The next time you treat yourself to a cheeky takeaway, don’t toss out the little plastic fork. Gardening experts have revealed an unusual way that they can actually protect your garden against invasive animals.
There’s nothing worse than devoting time, sweat and tears to cultivating your garden only to have some naughty animal dig it all up. Foxes, squirrels and even neighbourhood cats have been known to sneak into gardens and feast on plant beds. They have a particular hankering for fruits like strawberries, blueberries and blackberries, as well as leafy veggies – leaving many gardeners waking up in the morning to find their hard-earned crops completely munched away.
However, it can be difficult to find ways to discourage unwanted visitors. For a start, many animal repellents are toxic, which can cause lasting damage to the surrounding wildlife. Worse still, they can make the creatures in question very sick, which seems a cruel punishment for animals who are simply following their natural food-scavenging instincts.
This is where the humble plastic fork comes in. While the sale of single use plastics has been banned in most instances in England since 2023, you may still see them being used in takeaways or other fast food establishments.
Of course, once used, these bits of plastic are typically destined for the rubbish bin. The problem with this is that plastic is non-biodegradable, meaning that once they arrive in the dump, they sit there forever.
In fact, UK households throw out a shocking 1.7 billion pieces of plastic each week, according to The Big Plastic Count. Concerningly, just 17% of it is being recycled domestically.
Fortunately, there is one way that gardeners can effectively reuse their small plastic utensils. It turns out plastic forks make brilliant animal deterrents.
It may sound strange, but the trick really works. The experts at Farm Flavor advise: “Before you toss that box of unused plastic forks from last year’s holiday gathering, consider using them in your garden.”
They continue: “Placing forks in the soil around your plants will discourage animals like cats, squirrels and deer from wandering into the garden and helping themselves to your crops.” This is because their pointed heads act as a deterrent for greedy animals.
The hack works best when you have a collection of forks to play with. Simply stick the handheld part of the utensil into the soil so that just the head is visible.
Equally, the forks should be placed around each plant or seedling in your bed. This creates a kind of fortress, protecting the plant from outside intruders while it is allowed to grow.
The idea is that the fork makes it too uncomfortable for animals to dig around the plants, keeping your buds safe. Of course, it shouldn’t cause any serious harm to them either, which makes it a preferable option to using chemical pest control.
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