Beat the birds

Went out Monday morning and the bok choy was peeking through the mix and since it didn't have a pod like the beans I thought it would be OK. I was gone for a few hours and when I got back a bird had pulled up several little plants. The beans were also trying to push through, so I laid a few of the window screen over some of the squares to protect the plants. While I was gone Tom worked on the trellis. The utility people came and so he was able to drive the rebar into the ground on the west side of the boxes.

The radishes and carrots have come up enough to be thinned. In the second picture it shows how to thin. Gently separate the plants, choose the strongest and then snip off the other(s). Also need to do the swiss chard.

We checked our "Square Foot Book" to get ideas on how to keep the birds out. Tom is demonstrating how to make a dome. It took two 10 foot lengths of 1/2 inch PVC. Simply put one end inside the corner of the box and bend it over to the other corner and push into the mix. It was secured at the crossover with long twist ties.

You can see the frame for the trellis in this photo, but we have yet to add the netting. Need to do it soon as the tomato plants in the first box are pushing on the temporary net we laid over it to keep the birds out. We're still having hot weather, so every thing is growing radiply. Predicted to be over 100 degrees tomorrow, October 8th.

After I removed the window screens, We draped bird netting over the top and secured it along the sides of the box with rocks. Hope this works.