If you’re noticing your fruit and veg is getting nibbled away, you may have a squirrel problem on your hands. Luckily, a gardening expert has recommended one flower that will keep them at bay.
While squirrels are undeniably cute to look at, they can be a menace in your garden. Their big brown eyes, bushy tails and adorable mannerisms belie a voracious appetite. Tell-tale signs that they’ve decided to feast on your flower patch include small dug-out holes around your plant bed, excavated plant bulbs and gnawed-on leaves.
Squirrels are active year-round, but as we come into spring you’ll probably see greater numbers appearing. This is because the warmer weather means more buds and shoots are pushing through the ground.
Some of their favourite foods include shoots, fungi, nuts and flower bulbs – particularly tulip bulbs. They’re also omnivorous and enjoy eating insect heads and bird eggs.
Unfortunately, their broad appetites mean that they will likely target foods growing in your garden. Strawberries, carrots, beans and spinach all make tasty meals for the furry critters.
There’s nothing worse than investing copious amounts of time and energy into cultivating your garden, only to have it ravished. Squirrels will dig up your flower beds and make a mess out of your lawn. Even worse, they will raid food left out for other animals and pets. They have a particular hankering for bird feed, which means those that like to leave food out for robins and sparrows will have to take care to keep it out of reach.
They have also been known to completely strip trees of their bark. Particularly for younger trees, this can cause serious structural issues and lead to the tree dying. Equally, while squirrels are generally looked upon more favourably than rats, they are also classed as vermin. This means they can be incredibly unclean.
Some of the most dangerous diseases they’ve been known to carry include salmonella, Lyme disease, ringworm and rabies. Worse still, they make popular hosts for parasites such as ticks, fleas and mites.
So, how do you get rid of them? A gardening expert from Blooming Lucky reveals that the solution is quite simple – and doesn’t have you resorting to using dangerous chemicals.
One of the best ways to deter squirrels from your garden is by planting a flower they don’t like the taste of. This will discourage them from rooting up other plants in your garden bed.
Blooming Lucky stated: “One way to avoid squirrel problems is to not plant bulbs they like. The good news is that there are plenty of Spring flowering bulbs which are not on a squirrel’s menu! They don’t like daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, irises, bluebells, alliums.”
In the case of flowers like daffodils, these can even be poisonous for squirrels. This is because they contain a toxin called lycorine, which tastes repellent to them.
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