Squirrels
With the damage to the trees from all the breakage and trimming, we are seeing more squirrels in our yard. The loss of habitat and the loss of predators in the area has increased the numbers in our yard. So how does a person protect their yard from the squirrels and still keep the balance of nature in their yard?
Squirrels are a great indication that your garden is providing a haven for wildlife, and can even be quite friendly. The problem comes when they start to interfere with your ornamental plants and vegetables and start digging up your lawn.
Protecting your garden from squirrels is really quite simple, but it’s worth understanding why they exhibit such destructive behavior, as there are plenty of nature-friendly ways to discourage them, rather than get rid of them altogether.
Squirrels are highly territorial and vocal. They are especially noisy during mating season, and they generally breed twice a year. Squirrels have a home range like we do in the sense, we go to the store, school, and post office. Then we have a territory that we are most defensive of like our house and yard.
When thinking of how to rid your yard of squirrels, think of how and what you would do to invite them to your yard then do the opposite.
What would attract squirrels is:
natural cover
a squirrel feeder
trees that provide shelter, a home, and food
a water source
deciduous shrubs and hedges
nesting boxes.
The problem with getting rid of all the above is..all the above are also what you want and need in attracting other wildlife, including pollinators, butterflies and bees.
Solutions:
Taking another approach would be to plan that a portion of your harvest is going to be disrupted by the wildlife, insects and birds. Plant a little extra. I don’t think that I would encourage feeding the squirrels with feeders but plan on them taking some of the harvest will make it easier on your well being if it happens.
Squirrels do not like fast moving things, so plan on putting old cd discs hanging from fruit bearing trees, whirly gigs in the garden, anything that moves when the wind blows. Unfortunately, the squirrels will feed in the early morning when the wind isn’t blowing and these contraptions also will scare away the birds.
Trapping them and relocating them is an option, but keep in mind that the people across town are also doing the same thing.
Wire cages are another option, but I am not a fan of chicken wire all over my yard and where am I going to store them for the winter? But it is still an option.
Planting things they don’t like in between the things they do will help. Some things they don’t like are daffodils, onions, garlic, rosemary, sage,thyme and mint. Mint will be invasive so maybe plant up a few containers and intersperse them around your problem areas. Catmint, not catnip, is a invasive perennial that I like to contain and in containers so it doesn’t take over and move to my veggie garden to increase pollination. This plant not only repels certain insects and unwanted guests but it blooms all season and it attracts tons of bees that pollinate a lot of plants.
Mix up a solution of pepper and water and spray on the plants that they are messing with. Over a period of time maybe a year, you will train the squirrels that that isn’t a place they want to get dinner. Most liquid repellents will have something similar to the mixture like pepper or cloves.
Get a sprinkler with a motion sensor attached. It is fun to watch and it works well, but make sure that you turn off the water before you enter the garden.
And then there’s the nuclear option… get a cat. Cats are ruthless squirrel hunters. They rarely catch them, but squirrels know a threat when they see one and will stay well clear of open lawns or flower beds if they know there’s a resident cat. Dogs are also helpful in that manner.