9 Effective Ways on How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden | DIY Project

Having some unwanted visitors is probably the common problem that you have to face when you have a lot of sources of food in your garden. Especially, if you live in an area with some habitats of animals around, you most likely have to deal with them.

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden a
animals.howstuffworks.com

From eating your beloved vegetation to damaging your property, some garden invaders are kind of frustrating to deal with. You have to solve the problem as soon as possible before they turn your outdoor living space into a complete disaster.

Squirrel has a kind of bad reputation as a garden invader. They live almost everywhere with known ability in destroying your lovely garden in no time. Despite their cuteness, they can devour your fruits, seeds, flowers, and their plantations as much as they want.

What do they eat?

Mostly, squirrels love kind of vegetation that we also love to eat like berries, apples, tomatoes, cucumber, eggplants, and nuts. Some flowers also happen to be their favorite meals or even just toys to play around with.

When are they most active?

When autumn comes, squirrels tend to be more active since they gather food to stock up for winter. They will bury their foods to survive.

(You may also like: How to Get Rid of Garden Snakes Safely and Easily with Only 3 Steps)

There are some ways that you can do to cast the squirrels away. The tutorial on how to keep squirrels out of garden below will show you some easy steps that you can follow.

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden

Dealing with squirrel invasion is not really that tricky. You can do the job all by yourself by using easily-available supplies around your house.

Identify Their Signs

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden 1
gardeningknowhow.com

Once squirrels invade your garden, they will leave the messy signs around, and that’s the time when you have to take some actions right away.

Here are some signs of squirrels that you can identify:

  • If you spot some shallow holes around your vegetation beds, that can be the signs of squirrels digging.
  • Squirrels sometimes just partially eat the fruits, vegetables, and flowers instead of swallowing them entirely.
  • The disappearance of some plantations with their remnants on the land.
  • They sound like a duck with almost similar quacking vocal.
  • Besides the vegetation, squirrels also hunt the bird food, if you notice that the food is running out too fast, it may be eaten by them.

Clean Up Your Garden

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden 2
gocleanr.com

When you are sure enough that your garden has been attacked by the squirrels, then you have to keep your garden clean all the time.

  • Clean up the fallen fruits, vegetables, nuts, and bulbs on the soil since they mostly attract the squirrels to come around.
  • Properly close the trash can lids since they can become the other food sources for squirrels.
  • Don’t leave the pet food outside, hide it inside immediately to prevent the invasion of squirrels.

Use Some Repellents

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden 3
indiamart.com

Since squirrels mostly rely on their great smelling ability in looking for food, you can use some repellents to trick them. You can actually find some squirrel repellent products but you can also make your own DIY deterrent.

Prepare these supplies:

  • Pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
  • Vinegar or peppermint oil
  • A bag of human hair

Follow these steps:

  • You can just simply sprinkle the pepper around the garden beds and on some plantations as well.
  • Use a garden sprayer, apply the oil on the vegetation that may attract the squirrels.
  • Squirrels can’t stand the human smell, so you can use a bag of hair that is more like an alternative repellent for them. Dig the hair lightly into the soil close to your garden beds.

(Read also: 6 Easy Steps How to Keep Raccoons Out of Garden | Simple DIY Tutorial)

Cover the Plants

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden 4
gardenerspath.com

Covering your plants can be an effective way to protect your garden. As an alternative to bird netting, you can also use aluminum foil for a more DIY option.

  • If you use bird netting, you just need to cover the plants as usual. Keep in mind to also cover the potted plants beside your garden bed.
  • If you prefer to use aluminum foils, lay them across the top of your plants and make some holes for water. Though it sounds so DIY, it’s still an effective way to keep the squirrels out of your garden since they hate shiny reflection.

Put Fake Predators

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden 5
aliexpress.com

Scare those squirrels with some fake predators, it will make your garden look terrifying to them.

  • Purchase the fierce animal toys like resin owl and rubber snakes.
  • Squirrels may know that those predators are actually fake overtimes. You have to outsmart them by moving the toys from one spot to another.

Add Scary Noises

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Garden 6
shopee.co.id

Besides those predator toys, you can enhance the horror by adding predator noises. Find some toys that can produce owl or hawk sounds to scare those squirrels.

Train Your Pets

train your dog
lifebeginsat.com.au

If you have a dog or cat, train them to catch squirrels. Those squirrels will immediately avoid your backyard once they know that your dog and cat will chase them right after they enter the space.

Give Them Space

rodents zone
treehugger.com

Instead of keeping them out of the garden, some gardeners give squirrels their own space of food sources.

  • You can put some food stations with nuts, sunflower seeds, and corn.
  • If you are willing enough, you can build an ‘extra garden’ with some vegetation which is specifically designed for the squirrels to feed.

Live Trap

live trap
practicalselfreliance.com

This is the very least option that you can consider. Besides it’s still considered as an inhumane effort, it’s also a losing battle. The population of the squirrel is quite high, so you may not be able to really get rid of them.

Catching squirrel is also illegal in some states, so you have to consult the local Department of Fish and Wildlife before you decide to use this step.

(Recommended to read: Check Out These 5 Simple Steps on How to Keep Birds Out of Garden)

So those are the easy ways on how to keep the squirrels out of garden that you can try right away. It’s a simple DIY project so you don’t need any helps from a pro.

Related Posts

Leave a Comment