I've become quite proud of my little array of fruits and vegetables growing in pots on our deck. One of my particular joys is a little blueberry plant (that's it in the corner), which is actually producing some fruit. It had a whole cluster of beautiful purple orbs last time I looked which were getting very close to being harvestable. My first home-grown blueberries! I was so excited! Imagine my horror then when I went out into the garden today to find that they had all gone! Some evil amoral thieving so and so had eaten the lot! What snivelling life form would stoop so low? I was bewildered, hurt and outraged. I am thinking of setting up a feline watch, but am worried that our cats aren't very task-oriented. Pooky can focus when the whim takes him, but it's mainly on sleeping. This picture pretty much sums up his laid-back attitude (his other state is extreme alarm, which probably doesn't bode well for his catching any blueberry thieves):
Mausel, on the other hand, is extremely on the ball when occasion arises. These occasions generally involve some poor little critter she has brought in from outside. This is her keeping watch outside the wardrobe, where she had accidentally lost a bird she brought in a week or two ago. She brought it into my study to show me (what a sweetheart) but it got away and flew straight into the open wardrobe. Luckily it got itself jammed between the sliding doors and I was able to release it while Mausel was frantically searching inside the cupboard itself. It flew straight out of the window, thank heaven, but Mausel wasn't to know that, and stayed on watch for hours. I always feel very bad when she does that, but she knows the rule - if she brings it in, it gets taken away (with lots of stroking and praise of course). If only I could harness the predator in her to watch over my blueberry plants I would have my culprit within hours. Sadly she doesn't care for blueberries and wandered off while I was trying to explain the situation to her. I may have to resort to netting.
4 comments:
you know what they say about herding cats!!! they just wont be told but I am sure they would get lots of praise if they could protect the blueberries - do you know who the thief is - possums are a nuisance to gardeners in Melbourne but is it squirrels in your garden???
squirrels are our culprits, they have been witnessed. i lost a raspberry last wk even with netting draped (but not secured) over the bush!
we have some netting if you want to borrow.
Positive affirmation might just be the answer - a bit of tuna for every berry they save, perhaps? I assumed it was birds but perhaps we have a squirrel problem too (yes please to the netting, Eco Sis!). I hadn't realised that possums were a garden pest - I always heard of them skittering about in attics. I was too frightened of the spiders to go out in the garden much when I was in Australia though!
shall i bring netting to londinium or are you going to buy some? reply by some other means!
ps i made blackberry crumble with blackberries picked in our street :) yeah, so they were growing out from the neighbours garden but i don't think there's even anyone in that house yet for the new tenancy year. plus i noticed a raspberry picking place down binsey lane that i may try and go to at the wknd...
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