You can be an animal lover, but not want one in your garden munching on your plants. Learn 7 ways to keep pests out of your garden and protect your labor.
- Plastic in the wind
If your property is windier than average, try this trick to keep birds away from your garden plants.
Cut plastic garbage bags into “flags” or long strips and use a stapler to attach them to large wooden stakes.
When the wind whips through the plastic, the birds will be startled by the movement and noise.
- A garlic plant protector
Surrounding a flower bed or vegetable garden with garlic plants will deter squirrels and other furry pests (including voles, shrews and field mice) from coming to eat your plants.
Space the garlic plants about 15cm apart to repel these hungry intruders.
- Keep the moles running
Out of your garden in this case.
Shovel used cat litter into their molehill to announce loudly that their territory has been invaded; the moles will leave your garden in a flash.
To find out if holes in your lawn have been dug by groundhogs or moles, “read” the mounds of dirt next to them. Groundhogs leave small fan-shaped or horseshoe-shaped mounds of dirt, while mole-created mounds are more pyramidal.
- Groundhogs and mole catchers
Soak rags, paper towels or tissues in peanut oil or olive oil;
Stuff them into gopher or mole holes. The oils will quickly turn rancid and stink up the critters, leaving them with no choice but to leave their homes.
Or, choose a less odorous option: set up children’s windmills in your garden; moles and groundhogs don’t like regular clicking and may flee to a quieter place. - Out with the gophers!
So your lawn can’t compete with your neighbor’s across the street because groundhogs keep tunneling in?
Maybe your neighbor knows something you don’t; like the fact that you can repel these pests (and their accomplices, the moles) with household ammonia. You can do this in two different ways:
Make a solution with 250ml (1 cup) of ammonia and 7.5l (2gal) of water and pour it into the tunnel;
When you have finished pouring, shovel in some soil;
Soak an old rag.
- Repel rabbits
There are many repellents that will keep rabbits away from your garden plants. Of all the ones out there, you might try:
Talcum powder;
Dried pepper flakes;
Garlic powder;
Human, dog or cat hair
Strong-smelling bars of soap placed in the rows of the vegetable garden;
Lemon peels scattered among the plants.
- Scare off deer
If something white is waving, it will mimic the deer’s warning signal that predators or other dangers are near, when they show the underside of their white tail.
You can make white “flags” that will keep deer away from your garden with grocery bags, rags or strips of old t-shirts:
Drive one- to two-meter stakes around your plot at two-meter intervals;
Tack grocery bags to the stakes so they flap in the wind or lay down white strips of cloth long enough to float;
If you’re lucky, the deer will immediately turn around when they see the white flags flapping in the wind.
You’ll be able to cultivate your garden in peace by keeping the claws and beaks of birds and other animals away from your garden with these homemade solutions that will safely deter these unwanted visitors.
