I’ve mentioned already that the MOTH and I are keen to make our new garden as bird-friendly as possible. During the years we lived overseas a highlight of my trips back to Oz was waking to the carolling of magpies in the mornings. That quintessentially Aussie sound tells me I’m home like nothing else can. Our semi-rural pozzie* on the edge of Buninyong means we hear the magpies most days, as well as kookaburras laughing, parrots squawking and tinkling, and wattle birds clucking importantly from the shrubbery. Then there are our less raucous feathered friends – the new holland honey eaters, colourful finches, the tiny and gorgeous blue fairy wrens and an endless parade of blackbirds. It’s a veritable bird bonanza.

Crimson rosellas

Unfortunately, these avian visitors don’t quite comprehend that we’re happy to encourage them into the garden but we don’t particularly appreciate them denuding our fruit and vegetable crops while they’re here. While I patiently waited the extra day or two for our first tomato to ripen on the vine (the ideal taste, it’s said), a sassy blackbird beat me to it and all I was left with was half a chewed up tomato! As the birds began eating more and greener tomatoes, I conceded defeat and brought out the bird netting. The tomatoes are now looking positively bridal, all swathed in their white veil. It’s a wee bit harder to feed/weed/water and pick – but the tomatoes are ours, all ours!!

We have a small orchard of ten trees up on our back block. They’ve been under-whelming in their productivity this year, mainly due to an accumulation of neglect. Despite all the inattention, two pear trees and one apple tree are valiantly bringing small crops to maturity. All going well these should have been ready to pick in another few weeks. But …

We realised a couple of weeks ago that a number of birds, and the vividly coloured crimson rosellas in particular, were also keen to sample the fruit. As we watched our already tiny crops dwindle further at the beaks of these cheeky birds, we started thinking about netting the trees. With nets procured, the weather conspired against us: first a run of searingly hot days that seriously limited the time we could spend in the garden without risking heat stroke; then days with high winds that would have turned our netting attempts into a kite-flying debacle. And to cap it off, we then had several hot and windy days. This morning, armed with all we needed to net the three productive trees, we were dismayed to find how few fruits are left intact and how little benefit would be gained from the effort needed to get the nets in place 😦

Sometimes, you have to accept defeat gracefully and turn your efforts to more winnable challenges. We retreated to the shed and gathered together the bits and pieces needed to build a scarecrow … that may not work either but it’s seems like more fun and less hard work than wrestling bird nets into position. The MOTH also reckons it’s a far better use of his office clobber** than the one he was putting it to last year.

Next year, our fruit trees will all be pruned, fed, adequately watered and lovingly tended in every possible way to encourage an abundance of production. I’m already turning my thoughts to the extra shelving we’ll need for the rows and rows of glistening preserves, sauces, chutneys and dried fruits we’ll be storing.

*Aus-speak for “position” 😉

**Aus-speak for clothing/attire