Sure, they're cute and comical as they zoom around your yard, leaping from tree limb to tree limb, tails a-twitching. But lose enough tulips, crocuses, and bird seed to squirrels and they suddenly seem to hold a lot less appeal. In fact, Mike McGrath, host of the nationally syndicated radio program, You Bet Your Garden, calls the furry critters—tongue not entirely in cheek—"the servants of Satan."
"It takes the average squirrel about a minute and a half to attend to all of its biological needs," he tells CountryLiving.com. "And we don't know how long they sleep, but the rest of their waking hours are devoted to driving humans crazy."
McGrath recalls one year in particular when he planted hundreds of tulips inside a 4x8 flower bed. "Maybe a week later, I noticed the bed had been disturbed, but whenever I put my hand down into one of the little holes, I felt a bulb. So, I just smoothed it on over, didn't think about it again, and then in the spring the entire 4x8 bed came alive with 200 to 300 black walnut trees. They had taken every tulip bulb and replanted that hole with a black walnut."
So what's a gardener to do? Try these top tips for repelling squirrels naturally.
Get a guard dog. According to McGrath, the best deterrent is absolutely free, as long as you're a dog lover. "Dogs hate squirrels," he says. "Squirrels hate dogs. So, if you have a big dog especially"—he mentions Great Pyrenees or labrador retrievers as examples—"save all the hair from when you brush it and use that to mulch your spring bulb bed. The squirrels won't go near it. And it works against slugs too, because they get caught up in the hair."
Spread squirrel repellent. If you don't have easy access to a canine furball, Nikki Tilley, senior editor of Gardening Know How, advises spreading some predator urine around your garden, or even ground chili peppers. "And adding some cayenne pepper to those bird feeders will help keep the squirrels out but won't adversely affect the birds," she says.
Get strategic with your gardening. You can also plant bulbs these rodents don't like, such as daffodils and fritillaria, throughout the garden." As an added layer of protection, surround plants with fencing, netting, or chicken wire, all of which will help keep squirrels out.
