26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? – Matthew 6:26 (NIV)
First it was the dog pee that was a challenge to overcome. How to have a healthy garden or micro-orchard accessible to being watered and weeded, and also keep the dogs pee zone isolated? A second challenge that I hoped, in vain, that the dogs would deter are birds enjoying the fruit. A peck here and a peck there and the small amount of fruit I hope to gather this year is dwindling. A bluejay mocked me yesterday from its perch on my struggling apricot tree. I was planting a companion as yet unmolested by thieves.
I read or heard somewhere that shiny things deter the birds. As of Saturday afternoon, all my trees but for two now wear aluminum “foil hats”. The lemon tree is too dignified for such nonsense and the dwarf peach affectionately named “Cousin It” hide its fruit beneath masses of leaves.
It's a Dog's Life 