Do you like squirrels? Most people think they are cute, and their antics in the trees can be fun to watch. Many people put out feeders with peanuts or sunflower seeds for them.
I used to think along similar lines… awww… aren’t they little cuties!
A few years ago I was out on a hike and half-way through I stopped for a snack. I was sitting at the base of a tree enjoying my sandwich, watching these two squirrels chase each other around the trunk of a tree. It was pretty funny. Then they stopped and sat on a branch watching me. They chittered back and forth for a few minutes then suddenly one of them ran down the tree, across the ground and tapped me on my foot. He chittered at me and ran back up to his buddy.
I’m my mind, I could hear them, “Hey, I bet you are too scared to go whack her!”
“Am not! If you’re so brave… you do it!”
“Scaredy cat… um squirrel. You’re just a big scaredy squirrel!”
“Fine… watch this!” Run run run whack. “Na na na na… you can’t catch me!” Run run run.
“Dude! I can’t believe you actually did that! You are one crazy fuzzball! High five!”
It was all pretty funny, and I had a good laugh with my lunch.
But this spring I am not finding them adorable at all. They are terrorizing my little planter garden!
Among other things, I had planted some marigolds and cilantro.
Apparently, they have a fondness for marigold and cilantro seeds, because those little stinkers dug up and ate almost all of them, TWICE! While they were at it, they destroyed almost all of my lettuce and spinach sprouts, throwing them on the porch to wilt and die.
And they are sneaky! They watch and as soon as nobody is around, they rush over and start digging. A few times I even left my dog Lulu out on the porch to guard the flower pots.
Guess what they did? One squirrel would come over and chitter and throw things at my dog, then run for it… leading Lulu away out into the yard. That squirrel would run back and forth along the fence making Lulu bark and go crazy!
Meanwhile, another squirrel would sneak over our roof and start digging away at our little flower pots. It would grab a couple of seed pods, and then skedaddle up the house and over the roof.
Then those little brats would meet up and have a nice little snack, all the while looking down and laughing at my dog! I swear they were high-fiving and doing a little victory dance! Little punks!
So I planted some more seeds in the pots and began to research ways to keep squirrels away from my vulnerable little garden until they could sprout and establish themselves.
Here’s what I learned about getting squirrels out of my garden:
Squirrels have a fondness for fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers. I did not know that. I used to think they were just nutty for nuts and acorns.
They are known to yank geraniums from window boxes, help you harvest your cherry tomatoes, and will strip apple trees – down to the core! They are most active in the fall, but they can and will raid your garden any time that your fruit or veggies start to get ripe.
Squirrels don’t exactly hibernate like a bear during the winter, but they do have a tendency to “lie low” during cold spells. In the fall they start working overtime to prepare for winter by hoarding nuts and seeds, and anything else edible they can get their little hands on. They will generally gather and store a variety of acorns, pine cones, nuts, bark, fruit, berries, mushrooms, and insects.
Most often it is the common gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) that is causing you grief. They range in color from gray, tan or light brown, to dark brown and black. Its belly is light, either whitish or light gray. They get about 16 inches long, nose to tail. They have a very keen sense of smell, which is why they can find your delicious flower bulbs even though they are buried.
How do you get rid of squirrels?
First of all, try not to let your yard become party-town for them. If your yard is covered in nuts, berries, pine cones, or acorns you should consider raking up the yard on a regular basis. Removing any readily available sources of their favorite foods will certainly make your yard less attractive.
Bird food is another thing that attracts them. If you have bird feeders try to keep the ground under them as clean as possible. Place the feeder 5 or 6 feet off the ground and 10 feet away from your house, trees or other structures they could jump from. Try rubbing the feeder pole with Crisco. It won’t hurt the birds and the squirrels will just slide down.
There are also a variety of natural repellents available. Some are made with predator urine and can be sprayed around your garden. While the idea of spraying urine around your edibles may be distasteful, many people swear it works.
You can also try sprinkling cayenne pepper or pepper flakes on and around your plants. Squirrels won’t eat anything with cayenne on it. Cayenne is also a good repellent for many other types of pests, such as aphids, lace bugs, cabbage maggots, spider mites, mice, rats, skunks, rabbits, deer, raccoons, and even bears. It’s fairly inexpensive if you buy the powder in bulk, which is good because you will need to reapply it again after it rains or if you use overhead sprinklers to water your garden.
Some people have claimed that blood meal sprinkled around the garden soil works well, and also doubles as an excellent form of fertilizer. Another person suggested that you plant marigolds to deter these critters, this one obviously did not work for me!
If you don’t like spicy cayenne flavored apples and raspberries you may need to invest in some netting. I’ve found that netting is a pain to use, but often necessary to keep birds from eating all my berries and grapes – so you’ll get double-duty from the net if it also keeps the pesky squirrels away.
I also read that human hair will work. Check with your hairdresser to see if you can get a bag of hair and lightly dig this into the soil around problem areas. This one kind of grosses me out, and I’m not really sure why… but I’ll try it if they dig my seeds up again.
You can also try attracting predator birds by installing a raptor perch or an owl nesting box and let the hunting birds eliminate the problem for you.
If you are just getting started, and don’t have anything planted yet you can also try covering your bulbs with metal chicken wire or tough black plastic mesh that has one-inch holes. The plants will grow up through the mesh, but the squirrels won’t be able to dig down and get the bulbs.
Squirrels have their favorites, so you could try growing bulbs that they don’t like, such as daffodils, ornamental onions, snowdrops, and tulips.
I’m sure there are other methods, and if you know of any and would like to share, please send us an email with your favorite squirrel stories. We always love to hear from our readers.
Have a great day!