Birds beware, scarecrows are coming
Scavenging food grown from your own garden is a great achievement, but pesky birds can make it a challenge.
Thankfully, a sprouting of scarecrows should begin to appear.
The Friends of the Hamilton Gardens Scarecrow Festival will see one of the largest crops of scarecrows congregate in the Hamilton Gardens next week.
The festival, held on October 30, encourages families and school groups to create scarecrows to be displayed in the Kitchen Garden.
The competition, run by Friends of the Hamilton Gardens, sees a sprawling of scarecrows made of unusual materials. Last year there was one made out of empty tin cans.
Friends vice president Virginia Graham said the annual event is held to promote the gardens and raise money.
Previous festivals have helped to raise the $47,000 needed to purchase a new statue that will be unveiled at this years event.
The bronze 1.75 metre-tall scarecrow statue complete with a fantail perched on its shoulder will live in the Kitchen Garden. It was designed and created by English sculptor Lloyd Le Blanc.
The Strawman was just one remaining from a limited edition of 12 life-sized scarecrows.
Graham was unsure whether it would actually scare away the birds.
‘‘We hope it will. It probably won’t but you never know. It will certainly be a talking point and a focal point for the kitchen gardens.
‘‘It will be a focal point of the gardens, it will be lovely. All kitchen gardens in Europe would have had scarecrows. It’s really appropriate to have it in the kitchen garden here.’’
She said the event is also to encourage an interest in gardening, particularly in chil- dren, ‘‘because they are going to be the gardeners of the future’’.
The event has been running for more than 10 years. Last year there were 47 scarecrows that adorned the vegetable beds.