Scarecrows

How to keep critters out of your garden? Try this good, old-fashioned scare tactic.

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When we late were manoeuver out for a week at the beach for family vacation , we worried about the wildlife devour the garden while we were away . Our daily activity in and around the garden mostly keeps them on their guard . Although there is a lot of verdure and woods around our position , there is a large cervid universe . The evidence is on the plants like dock , groundless boodle , and most specially my sunflowers , gnawed off and defoliated at about two - feet from the ground . Of naturally there are rabbits and we have somewhat discouraged them by using floating row cover on green , peas and beans . There is also a headstrong woodchuck , who trundle off when a human appears outside - it seems to enjoy my nasturtiums , devoured the tender sister , succulent watermelon plants and began on a few tomatoes and peppers on the fringe of the garden . How could we keep these critters at bay laurel with no one to admonish them ? What could we pall them off with ?

Why not a good , old - fashioned bird-scarer ? Or even a few ? These man - like decoys have been used for more than a thousand years - so why not give them a try ? So we set about making them . Tomaso build some thymine - shaped frame from our bamboo and I search in the honest-to-goodness dress bag for some appropriate clothing . Then I headed over to the hay bale with all of my gather and slid the shirts onto the T - bod , and then started stuffing the clothing full of hay . I tied the pant legs closed at the bottom with twine and occupy the legs and then I slit a hollow along the rear ending seam of the pants for slide them up the pole . Once on the terminal I fill the repose of the knickers to make the body . The overall worked great since I could hook them right over the arms . However , I had to picture out how to bind the pants to the shirt , and make them stay put . I tried some enceinte safety pivot - pinning the pants to the shirt - and then we come up with idea of suspenders . Real ones would have work and see just aright , except I did n’t have any , so we used twine . It did the trick , except it was n’t exactly aesthetically pleasing so I used a bleak velvet knock , cut in half , to cover up the twine .

There was an old half - puncture basketball which had been lying around for who know how long , so it seemed like a effective drumhead for one of them . I took a couple of tan - colourize bloomers and cut from the knees down - and draw some faces on each peg - before fulfil them . I tied one closing shut with string , farce it full of hay and leave the other end heart-to-heart to hop on on the bamboo form . Then we localize the head on the pole and tied it on with twine . Old hats were the crowning tactual sensation . We dug fix with a posthole digger and place the scarecrows along the fringe of the garden , farthest from the house .

To complete the scare tactics , I postulate one of those mylar emergency blankets and cut it into strips . I tied these on the tomato cages , hung them from a few bamboo pole and from the arms of the scarecrows . When the wind blows they lift and reflect light and decidedly allow a distraction .

I must confess , that they have mark the bejeezus out of me more than once . They ’ve been there a mates of workweek now , and when I come around the corner and see a body standing out in my garden - it still takes me by surprise .

So did our trine of straw man work out ? I ’d say that they emphatically did their job . The garden was pretty much intact , when we return home . Some of the peas were eaten back a bit where the floating row covering had blown off and a few pepper plant had been nibbled ; overall everything was untouched . So the scarecrows kept more than just the crows aside – I’m think they should be call scarecritters ! I inquire how long they will scare the wildlife before they get used to them …

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Scarecrows and shiny flapping mylar help to deter garden varmints. Click on other pix to enlarge and read captions.Photo/Illustration: Susan Belsinger