Installing Bird Netting On A Cold Frame, Growing Billy Bob Flowers For Decor

Installing Bird Netting On A Cold Frame-

A few weeks ago we planted our cold frame with some bush peas and Italian kale. We temporarily covered it with row cover since the weather has been cold off and on, and to keep the birds out. With the weather being a little bit more normally cool, we bought some bird netting today to cover the cold Frame. We had one old netting section that was all torn and wadded up. For storage I will wrap around a piece of cardboard next time. Birds in the past have really attacked any kind of greens that we've grown there even though we put out lots of bird food. Bird netting is only about $10 for a 14' by 14' foot area locally. One of the things I learned thru observation was if you just cover something with bird netting they can sometimes go under it, or perch on it, then peck through the holes to the greens down below. Several years ago, when I was growing some Swiss chard in a pot, I used some scrap bamboo to hold the bird netting away from the greens and it worked great!! Dave pulled some old grading stakes out of the garage, always handy to have for gardening projects. They're really cheap, thick and Dave pounded in the stakes on the corners and one of the center to elevate the bird netting. He added some river rocks to hold down the netting as well. Now the birds can't get to the greens but rain and sunshine will still go through. Perfect solution!

Growing Billy Ball Flowers For Decor- 

I was browsing thru a Pinterest board of mine when I saw this sweet  kitchen redo and the yellow flowers- 

 From 2littlesuperheroes.com Kitchen Makeover

Just too cute!

I've seen these flowers on numerous occasions but never took the time to look into what they actually were. They're called Billy Ball flowers and are sold dried all over the internet. The official name is Craspedia, a member of the mum family. I ordered some on eBay since they have the best price, about $14 for 30 plus stems-

More gold in real life

They're really a nice gold, with long stems. I used some in a clear Ikea vase I had on the kitchen window- 

I trimmed the rest to fit for my living room vase. I also have a white pitcher they will look great in-

             

                           

I did some research about actually growing them since they're relatively expensive. You always have to pay for shipping, unless you can find them locally. I called a local nursery and they have some on order to come in next week. They do well in a warm climate like our summer, as an annual flower. I'm going to try to purchase some and grow them and see how they do! They're really cute, last for years and would be fun for around the house or for gifts. I will post more later after I am able to purchase them. With our crazy spring weather it made more sense to me to try to buy some starts then to try to start from seed since we don't have full-blown Greenhouse. Info here on growing-  Growing Billy Balls