Keep off the plants!

Growing plants successfully on my balcony is a bit of a struggle. The balcony is south-facing and on the third-floor east/south corner of the block - plants bake in the summer, freeze in the winter and they're battered by strong, salt-laden winds during most of the year. This year, I'm trying a trough of violas and ivy. The sticks poking out of the soil at angles are bamboo skewers; this makes a pretty good pigeon deterrent.