Monday, April 6, 2020

New spikes in my garden...

You probably think I'm talking about new plants, right? An agave or maybe an opuntia? Nope, not this time...

Sometime in late January I noticed the hose hanging on the back of our house was covered in bird poop. Unbelievable quantities. Since the hose is black and the house dark brown it was rather noticeable, it seemed to have happened virtually overnight. Gross as it was I cleaned it all up, figuring it was a one time occurrence. It it wasn't. I cleaned it again and then put plastic over the hose, it didn't take long for more to show up.

The entire length of the house and some bird decides to perch on the gutter and poop right above the hose, what are the chances? Not that anywhere else would have been great, but this was the worse possible spot, it almost seemed personal.

I thought maybe there was a nest in the gutter. Andrew climbed up there to have a look, there was no nest. He tucked a section of wire fencing into the gutter to deter perching.

The poop continued to fall (please ignore the gutter in need of painting)...

I thought it looked like the guilty pooper party was actually hanging under the gutter, and sure enough there's a utility line of some sort tucked under there. A very small bird was producing very large messes. Andrew ordered stainless steel bird spikes on Amazon, can you see them tucked under there?

Here's a better shot. Most importantly there has been no new poop since they were installed. Hooray for a poop-free hose!

Since the order came with more spikes that we needed to do that job I decided to use the others for raccoon deterrent around the stock tank pond. This wire fence was my original solution. It kept the little beasts from jumping in to the tank off that short retaining wall and gave me a place to hang more plants.

But late last fall they somehow managed to start scaling the side of the tank beyond the fence to go for a swim and thrash my plants. Once the patio was closed for the season I stuck this very unattractive bit of reflective insulation in there to keep them out.

It did the trick, but wasn't something that could stay in place, obviously.

Enter my new spikes!

Fingers crossed...

Weather Diary, Apr 5: Hi 63, Low 42/ Precip 0

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

20 comments:

  1. The battle lines have been struck! Good luck. Wanted to send out a big thank-you for your daily blogs. They are very welcome during this time of sheltering in place and waiting for Spring to arrive.

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    1. Thanks for the thank-you. I had noticed a few ex-bloggers returning to the fray, but then things dropped off again. I appreciate knowing that people out there are reading AND having done this for 11 years now the pattern of blogging is rather comforting as everything else has blown up around me.

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  2. A great solution for a garden where spikes reign supreme!

    We've had several similar instances under the bay trees in the backyard. Unfortunately, there's no solution since the birds just sit in the tree branches and let fly :-(

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    1. We were driving up a very deserted I-5 on Sunday admiring all the geese in their formations flying overhead. Then suddenly I couldn't see a thing as the windshield was covered in white...

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  3. The birds have been rather obnoxious here, too. The early spring wave of varied thrushes have been ripping through the garden looking for food. They dig more than robins, flinging soil and mulch across plants and paths, uprooting small plantlets I had put in to root over winter, and generally causing small, but aggravating messes all over. It's hard to be mad at them when they're eating up the armyworms and other pesky larvae, but I wish they could go about it a bit more delicately.

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    1. Ya I walk into the back garden and the first thing I do is walk around smashing lawn divots back into place. They don't dig much in the planted areas, I guess I should be thankful for that.

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  4. Hope that works. Yours is truly a danger-ous garden!

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    1. Yep...if you ever visit bring eye protection!

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  5. Wonderful title! I was expecting more spiky plants.

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    1. Thought I might as well have a little fun with a gross subject!

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  6. Your are very creative. Spikes aren't something I've considered to thwart my raccoon visitors - until now!

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    1. It would be harder to deal with them attaching in-ground plants. I wish you all the luck.

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  7. Please update us about the spikes keeping the raccoons out of your pond. Gee they are so destructive. While I love birds I hate their messes. The rascals are also ripping up my new moss path for linings in their nests. UGH...

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  8. Spikes--I was thinking Aloe flowers. The bird-discouragers look quite similar to Opuntia spines. Just do not forget they are there!

    We briefly had a mulberry in the garden's early years--all the droppings for a few weeks were a dramatic purple.

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    1. Of course they went up on the side of the stock tank BEFORE I did my annual clean of the water and the plants. It made it a little trickier, but no blood drawn.

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  9. Yikes! Spikes! The raccoons are clever little bandits. If you have managed to outsmart them, please spread the word.
    rickii

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  10. More spikes for the spiky garden! I'd expect nothing less :-D

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