I love birds. I do. The 100+ pounds of birdseed in my garage, four seed feeders, two hummingbird feeders and one fruit feeder, plus the drip-fed bird bath should all be a testament to this. AND YET.
All of those seeds I planted last month? I came home one day to find the rest of the pots dug through and all of the barely-there seedlings gone and potting soil strewn all over the table. All except the bush beans, which apparently sprouted too quickly for the birds to catch on. Dudes. I provide food for you, for a reason. I will gladly share any extra produce that results from these plants but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LET THEM GET TO THAT STAGE FIRST. *sigh* Luckily, the carrots, beets and bunching onions that were direct-sown seem to have been untouched. Knock on wood.
At this point, I don't know if I should bother re-starting these plants...it's already mid-March and even with our awesomely long growing season (yay Mediterranean climate!), I don't know if they'll have enough time to produce a decent crop of ripe fruit. And, I'll need to devise a system to keep the birds out first. I may have some free time this weekend...