Let's talk about this guy.
The Squirrel
On a good day he provides comic relief.
On a bad day he is gleefully enacting his nefarious plan of garden mayhem and destruction.
Now, I don't normally mind the squirrels. Usually the amount of digging they do in the garden is of a tolerable amount. Recently, however, two situations have come up in which squirrels are a Problem.
Problem 1: Bulb Planting
Last year I planted dozens of crocus bulbs in the backyard, only to have them 'disappear' even though they were covered with a mesh. In hindsight, I think the holes in the mesh were too large, and the squirrels were able to get their greedy little paws through and pull the bulbs out. This year I'm taking a different approach.
Deer Off is made from what is basically rotten eggs, hot pepper, and garlic, so anything sprayed with this will not smell or taste good. Thankfully it doesn't really smell strongly for people as long as you follow the directions and shake the bottle first. (On the occasion that I forgot to shake it, even I didn't want to go into the garden for awhile!)
I've used Deer Off successfully in the past for deer, and this year while searching for some sort of squirrel deterrent, I remembered its squirrel-repelling claim on the bottle.
For bulbs that squirrels will eat, I sprayed them well with Deer Off and let them dry before planting them. (The official instructions are to dip the bulbs in Deer Off - I took a shortcut.) After planting, I then sprayed the area with Deer Off so that the squirrels wouldn't dig there.
So far so good - I haven't noticed any digging in those spots! We'll see what comes up in spring. It also probably helps that the squirrels are too busy with my new bird feeder to try to eat my bulbs. Which brings me to my second squirrel problem.
Problem 2: The Bird Feeder
I hung my new bird feeder from tallest pole I could find hoping that would prevent the squirrels from greedily gobbling up all of the birdseed. At first it worked. I wished I had gotten a video of the squirrels trying to climb the pole and then sliiiiddding back down to the bottom - it was quite humorous.
But then they called in the biggest, baddest, best climbing squirrel of the lot...
..and my bird feeder was sadly no longer safe from squirrels.
Time for a trip to the store.
Squirrel baffle!
The squirrel is effectively baffled - take that, Squirrel! They'll just have to be satisfied now with the seeds that the birds drop.
Until next time, Squirrel..
