Are you seeking how to keep squirrels out of your garden as they give you various gardening problems?
We are here to help you out. We have compiled some simple helpful ways to keep squirrels away without much effort and other useful information.
Let’s check it out.
Plants That Squirrels Love
Squirrels relish various plants, including vegetable plants, fruits, nuts, berries, and seeds. Both tulip bulbs and blossoms are their favorite food.
That said, there are still some plants they find distasteful. Most of them have a strong aroma or flavors squirrels don’t enjoy, such as Daffodils, Alliums (garlic, onion), Galanthus, Geraniums, Bleeding hearts, Goldenrod, and Fritillary flowers.
These plants will be the savior in helping keep animals out of gardens.
Here are some tips for keeping squirrels out of your garden:
How To Identify Squirrel Damages
Before knowing how to get rid of squirrels, it is essential to identify squirrel damage. You can quickly notice squirrel activities; here are some common tell-tale signs you might have an issue with squirrels.
- Shallow digging: if you have planting beds that haven’t long been planted, they can be easy targets since squirrels tend to look for fresh seeds.
- Bite marks: if you grow fruits in your garden, you might realize some have missing pieces. Squirrels might eat a chunk of cucumber, beans, tomatoes, or squash.
- Missing seedlings: when you find some seedlings in your garden vanished, squirrels might be the culprit.
- Digging in containers: if you notice your containers in the garden are dug into, it can be squirrels burying something.
How To Get Rid Of Squirrels In Your Garden
Squirrels like to help themselves to ripe fruit, flowers, and birdseed in your landscape. Here are some ways on how to keep squirrels out of your garden.
General Protection
Squirrels typically take advantage of low-lying fruits in your garden. And a bird feeder is one of the largest squirrel attractants.
You don’t need to quit feeding the birds, yet you can switch to using less palatable feed such as a mixture of Cayenne pepper-treated seed or Safflower seed that can discourage hungry squirrels. The birds cannot taste the spicy flavor while squirrels can.
Plus, keeping your garden clean can deter pesky squirrels from gathering. Remember to take away any dropped vegetables or fruits from the ground after harvesting.
Moreover, it is advisable to clear away squirrels’ favorites, including black walnuts and dropped acorns in your garden. Interestingly, your pet dogs and cats can also temporarily discourage squirrels.
However, as they have to sleep, squirrels can continue damage during their naps. Furthermore, dogs and cats are also likely to create their digging and nibbling damage in your garden.
Use Repellents
There are numerous squirrel repellents available on today’s market, yet most of which are based on hot pepper flakes (chili peppers) or predator pee. Homemade recipes might contain onion, garlic, peppermint oil, or vinegar.
Repellents might be more useful when used with other squirrel deterrents, yet gardeners should keep a watchful eye on reapplication. Sunlight, wind, and water will cause a squirrel repeller to break down quickly.
Scare Squirrels Away
Another way to repel squirrels is to create squirrel traps (you can use mouse traps as an alternative) and then solidly anchor them to the ground in your vegetable garden where squirrels are digging.
You can use a row cover with newspaper on the traps and sprinkle a small amount of dirt on the top.
When squirrels come to dig, they will set off this trap. The trap will scare squirrels and throw dirt at them.
Once they are scared, they will find other digging areas. Ensure to anchor your trap to prevent the wind from blowing the newspaper.
Moreover, you can use a motion-activated sprinkler to get rid of squirrels. This method can work for a while, yet it is better not to rely on it to keep squirrels at bay exclusively.
One more thing, the presence of various squirrels, children, or stray animals might cause overwatering if they repeatedly trigger the device.
Tree, Plant, And Bulb Protection
In wooded places, it is challenging to exclude squirrels or find a comprehensive way to deter squirrels. Thus, it is better to protect individual plants from squirrel damage.
This way might seem like lots of work, yet you can use it to prevent damage from voles, mice, rabbits, deer, and birds as well. A metal mesh cloche is excellent for young vegetables, particularly leafy greens.
You can purchase antique replicas or make a simple cloche on your own with chicken wire. Besides, it is better to sink extra chicken wire over your freshly-grown plant bulbs to avoid digging.
Aluminum flashing can work well for covering tree trunks to thwart squirrels from running up your trees. Meanwhile, a paper bag can allow sunflowers to ripen completely with no interference.
And an old cheesecloth or stockings can keep squirrels from taking a bite on your produce and abandoning these spoiled fruits afterward.
Tips To Prevent Squirrels From Buds And Bird Feeders
Bulbs
- Line the top, bottom, and sides of your bulb growing area with chicken wire or hardware cloth. Cover with garden soil and much on the top. The shoots of bulbs can grow up through this mesh, yet squirrels cannot reach them.
- Put some rock or crushed gravel in the growing hole with bulbs.
- Keep your garden clean from all bulb debris as squirrels have a good sense of smell.
- Plant types of bulbs that squirrels do not like, like Alliums, Daffodils, and Snowdrops. You can grow them solely, outline the garden beds with them, or intermix them.
Bird Feeders
- Add baffles or squirrel guards to your existing feeders, or use a squirrel-resistant bird feeder.
- Put bird feeders at least eight to ten feet away from the physical barriers such as a fence or shed and at least five to six feet off the ground to prevent squirrels from reaching the feeder.
- Feed Safflower seeds as squirrels are not a big fan of them.
Final Thoughts
So now you know how to keep squirrels out of your garden. In short, the solutions mentioned above can effectively deter squirrels.
Of which, keeping your garden clean is one of the best ways to stop them from venturing into the garden. Depending on your conditions, you can choose a suitable method or combine different ways for the best results.
If you have any other ideas, please feel free to let us know. Thank you for reading.
