How To Protect My Vegetable Garden From Squirrels

These are the squirrel truths.

How to protect my vegetable garden from squirrels. Try some of these strategies to keep squirrels from destroying your garden but remember that what works for some squirrels may not work for others. Dogs and cats can make great rodent deterrents and some dogs like the rat terrier are bred for the purpose of hunting small animals. Firepit ashes works for about a week. If you are planning to plant a garden researching the best ways for protecting gardens against squirrels before planting is a good idea.

So while you can try to keep them out of your yard it s usually better and more practical to outsmart them. Never use cat litter in your vegetable garden. In many areas squirrels are as common in the landscape as trees. Put up a fence from day one to prevent them from finding the food source in the first place says david drake extension wildlife specialist and professor at the university of wisconsin madison.

Fences are generally your best bet when it comes to protecting your vegetable garden from pests like rabbits and deer. Although squirrels have the ability to overcome a very sturdy barrier with their digging and gnawing a floating row cover is surprisingly effective as a barrier in the vegetable garden. When squirrels are eating the vegetables from your garden they are usually hungry or thirsty and cannot find food elsewhere. Squirrels do not like the feeling of enclosure which would prevent their ability to sprint away from a predator.

Sending squirrels flying into space on catapults while obviously a popular activity to take video of and post on youtube won t work either unless you make your entire garden a giant catapult. Bring in a predator. Stake out your garden for a while to see what kind of animals are doing the damage and search the internet for tips on repelling your specific unwelcome visitor. I have tried all of the following with little or no success.

Further any idea that we might one day live in a world without squirrels and these truths is just well false. To keep squirrels out of your flower garden sprinkle cat litter around the borders of the garden. To all my fellow vegetable gardners who are in a constant battle with squirrels i have found the solution. Fencing is the most effective and sometimes only way to keep unwanted visitors out of your garden.

To prevent burrowing animals you ll want to plant your fence into the ground as far down as one inch. If it makes sense for your yard or vegetable garden consider laying down mulch or even temporarily something scarier like aluminum foil which makes a noise to help keep squirrels from eating anything or digging up your plant bed. If you have a rabbit problem fences should be at least three feet high. We learned this the hard way.

Provide the squirrels with a water and food supply.