Sorry, Pepe Le Pew, but we’ve got no love for you. Keep that lawn groomed, too – it’s very common for rabbits to hide their babies under swaths of dried cut grass. Rabbit-proof plants are also becoming very popular, and our team is very knowledgeable on some great varieties to help you fight back. Keep fences in good repair, make sure they’re installed at least 6 inches deep, and regularly inspect the perimeter of your property to look for areas where they might be squeezing in. The best rabbit controls are great fencing and careful plant choices. A family of rabbits can kill a tree or shrub by eating ½ to ¾ of the circumference of the trunk, but you may not even notice until June when the plant’s nutrient stores are depleted and the trunks are too severed to restock them. Now that the snow is melting, you’re probably seeing the worst of their handiwork now on your fruit trees, burning bush, and fruit-producing shrubs. As sweet as their long, pointy ears and round, little bodies are, rabbits will devour virtually anything in your garden. Most squirrels would rather not risk coming too close to your house.Ĭute? Yes. If they’ve become a problem, you may find it less of a battle to simply plant them in containers and keep them on your deck. Our Ontario squirrels also have a habit of going after veggie and herb gardens in the absence of bird food, too. We carry a few repellent products, Plantskydd and Critter Ridder, that tend to be really effective at shooing them away. There are some things you can do to keep them away, like using free-standing feeders made of smooth metal (which is harder for them to climb) and keeping them away from trees and fences. Squirrels on their own wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t so dreadfully obnoxious to birds. Their compact little bodies are agile and naturally skilled at climbing virtually any surface and their large, bushy tails help them stay balanced on narrow branches and fences. These clever, little twits are some of the toughest rodents to outsmart around here. Keep bulbs protected by surrounding them with crushed gravel. That means staying diligent about clearing plant debris, sealing any cracks in your home’s exterior walls, using garbage cans with properly-fitted lids, and keeping pet food and birdseed sealed or far from your home’s outer walls. The best thing you can do is make your garden too inhospitable for them to stick around. Of course, once mice tuck into your garden bounty, it doesn’t take long for them to try tucking themselves under your door. They’re low to the ground, which means your tender shoots, bulbs, and root veggies are the most at-risk. While most of us would rather see a mouse in our garden than in our pantry, the ideal situation is not to see them at all! Mice are pretty easy to recognize rounded ears, pointy noses, long scaly tails, and grey-brown fur. There’s an unsettling number of different rodent species in the Guelph/Cambridge area that absolutely love to cramp your garden’s style, and the first step toward eliminating them is to identify them. How to Give Garden Pests the Bootĭo you smell a rat? Well, it might be something else. Here are a few of my best tips for keeping your unwanted guests out. We’ve got to be smart about how we keep our garden “clubs” exclusive, without having to re-enact any scenes from Tom & Jerry. Now, unlike bouncers, we’re not getting paid to chase these nuisances away. They trash the place, steal the decorations, hog the bird food buffet, and scare away my VIPs. Rodents, skunks, and raccoons probably have great personalities when you get to know them, but they really don’t add a lot to the atmosphere. Some animals, though,…well, let’s just say they need to get in line, and the line ain’t movin’. We invite these “VIPs” with open arms every year, and it must be pretty sweet for them – free food, comfy perches, and the fountain drinks are unlimited. For some animals, like hummingbirds and thrushes, I’m unhooking the velvet rope and unrolling the red carpet. I was thinking the other day about how gardeners are a little bit like bouncers at a nightclub when it comes to wildlife.
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