3 Organic & Harmless Experiments to Banish Pests Without an Enclosure

The last few posts have been about fighting off squirrels, because they've been a serious issue. I was clearly insanely oblivious to the fact that squirrels can damage a lot of the garden, because they have been absolutely R E L E N T L E S S.

They have just👏not 👏quit 👏digging up everything planted where there's fresh dirt...which is pretty much everywhere in the gardens. I had no idea they can sniff out seeds and sprouts to eat them before they even reach the surface. They've even eaten a small tomato plant! 😤 URGH! Discouragement and frustration are serious understatements and with a heavy heart, I'm worried about missing out on the early harvests 🥺.

What's left of a paste tomato

The fight against the squirrels have been going on now for about 3 weeks. Each week tightening up on the damage control and trying something new. We have an acre of land with big trees, walking trails and a big flowy creek that runs through the backyard. When I finally took a step back and thought about it for a minute, our yard is pretty much a wild life sanctuary - no wonder we're fighting off a bunch of pests 🤦‍♀️.

Here's what we've put in place to try to steer them away safely and organically, week after week.👩‍🏭👩‍🔧

First week of May

Fresh top soil and mulch went on the garden beds this weekend, along with a few chilly transplants. Not much was transplanted since it snowed but it was a good time to sew some seeds directly in the ground that could tolerate it. After some time passed, I began to notice little holes nearby where the newly sewn seeds were planted. I wasn't 100% sure if they dug close to the seeds or actually dug them out. A week and a bit went by and still no sprouts, so I started to have my suspicions that they were stealing them before they could even reach the surface 🧐.

Second week of May

Bought a fake owl 🦉. Nothing fancy about it, no sounds or turning head. It's perching on top of the ladder used in the garden as decor. I think it helps slightly, but not overly great because of our location. A few days into the week, I bought another item - a high frequency noise and vibration solar stick. The noise and vibrations are supposed to make it unpleasant for animals, and will take approximately 2-12 weeks for them to get annoyed and move elsewhere. If the squirrels are hungry and determined though, I'm sure they'll still grab something and go. So I'm still not 100% sold on it. Either way, there's no harm to have them in there, just in case.

Third week of May

I hosed down the place with peppery water a few times during the week. First time making it I used about 1/2 a teaspoon for each spice including Cajun, all spice and chili powder mixed in about 1/2 jug of water. After not much success from that application, I doubled up on spice. One FULL teaspoon of each spice and filled 1/3 jug of water. With the concentrated pepper mix, I poured a bit into the watering can and filled the rest of the watering can with regular water, and did many trips watering the garden repeating those steps. I'm hoping it will be enough with immediate, or almost immediate results. I've read a few pins about peppery water doing the trick because squirrels don't like spicy, and the mix causes no harm to plants (apparently - yet to be determined). It would explain why they haven't really touched the radishes, too. I soaked the garden beds with the solution in the evening, around 7 or 8 pm as the sun sets. I don't recommend watering in the midday due to leaf burning, which I wrote about in a previous post, and this especially applies when there's pepper in the mix. I'm really hoping this works though because I'll be running out of time, money and seeds before I know it! 🙈

So far, the only thing that has had immediate results is to physically protect them with the plastic dome lids. Not happy about it for environmental reasons, but hey, it's the best thing that's worked so far, and I'd like to be able to eat something I grow this year! 🤪

I'll report back in the next day or two to see if there's any immediate impact with the pepper water. For now, I'm taking a bit of a break from planting this weekend and plan to relax with lots of blogging! 👩‍💻

Happy weekend planting friends 💚 Enjoy the sun and don't forget to wear sunscreen!

Liv