It can be so frustrating to spend hours and hours planting and tending a garden to perfect your landscape design, only to go outside later and see that animals have eaten away at your plants and ruined your landscaping or garden. Sometimes fences just don’t do the trick when it comes to trying to keep your garden and plants safe. Other times it’s just not an option to get a fence to keep deer out. No matter the case, there are some preventative measures you can take to try to prevent animals from getting into your landscape and eating your plants.
SQUIRRELS:
Squirrels can be pests, especially if you are trying to plant bulbs. It can be hard to find ways to keep squirrels from digging up bulbs, but there are a few things that you can do to combat the issue.
One of the easiest ways to keep squirrels from digging bulbs up before they bloom is to put chicken wire over the section of your garden where you have them planted. You can secure them to the ground where you apply them with either rocks or small wooden stakes. If you don’t want to see the wire, simply cover it with a bit of mulch or leaves. That way when the bulbs start sprouting, they will still be able to sprout through the holes in the wire, but squirrels won’t be able to get to the bulb.
DEER:
Deer can be a huge problem. If you are combating deer constantly from eating your plants, a fence is the best solution. A fence will keep deer out of your yard completely. But if your neighborhood has restrictions about fences, or it’s just not a viable solution for you, there are other ways you can attempt to keep deer from eating your plants.
Another solution for keeping deer away from your plants is to spray them with deer spray. There are many versions of deer spray that you can buy online to ward off the deer, but it can be expensive to keep buying large amounts of deer spray to spray your plants all the time.
There is a way that you can make organic deer spray to save a little money if you prefer. You will need 2 heads of garlic, 2 bunches of scallions, 1 bar Fels Naptha soap, 4 large eggs, 1-cup cayenne powder and 1-cup of chili powder. To make the spray extra potent, process the garlic and scallions into a fine paste and grate the soap. Then add all of the ingredients inside a piece of cheesecloth, and tie the ends. Place in a large paint bucket full of hot water and let soak for one week. Apply it to your plants once a week and after it rains.
Although none of these methods are completely fool proof for keeping your landscape safe, they can help you keep the animals at bay.
Written by Mike West, owner of WestCo Grounds Maintenance. WestCo provides the best solutions for lawn care Jefferson City MO has to offer. They also specialize in irrigation and lawn sprinkler service.
