It's amazing the things you can still learn at my age about gardening despite doing it most of my 3/4 of a century life.
You all know by now that I'm busy working with brand-new-to-me gardens in the new home, and dealing with the long neglect of some established plantings as well. It's the brand new plantings right now which are attracting the attention of neighborhood squirrels.
Now, I like squirrels. They're cute. We lived across the street from a growing population of albino ones for several years, making them both fun and easy to watch. Having a family dog helped keep any squirrels from becoming too much of a nuisance. Building a new house on a new lot in a new development devoid of trees kept their attention elsewhere for many years. Living in the desert also discouraged their presence.
But this neighborhood has lots of very tall trees around its edges - on other people's lots - and a very healthy population of squirrels. On walks to the mail hut I can often see two or more, each way. Judging from my bounty of garden weeds, both oaks and maples nearby are producing plenty of huge supplies of food for them to gather and store for the coming winter, and lately they have seemed to always have gaping mouths around a big future meal.
This neighborhood also has no loose dogs or cats to give them chase. Yes, there are plenty of (small) pets, but always on leash or behind porch screens, because rules, you know. And between my increasing allergies and the extra rent fees for pets, we are pet free after many years. I gave squirrels a brief passing thought when I bought wire cages for suet/seed blocks for our winter bird station, already in the ground but only holding wind chimes right now. It might be fun to watch them try to jump up to get a meal. If adjustments are necessary, they'll wait for next year.
Last weekend I put in the last of my bearded iris, leaving a spot I'd designated to crocus. Note that more crocus are in transit from Holland, I'm assured, but this spot was in the middle of a large area and needed to be planted and gotten out of so I wouldn't be stepping on what I'd just planted, or what would be outside of those get trampled while I finished this location. (I stay awake nights planning not just where stuff is to go but when, for just those reasons. It's been well thought out.) In this case I'm talking about the center of the big raised circle bed. There is currently a single path in to the middle. The middle is now planted, and seeds will cover the lone path in/out... before freeze. I had planned on doing the seeds earlier but I now know I still need that path, and the seeds can germinate in spring instead of starting now.
Why do I now know? As I was coming back out of the house to water the iris/bulbs area, I startled away a squirrel, a new hole in the dirt and one of my crocus bulbs in its mouth! There were only 10 in the bag! At least they were the cheap ones from Walmart, but even so! ARRRRGGGHHHHH!
Back in I went, and pulled up Google. I suddenly had questions. My first angry impulse was to ask how to poison them, but I decided that was not the best idea. They might not even eat the bulbs till mid winter or early spring, and they could well harvest half my garden by then. So it became a combined search for what bulbs do they like, not like, and how do I keep squirrels away?
First, they love crocus and tulips. I have a bunch of both, expensive fancy types, arriving soon. I better figure this out fast.
There were all kinds of ideas like spreading framed screens around over the bulbs. Expensive, hard work, and why wouldn't the buggers just burrow under them? Plus I'd have to remove them in the spring... and store them where, exactly? We've always known if Steve needs a ramp, the only place for it would be where our current shed sits, so bye bye. And the scooter would take up space in the living room, but that's another issue.
Squirrels hate daffodil bulbs, so that's good news as I have a bunch of those coming as well. I doubt planting each crocus or tulip between a couple daffodils would be effective, so keep hunting. They also love Asiatic lily bulbs, and in some countries folks even use those as food. I have enough of those on order to fill a bed 2 feet wide by 28 feet long, and they could be here as early as today or still another week out. The bed is being turned in stages by Paul right now, and it will be wider than two feet but the hollyhocks will go along the back wall at Steve's request, filling out that space. I haven't even dared to ask if squirrels eat their seeds!
After more hunting, a possible solution came up. It turns out squirrels avoid several very strong scents. Mints for example. Sounds expensive and easily dissipated., making that even more expensive. BUT... they also hate cinnamon! I happen to love cinnamon. So much so that I buy it in very large shaker-top jars, the 18 oz. size. One was currently next to the spice rack, and fairly full. Voila! Out I went, out it shook, a circle of ground was turned from black to brown.
The can sits on the floor near the front door, accessible at a moment's notice. A replacement set of them are on the shopping list, as they will be in use until a good freeze. At some point I will try to find out if, once the flowers have bloomed and new bulbs are replacing the old ones underground and even multiplying, fingers crossed, the treatment needs to be renewed or if they are good now, safe from those pesky squirrels for the rest of their lives.
Maybe next September I'll just spread cinnamon all over regardless, just in case. It certainly won't hurt anything. Hmmm, wonder if there will be sales around the holidays for stocking up.
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