Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Treasure + gardens

Yesterday Christopher and I went for a spin down to New Town Providence looking for treasure of the Isabella.  Her cargo included wine, seal skins and mother of pearl.  We had never looked for the mother of pearl before but Shaun and Tanya had been down to the site the week before and found some which prompted us to go and look.  It was a sunny  day and within minutes of stepping onto the stony beach I saw something glistening in the sun.  My first piece of mother of pearl.  Within half and hour we had probably found about 20 pieces between us.  Not bad since the ship was wrecked 200 years ago this year.  I also found another two pieces of blue patterned pottery.

Mother of Pearl
More of the blue patterned pottery
In the garden the potatoes are starting to die off ready for digging.  It has been very frustrating with the Robins digging down and taking so many of the potatoes that some roots are literally empty when you dig them up.  Christopher came to the decision that although they had not died off it would be better to dig them early then keep on losing them to the birds.  It appears that although this has stopped the Robins having them the skins are still too delicate and in places where it has rubbed off the potatoes are going soft.  It seems to be a non win situation.  On a more positive side the potatoes that are still in the garden are a good size and are yielding fairly well.  Any suggestions on deterring the Robins would be greatly appreciated.  The situation would not be so bad if they only ate the ones that are showing on the surface but they are literally digging right down to the roots.

Peas
One of the potato plots
White turnips, carrots, parsnip, swede, beetroot, onions and  lettuce.
The remains of a Robins feast.

4 comments:

  1. Try hanging old computer or music cd,s on a long cane or stick on an angle so they swing the light reflections on the ground scare ground birds in my plot

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  2. Thank you for the tip. We will try it.

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  3. How about some sort of netting barrier, like old snow fences lain along the base of the potatoes. Birds hate getting tangled in mesh or any sort.

    Up here in New Jersey, our robins leave root vegetables alone. But the ground squirrels (ground hogs) have turned the state into a salad bar. The community garden I work in has so many angry fences, it looks like a miniature West Bank.

    Jan Reinhart, New Brunswick, NJ USA

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