I have a lot of birds and bird feeders in the backyard. I thought about using that to the garden's advantage when I was also looking to leave or modify habitat for birds to enable some protection from predators both aerial (constant hawks) and terrestrial (feral cats sometimes jump the privacy fence). Additionally, I wanted to increase hedgerow/edge habitat to foster species otherwise left out.

So, I looked around and made the decision to leave a lot of dead plants in the garden through the winter rather than clean them up. That was OK, but I still needed to grub a few areas where plants had fallen to the ground. Then it hit me, I remembered years ago there was a landfill in the NE USA somewhere that people had trouble planting over given compaction and crappy soil. During the course of experiments, they landed on creating large lines (think large clotheslines) that the birds then perched on, leaving waste that also contained seeds. Sure enough, plants started to take in the areas that had the lines. I thought I could harness bird behavior to also enrich my beds.



I filled a fair number of nursery trays, filled them with soil for upcoming Spring plants, and laid them on top of the bed. Then, I took most of our existing tomato cages and filled the bed with them. Then I took a lot of the plant waste I had to trim/grub/etc and placed in all over the bed using the cages as a backbone. The result? The artificial hedgerow bed gets considerable bird traffic and the enrichment is happening according to plan. Juncos and certain sparrow species really seem to like it. I've seen hawks strafing the yard and they are frequently foiled by the hedgerows both natural and artificial. They still eat though. I'll be removing the seed trays this week as planting draws near. At that point, the bed itself will be getting enriched.





The flats at the bottom...





I also take an extra handful of seed and scatter in beds (including this one) for the birds that prefer this habitat. I also take bags of crushed oyster shell and scatter in all of the beds for birds to use for grit. What they don't take, becomes part of the bed soil.

So, if you don't have much of a shrub layer or hedgerows, you might consider doing something similar. It's temporary and the birds respond to it. I assume in the growing season, the plants will respond as well.

Oh...and yes...it looks weedy...just like the birds like it.

Good idea and something to think about. I have cats in my yard, plus I have to hose bird poop off the flagstones and fence where the feeders are. If they were feeding and pooping in a designated spot...

And now is the time to start these. I have stuck dry stems in tomato cages to keep the seed there for birds possibly eating, or just thrown dry stems in a pile for bird/bug shelter. BUt I never thought about birds perching and the resulting 'fertilization.'

I hung my bird feeder directly over my compost bin. Seems to be working well.

I love this idea! Thank you for sharing this. Every bit of organic matter has value, over and over again, and beyond, eventually manifesting as nutrients in the soil in the form of some critter's poo, and then further decomposing to the microscopic level that benefits the growth of new plants.

Additionally, I scatter crushed oyster shell in the artificial hedgerow and anywhere else I can throw it. Birds use it as grit. What the birds don't use as grit goes to my soil. What did get used as grit l passed through digestive tracts and also enriches the soil.

But even if none of that were true, it's worth doing simply for bird cover.