This clever garden hack uses old CDs to protect your vegetable garden from hungry birds

It is a truth universally acknowledged that streaming services such as Spotify have rendered our old CDs worthless (so much so that we can't even drop them off at our local charity shop!).

If you've spent the past few months learning how to grow your own vegetables, fruit, herbs and more, you'll likely be keen to find ways to protect all of the goodies in your small vegetable garden from hungry birds,

Thankfully, there's handy hack that uses your old Busted and Spice Girls albums to keep our feathered friends away from our sweetcorn and strawberries – and back towards their designated bird feeder.

Garden experts say you can use old CDs to stop birds eating grass seed and other garden goodies.

In a now viral Facebook post, gardening page Food For Trees and Africa shared: 'Did you know that by hanging old CDs around your food garden, you'll startle birds with the reflecting light and keep them away from your vegetables and herbs?'

Morris Hankinson, director of Hopes Grove Nurseries, is also a fan of the thrifty upcycling technique.

Morris Hankinson

Morris Hankinson is the founder and managing director of Hopes Grove Nurseries Ltd, the UK’s only specialist grower-retailer of hedging plants. He established the thriving business in 1992, shortly after graduating with a Commercial Horticulture Degree from Writtle College, Essex.

'Birds do not really like reflective light, anything shiny or their own reflection which is why you may see gardens or allotments with CDs hanging around,' he explains.

'That's because shiny CDs scare off birds, so they can be used around cultivated plants that you don’t want pigeons munching on.'

If you're keen to try this nifty gardening hack for yourself, you're in luck; it's incredibly easy to do.

'Simply hang all of your old CDs on string around where you don’t want birds to land,' says Morris, noting that you may want to pay special attention to the area around your brassicas, beans and peas.

'They can be tied to bamboo canes (like these ones from Amazon) or you can hang them from support posts. Make sure they are secure and dispose of them properly when you no longer need them.'

Be sure to 'start by hanging the discs loosely so that the slightest breeze makes them spin and catch the sun's rays,' add the plant boffins at Food For Trees and Africa. 'And, every now and then, change their location around your beds to prevent the birds from getting accustomed to them.'

Of course, every garden hack comes with a caveat or word of caution – and this old CDs trick is no different.

'I wouldn’t hang them all over the garden,' warns Morris. 'A garden without birds would be very sad indeed, and would have an impact on the biodiversity needed to keep a garden thriving.'

So, if you still want to attract birds that eat slugs to your garden, but you don't want them to gobble up your vegetables, it's best to stick to 'hanging old CDs above and around certain crops that need protecting' and away from your garden at large.

And just like that, we're off to dig out all of our old Now That's What I Call Music CDs. Join us, why don't you?