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Jessi B. asks:
Since it’s gardening season, I was hoping for some advice on humane and eco-friendly pest control in the garden.How on earth do I keep these insane squirrels away from my pumpkins? How do I save my blueberries from the birds? How do I do this without spraying toxins or harming the animals?
For what it’s worth, I live in an urban area in a warm, dry climate. Thanks!
I’ve been meaning to get my hands on some coyote pee to dribble ’round our garden and stave off deer and rabbits.
What else have you homies got? Surely you can help Jessi deter birds and squirrels — and I’d love to hear about earth-happy ways to get rid of insects, too.
Go to the local “cheap oh” store and buy a bunch of mouse traps. Set them all over the garden. They won’t kill the squirrels, but when they trip one, they run!! Problem solved.
Critters are not that troubling. I am facing a big trouble in keeping cats away from my garden. As far as digging up and messing in the garden are concerned, cats can cause a lot of disturbance to both their owners and their neighbors.
Anybody have suggestions for how to keep moles out of the garden? I have tried poison peanuts, poisonous gummy worms, traps, smashing their tunnels down, and smoke bombs. I’m at a loss and they are so destructive.
Try electronic sonic device but depending on the size of your lawn it can be expensive. Also.. Moles are usually sniffing out grubs in the soil and dig to get to them for feeding. Consistent grub control should help.
It’s a bit late now, but please, please, please don’t use poison! As well as being nasty for the target animal who eats it, it’s indiscriminate (what if another animal or a child eats the poisoned food?), and even if you only kill your target what about the poison then left in their body? Scavengers such as crows (or domestic animals like cats) can eat the body and become poisoned in turn. Even if it’s not enough to kill them it can cause damage, and if they eat several poisoned moles it can kill them leaving their poisoned body to be eaten in turn. Poison is one of the worst things you can use!
The chipmunks are relentless in my garden. I finally gave up on my very productive strawberry bed after putting a cage over it that went 6″ down and then underground for 5″. Their tunnel into the patch started deep, 2 feet away. After all the work, it was maddening to see one sitting on top of the cage eating berries… and discarding them after one bite of each.