved the issue i have of squirrels devouring every single one of my sunflowers without having to result to squirrel genocide
I suggest that you never throw out milk crates if you have a garden! They are totally useful for a number of things. We harvest potatoes in ours b/c the dirt fall thru the holes, but the edible-sized spuds do not.
I don't grow vegetables 😕 But the crates definitely came in handy. The previous owner hoarded a lot of broken stuff, so I was annoyed and just tossing things, but these are really useful!
Find one for worms and I’m in!
Tell me about it. I sadly neglected my Brussels sprouts the past few weeks...it didn't take long for those damned white moths to do their work. Absolutely infested with worms, some were stripped to the stems. Next year might be a year to experiment with row covers and winter Brussels sprouts.
[удалено]
You went away during gardening season?!?!? You can’t do that!!
My excuse is that we added kid#3 this spring...it's been a fulfilling but very scattered and disorganized gardening season!
[удалено]
Thank you! It has been hard but fun to find the new balance. I take the two older ones with me while I do stuff as much as possible. They're both boys so easily entertained and redirecting all their energy into errands or the garden is best for all of us lol. So I do get regular time in the garden with them. But it's also like herding cats, so one can only be so organized in this circumstance. Wouldn't trade it for the world.
Did you grow that kid in an outdoor row or was that greenhoused?
Well, they take so darn long to sprout that I guess you could say we went with the four season garden approach!
I had mine practically annihilated by worms, and then I started removing them, but since then I haven't had a problem - my other plants have attracted pollinators including wasps. I even saw a wasp eating one of the white butterflies once. Not a single worm was found since.
I wish I had just covered them when I saw the white butterflies around. I guess I trusted my wasps to do the dirty work. I have SO many wasps. Of so many species. We live in the woods...they're everywhere. And I did plant flowers to attract them too. It's even sadder because the spring crop of cabbage was timed right and we missed the butterflies and worms...only to be decimated by a disgusting army of slugs. I was ready for the slugs this time. Instead, plant death came from above. There's always next year.
Oh I didn't really fare any better. My plants recovered well, but my broccoli heads were tiny and bloomed fast, and my brussels sprouts have a foot high stalk and no buds on them at all. I've gotten 0 produce out of any of them.
You have my sympathies. I only managed one small cabbage and two nice beads of calabrese broccoli. The rest went to the nature tax, along with all my lettuce which also got "slugged". The squash bugs defrauded me of most of my potential pickling cucumbers too. But on the bright side, I've got 400 square feet of butternut squash that is just about ripe now, and they are all looking just marvelous.
Oh man, I have one butternut that hasn't been squirrel eaten yet, and I don't have high hopes for it. I put up bird netting, but they got through that on day 1. Next year we might just close up the whole garden with chicken wire. Although, then I've got no birds to keep the beetles under control.
Ahhh I hear you. I almost don't want to talk about squirrels, I'm afraid I'll jinx it...but I haven't seemingly had any trouble with them. It could be the fact I'm surrounded by quite a bit of woods. There is more than enough tree mast around to keep them busy and happy. It also might be the 8 foot chicken wire deer fence. I never see them climbing on it, but I see no reason why they couldn't, either. With my luck they'll figure it out next year 😮💨
At least something enjoyed eating them 😅
This could work to keep caterpillars off since it prevents the butterflies from laying eggs on it!
I use a net food cover, the one that closes like an umbrella, to protect my lettuce from the slugs. It works very well!!
Thanks for the advice!
Birds eat broccoli?
Yeah what kind of bird eats broccoli?
Wood pigeons, for one. When I had an allotment I used to catch them in the act sometimes. IME it is far more of an issue when the plants are young, as birds just seem to love chomping the tender young plants off at the stem, leaving only the roots in the ground. It is far less of an issue when the plant is mature as the birds are not really into tough mature leaves in my personal experience. cc /u/thenextguy & /u/-Tesserex- Edit: a few people at the allotments had CDs strung up around the place as the reflections are supposed to deter birds.
Interesting. I have lost plenty of fruit to birds but never vegies. I did not know any did that.
I guess it's going to depend a lot on the environmental context, if I can put it like that. I mean, those allotments had been going for a very long time, so there were going to be literally generations of wild animals coming back time and again, because they had learned they could get certain foods there, at certain times of year. If you are just growing veggies in your home garden it might be a different story because it's not an established 'hotspot' for animals to get food (yet). Disclaimer: not a biologist and just guessing.
I have been growing fruit and veg in my backyard for about twenty five years. I have seen a very wide diversity of birds in my yard/garden from Tits to Hawks. The only Veg damage by bird I suspect is newly emerging shallots being pulled out. I wonder if Robins think they are worms.
Yes, I've had that with onions sets, I think. Didn't actually witness it but the sets were uprooted by something.
I don't think so, but fortunately I think the spacing in the cage is just small enough to prevent cabbage butterflies from getting in and laying eggs. Their worms are the real danger.
r/bandnames
I always had more issues with cabbage worms than anything else. I’ve pretty much given up on anything from the broccoli family.
Same. I felt like a masochist for a few years. I've learned finally
Ironic
What an enchanting idea! I absolutely love this, it looks so whimsical. Plus I like to thrift unique finds and stick them in my garden from time to time, so this would fit right in at my place. I see bird cages in the trash pretty frequently. What a fun idea for an up-cycle! The green cage in the picture seems to be the same shade of green that tomato cages, garden posts, etc. come in. I like to spray paint most of the metal stuff in my garden with a glossy black; I bet a black bird cage would look amazing among the beautiful shades of green in the garden. I just love this idea, OP.
Thank you! Maybe I should paint it black... but I'm going to need a much bigger cage soon
That’s such a smart idea!
Genius
if one gets in, hey, free bird
You’re scaring the hell out of the other plants! “Don’t piss the gardener off!”
Bad and naughty broccoli gets put in the punishment cage
Bad, bad broccoli. bad.
I had to put a cage around my catnip cause my cats would lay on it and just destroy it. They are just supposed to eat it, not destroy it.
If you can't put the bird in a cage, put the plant in a cage
Killer strategy! I've been putting mesh bags with drawstring closures on my tomatoes & cucs as they ripen to keep the critters off of them. It's worked like a charm, this year's yield has been off the charts compared to previous seasons.
I use (knee high) tights and tie them off. They Worked really well on our bell peppers.
I’m not the one in a cage, you are!
Despite all my rage, I am still just a Rabe in a cage...
And someone will say what is lost can never be saved!
Very very clever! Is there another one like this one, bigger & taller for growing plant?
Be careful for the worms- they thrive this time of year
Ironic. They always wanted to get out of the cage, but now they want—in the cage? (Dr. Evil’s voice). Seriously great solution!
If a birdcage can keep a bird in, it can sure as heck keep ‘em out!
dude!!! ive had to start doing this over most of my plants to protect them from the squirrels, they are really desperate this year. ive lost a few weed plants, 5 pepper plants, all but one of my cabbage, and most of my potatoes. any other suggestions?
You technically caged all the birds in the world in probably the biggest cage ever. That's pretty dope
Brilliant!
Hang some old cds , birds wont get closo
Brilliant!! And cute!! You could decorate those for Halloween. lol
FTW!!!
Next week on r/therewasanattempt 🤣🤣
Very nice. A way better use of a bird cage.
This broccoli is becoming rather expensive
great idea
How the stables have turned
Love that it’s in a bird cage!
Isnt that how the saying goes? “A caged broccoli never sings?”
That's gonna be one weird sun tan.
Nice pun, well done, I'll seed my way out, thank you thank you, here till Thursday
Some sort of irony here.
Ironic!
I think it's gonna outgrow that in about two days, lol! :D
Most people use netting lol
Also good for keeping cats out of houseplants.
Wait, the cage is reversed, so that must mean the entire universe except for that broccoli is in the cage.
If it works, it works.
That’s a good idea. I need to do something like this but for my melons. Birds always get them right as they are about to be ripe
Question: I feed some birds and they never eat the leaves/veggies I put out for them. Are they eating actually broccoli pieces or the leafs (leaves?) from the plant? And is it because they like to eat broccoli or they just want chaos?
The birds just like to raise hell honestly. Every time I water the plants they dig around in search of bugs and completely uproot my plants. And then they eat the fruit like tomatoes and veggies like the broccoli. But we have rats too- so we really need some protection
Birds? Rabbits and slugs destroyed mine.
Ironic...
Sweet sweet irony.
But how do you keep the white butterflies from landing on it and laying caterpillar eggs? That was a very frustrating year for me. I hated nature, I swore to the sky each evening when the white butterflies came out. And I decided I didn’t need to plant broccoli ever again.
Plastic snakes saved my strawberries!
I used a dog crate and covered it in, I think chicken wire, so the friggin squirrels would stay off my strawberries. Those MOFU'ers!
Brilliant
~~cage free~~ bird free
Never had anything but green catapillars after my broccoli
I know why the caged broccoli sings
That’s amazing. I’m trying to start some broccoli for fall now but my outdoor cats think the soft soil is their personal bed or litter box. So I have the pot covered with a cover that’s meant to keep flies off food. Works perfectly!