Help! Just started my container garden on my back porch near a heavily wooded area. Already the squirrels are pickung my flowers and digging in my pots. Does anyone know a way to keep them off of my porch and out of my plants? My daughter and I love watching them play in the woods but we're not too happy with them getting into our plants! Any suggestions?? I have to mention that I have a bird feeder right next to my plants, maybe I should just move that and it will solve the problem?
you must have fresh PEAT soil. Of which smells like food to squirrels.. there isnt anything there for them to really eat they are just being curious .. Spray a strong perfume on the pot and it should discourage them..
Oh my, I'm so sorry! I had the same problem two years ago. No matter what I did, they uprooted my plants and took bites out of my tomatoes - then threw them away, mostly wasted. Getting rid of our birdfeeder didn't help, nor did spraying the ground with anything & everything that was suggested. (my squirrels seemed to think cayenne-flavored seedling was a delicacy!) I became rather convinced that we have some sort of mutant city-squirrel with powers roughly similar to Superman - and I'm still convinced that I'm right! I took wire grids - the ones you can make storage-cubes or guinea pig cages out of, from Target/Wal-Mart and put them on top of each of my containers so they couldn't keep uprooting my seedlings & tender veggies. That helped, but only for the first few weeks. Once plants poked their way through the mesh, SOME plants were left alone... but lettuce, onions, carrots... these were pulled through the mesh and left to die, uprooted on my deck without so much as a nibble. Last year we made cages out of PVC and pest-netting. (there are a few pics from this weekend in the post about my garden "babies") One cage is 6' high, and the other is 3' high... and these surround all but my chives, mint, and a few other HUGE containers that are elsewhere & filled with plants the squirrels seem to leave alone - those we cover with the grids still, until the seedlings are big enough to "fend for themselves." I was able to harvest everything that grew last year. My neighbors think I'm odd, but I'm also the one in the neighborhood with an entire vegetable garden on my back deck. One man actually liked the idea so much that he came & took notes and this year has his own pest-cage surrounding a few of this more delicate flowers. Apparently veggies aren't the only delicacy in my neighborhood! Good luck! I'm afraid I can't be of much help either. These pests seem capable of getting into our out-thinking even the best of plans. I'm dreading the day I wake up to find that my pest-cages have been gnawed to bits because I'm relatively certain that even this is only a matter of time! love, mom
