A delightful group of gardeners came to my house this past weekend for the second of two classes on sustainable gardening sponsored by Newton Community Education. One thing on our minds was the difficulty of protecting plants from wildlife, particularly squirrels.
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| Spring is a lean time for squirrels |
I’m certainly coping with that challenge this spring. The wet weather has been great for the garden. Every plant seems to be expanding, and cool days keep flowers looking fresh.
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| Meadow rue with a background of slender deutzia |
Squirrels are busy finding food in the yard. I enjoy watching them—and I’ve got a couple of new strategies for protecting my young seedlings from their depredations.
I need effective barriers. I was puzzled by an Amazon customer review claiming that 2-foot tall modular fence panels keep squirrels out of her vegetable bed. Either squirrels in Chicago are much less agile than they are here, or hers are very easily spooked.
Squirrels have a habit of digging where I’ve sown seeds or planted starts from the garden center. In the past, I’ve covered planting areas with wire fencing.
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| Wire fencing might keep squirrels from digging |
Row cover fabric pinned on top lets light and water through and should keep squirrels out. The problem with this method is that I can’t see what’s happening underneath the row cover.
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| Row cover: I can't see what's underneath |
A new tip comes from Ellen Sampson, a reader of Fine Gardening who reuses black plastic carryout flats from nurseries, inverting them over her seed rows or tiny seedlings and pinning them down. I’m trying this for lettuce seedlings I started in the house and transplanted to the garden. Another flat over two young basil seedlings should allow them to root themselves securely enough to survive squirrel excavations in nearby soil. The seedling are partially shaded by the grid that makes up the bottom of each flat. That could actually be a benefit in the first week or so while they’re adjusting to the shock of transplantation.
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| Basil seedlings under a flat |
For my containers, I gamble on mulch, which seems to be less interesting to curious squirrels than soft, uncovered potting mix or soil.
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| Will mulch deter digging? |
A native meadowsweet (Spiraea alba) I bought came with a disc of fiber matting covering the soil surface. I repurposed that to protect a tomato seedling I have high hopes for in a pot on the deck. The fiber barrier supplements window screening cut to size to guard the soil surface.
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| Trying everything to coddle a young tomato vine |
If the matting keeps squirrels out, I could open up fiber pots that contained herbs and vegetable seedlings to keep squirrels from excavating some other young plants in containers.
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| Fiber pots could make a useful barrier |
Last week I watched a squirrel climb over the pots on the deck, investigating each one before jumping down. He didn’t do any digging. It’s small compromises like this that make our relationship work. Squirrels can have the acorns and spruce cones. I hope they’ll leave the tomatoes for us.
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| No need to dig for food, plenty of cones available |
For single plants and containers I use small rocks (which are ubiquitous in my garden) laid around the plant to discourage digging in the newly disturbed soil. They help to keep the soil cool and damp too. I also disguise the dug area by propping up bits of sticks, shrub prunings, coarse mulch, or anything that can let light through but blend in with the surroundings. I am wondering if your fiber mats will work against cutworms. That would be nicer than my current method of surrounding the stems with paper cup rims.
ReplyDeleteHi Kate,
DeleteThanks for these good ideas!
Becky
I use Mylar pinwheels in my planters and stuck into the soil by tender shoots. That seems to spook the rabbits and squirrels. I also save my hair and my cats hair and put it around the plants that need desperate measures. This year it’s two new clematises, Summer Love, that are being threatened by rabbits.
ReplyDelete