Squirrels can be frustrating garden pests who dig up your plants, eat your fruits and vegetables and overall act as a nuisance to your hard-earned garden. If you find yourself with a squirrel problem, rest assured there are ways to keep these pesky garden pests away.
Squirrels are active during daytime hours and much to your dismay, you might come home from work in the evening to find evidence they’ve been wreaking havoc in your garden. Signs like shallow digging, chewed vegetables, half-eaten flowers or missing fruit mean squirrels have paid
an unwelcome visit to your garden.
The best way to prevent squirrels from showing up and ruining your garden is to remove what’s attracting them in the first place. This can be achieved by being diligent about cleaning up your garden daily, which includes removing fallen fruit that will lure them in. In addition, rake away the seeds that have fallen underneath your bird feeders to keep these garden pests out.
Another way to deter squirrels from your beloved garden is to repel them. With the exception of fruits and vegetables you plan on eating, spray repellent on your flowers and plants so that squirrels won’t chew, bite or eat them up. Squirrels are known to hate the smell of mint, so leave mint throughout your garden as a natural squirrel repellent. Peppermint oil, vinegar and capsaicin have also been known to work as natural garden repellents for squirrels.
Squirrels hate spring flowers like daffodil, snowdrops and hyacinth, so planting these spring bulbs is another great deterrent. Not only will you keep squirrels away, you will also have beautiful flowers to look at it in their place!
Lastly, another great option in protecting your crops from squirrels is to cover them up with bird netting, chicken wire, a cage or hardware cloth. Gardeners can either cover specific plant varieties or make the effort to cover the entire garden to be extra safe. Squirrels love ripe vegetables, so if you choose to cover individually, you can leave out the green ones.
Revisit similar blogs on garden pests:
- The Most Destructive Garden Pests & How to Prevent Them
- Natural Ways to Keep Insects Away from Your Vegetable Garden
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