Shoutout to the empty bird feeder that flipped my take on lawn care

Not a single visit all month made me rip out the grass and go full native plants, lol.

4 comments

4 Comments

Last spring I bought a fancy new feeder and waited six weeks with zero birds. I was ready to tear out the hydrangeas like wendyb59 with her flower bed. The small fix was just moving it away from the window, and now it's a busy spot. That gut reaction to go big is so strong when you feel like you've already failed.

jessica1301mo agoOG Member

Wait, but did you try anything else before tearing up the whole lawn? That seems like a huge jump from one quiet bird feeder. Sometimes it takes a while for birds to find a new food source, or maybe the seed was old. You could have just moved the feeder or tried a different type of food first. Going full native garden is a big project, and it just feels like a really extreme reaction to one month of no birds.

taylor.piper1mo ago

My cousin replaced her entire patio because one stone was loose. She didn't even see if it could be fixed first, which is a pattern I notice a lot now. Like @wendyb59 yanking out plants over one weed, we often go for the big fix instead of small changes. It's like we're so done with a problem that we skip the easy steps (moving the feeder, trying new seed) and dive into a huge project. That feels like a real solution, but it usually just makes more work. Jessica's point about starting simple is spot on, because most times the small fix works and saves a headache.

wendyb591mo ago

Have you ever gotten so fed up you jumped straight to the big fix? I once yanked out every plant in my flower bed over one weed. Turns out it was just a slow starter. So yeah, going from no birds to a whole new garden sounds like something I'd do. But you make a good point about trying the easy stuff first.

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