katlaughing,
Thank you for the suggestion. I don't own a shop vac, but I do have an upright Dirt Devil that I'm not very fond of. The feeders hang on a clothesline above my lawn so there will be no topsoil to pick up. I have to wait for the lawn to be dry before I try it, though.

VirginiaTam,
Thank you for the artificial turf idea. That might be handy on my deck if I can find a way to hang the feeders there.

Stilly River Sage,
   I have lots of seed weeds coming up in the flower bed under my window feeder. Unfortunately only the seeds that the birds don't like get tossed over the edge so the plants won't bear anything of use to me. I have feeders up all year close to the house because I like to try to photograph the birds that come to visit. 2010 Backyard Birds

rags