Strawberries in the Patch

It is very early for us, but we have had some ripe strawberries already. This is about 3 weeks sooner than any other year.

This is the same patch where I placed some decoy rocks painted to look like strawberries in order to fool the birds from pecking at the fruit. I had placed the rocks throughout the patch more than a month ago just as the plants were starting to bloom.

Those painted rocks had fooled me several times as I walked by the patch. There were several times when had to take a second look after something red caught my eye. Up until now, only the red rocks were ripe.

The handful of berries that we harvested so far did not have a single peck mark from the birds, so apparently the decoys have been working. Now I am worried that I may have to start painting marbles as decoys for the blueberry patch.