Doing Battle

 with Squirrels

• Scents around the border of the garden or specific bed
• Human Urine- easy and cheap to get!
• Human and cat hair
• Cat poop in small Tupperware bowls around the garden
• Used coffee grounds
• Organza bags with Irish spring soap
• Blood meal sprinkled around garden
• Fox urine- may work on ground hogs too

• Owl Decoy- move it around every couple of days
• top of the shed
• corner pole in garden
• above kitchen window
• in the apple tree

• Small Red Christmas tree balls hung early in the season

• Cheap pin wheels and wind chimes from the Dollar store

• Hawk kite- also cool looking

• Mulch beds well to discourage digging

• Floppy chicken wire on top of fence- support at intervals with pieces of irrigation tubing

• Shiny tape or old CD's on a fishing line strung around the perimeter at about 3" off the ground

• Cover area around new plants with pieces of wire mesh to discourage digging

• Five Color Peppers as a sacrificial plant in the empty space in the garden

• Water and food station across the yard

• Stay more on top of cleaning out bird bath every day

• Put a radio in the garden  and leave it on all the time

• Mousetraps, anchor them solidly to the ground in the area where the squirrels have been digging. Cover them with newspaper, and sprinkle a little dirt on top. When a squirrel comes to dig, it will set off the traps. As the mechanism snaps, it will scare and throw dirt at the squirrel. Once it’s scared enough times, it will find another digging area. Be sure to anchor the traps just in case the wind blows the newspaper off them. If the trap is anchored, the squirrel will not get hurt.

• Motion activated Sprinkler- $50 plus new hose