Garden Animals – My Favourite Top Nine Tips
Author: Owen Jones
Source: ezinearticles.com
Wild garden animals and how you deal with them is a very touchy subject for a lot of people. For example, it is no longer so socially acceptable to poison moles and badgers or shoot squirrels and deer, although they are still a problem to some people. On the other hand, technology has made it easier to handle these animals without resorting to lethal methods.
Obviously, insects, slugs and snails do not enjoy the protection of public opinion. so, having said that, here are my top favourites for dealing with wild garden animals.
Quick, Quick, Slow: a general rule of thumb when dealing with garden pests, is: if it is slow-moving, stamp on it, but if it is fast-moving it will probably eat some other pest.
Manning The Barricades: snails are a huge problem in some parts of a town but not in others and in some parts of the country more than others. There are several ways of dealing with snails, but the only sure-fire way is to pick them up and kill them or squash them where they are. Despite this, people do have their favourite remedies, some of which are putting a ring or horticultural grit or sharp sand around your plants. Broken eggshells is another method as slugs and snails feel uncomfortable travelling over it. Slug pellets have been largely discredited, because some wild animals such as hedgehogs will eat them and be poisoned. Encouraging hedgehogs, which eat slugs and snails is the preferred method.
Mole Offensive: killing moles is socially unacceptable now and I think that that is good, however moles can still present a problem which has to be solved. Get yourself a very large child’s seaside windmill. Put it in the ground in the middle of the lawn in such a way that it can turn into or away from the wind. The noise will drive moles crazy and they will eventually leave your garden and go to someone else’s.
On Guard: hang mothballs among your favourite plants to deter cats from digging them up when doing their ablutions.
No Deer, Not Tonight, Thank You: there are two recognized ways of warding off deer: one is easier to carry out than the other. You can either dig lion droppings into your perimeter or you can ask your barber for a bag of hair sweepings. Put a handful into several muslin bags and hang them up where the deer come in or forage. Deer do not like the smell of either of these products.
Warding Off Greenfly: bury some garlic just under the surface under your rose bushes. The greenfly will go elsewhere, and you may get some free garlic too.
Getting Nettled: cut down your nettles and put in a large plastic container. Cover with water and let stand a few days. Strain off and dilute with five parts of water to one of nettle water. This will kill whitefly and a few others and the rotten leaves make a good fertilizer.
Fly Away: sow summer savory between your broad beans to deter blackfly. Plant Tagetes between tomatoes to ward off whitefly.
Washing Your Roses: spray the greenfly on your roses with a week solution of soap and water (made from soap ends) or washing-up liquid. It will stick the to the spot.
Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with the gas remote control cars. If you have an interest in model or toy RC vehicles, please go over to our website now at 1/5 Scale RC Cars