WE ARE INTO THE HEIGHT OF THE BULB PLANTING SEASON
Now that it is mid-October, we are in the height of the FALL IS FOR PLANTING SEASON, which includes planting spring-blooming bulbs such as crocus, hyacinths, tulips, and more. You may note that I did not include daffodils in the list of bulbs. Squirrels won’t bother daffodils and other narcissus bulbs, which taste terrible to squirrels. We can spend a lot of time and money on buying and planting bulbs, and we certainly don’t want to waste either on squirrels. Those darn rascals.
Adult squirrels can have a life span of 5 to 10 years. Squirrels store food in brush, hollow trees, and underground. Squirrels lose their innate fear of humans in urban environments. I can attest to this behavior. I have two squirrels that visit my gardens every day. They go after my birdfeeders. I can walk up to them and be only a couple of feet away before they scurry away.
Bulbs are most vulnerable in the fall, immediately after planting, when the soil is still soft and worked up. Digging is easy then! Squirrels often “chance” upon bulbs when buying their nuts in soft ground. Or they are attracted by “planting debris” such as bits from the bulb bags. Don’t advertise your plantings, clean up, and keep those squirrels guessing!
So, how can we keep squirrels from digging up bulbs? One is to plant more squirrel resistant bulbs such as the Narcissus family such as daffodil bulbs. Another remedy could be to use physical barriers such as ground wire mesh or chicken wire. Another possible remedy could be to employ natural repellents such as sowing cayenne pepper into the soil or on the bulbs before planting. Don’t use moth balls. Moth balls is toxic in the soil and will do more harm than good. Knowing my two squirrels it may take all three remedies to keep these rascals from my bulbs. But, I do seem to plant more varieties of daffodil bulbs than any other spring blooming bulbs – even in my container gardens. And, yes, you could feed the squirrels in hopes that they will not dig up bulbs for food. But to me you are just inviting more squirrels to come to your landscape. It seems that squirrels do communicate (HA HA).
FALL IS FOR PLANTING A LITTLE HAPPINESS & NOT SQUIRREL FOOD!!!!