Hi,

I live in London but recently I have been getting a lot of squirrels
in my garden. They are very cute and I love to watch them, but I've
now found that they are ruining my garden!

I recently built a raised bed as a memorial to a friend who died in
July and planted some plants in his memory, plants with names which
meant something to us but the squirrels have destroyed a lot of the
plants, especially a climbing rose called Schoolgirl. They keep
digging up the plants, and the ones they don't dig up they seem to
have sucked all the life out of them..leaving leaves dry and withered
with a lot of evenly sized holes in them.(Sempervivums..I guess they
like the fleshy leaves.) I've not seen anything like it before.

Does anyone know how I can stop the squirrels from getting into the
bed? Is there anything I can put down, which will not harm them? Is
there something they don't like which will deter them? I don't want to
use netting of any kind so as to spoil the look of the bed.

Thanks for your anticipated replies.

Lyn

Yikes!!!? are you sure this damage is due to squirrels? if so I'd better get
some squirrel pellets ready like the ones I got for cats.

I've long suspected that the squirrels are the culprits that take the odd
bud now and then from some of my roses, but I have never seen them eat any
foliage of any kind, I do have a few succulent leaved plants.

I get squirrels in the garden and they can make a mess of things, but
usually they are burying beechnuts, acorns etc, then dig them back up again.
they do take up small bulbs that are not planted deep and I have often found
bulbs growing where I know I didn't plant originally.

I have recently planted up some large pots and planters with bulbs for the
spring.these are mixed bulbs with daff's, tulips, snowdrops and crocus. and
noticed that the squirrels had been digging in them and leaving spilled
soil/compost around the base. At first I thought they might have taken the
small bulbs (as they were only a couple of inches below the surface but on
inspection none of the smaller bulbs had been taken but I did find a couple
of acorns and some peanuts in there.

I have secured some wire mesh over the pots now, at least until the bulbs
appear at least this as stopped them from making a mess.

Maybe if you hang a bird feeder with nuts in then this will keep them
occupied, in the first instance figuring out how to get to the nuts, then in
the second instance satisfying there need for food.

Jeff

(remove the troll to reply)

Always look on the bright side of life (De do, de do, de doody doody do)


Lyn wrote,

I live in London but recently I have been getting a lot of squirrels
in my garden. They are very cute and I love to watch them, but I've
now found that they are ruining my garden!

I recently built a raised bed as a memorial to a friend who died in
July and planted some plants in his memory, plants with names which
meant something to us but the squirrels have destroyed a lot of the
plants, especially a climbing rose called Schoolgirl. They keep
digging up the plants, and the ones they don't dig up they seem to
have sucked all the life out of them..leaving leaves dry and withered
with a lot of evenly sized holes in them.(Sempervivums..I guess they
like the fleshy leaves.) I've not seen anything like it before.

Does anyone know how I can stop the squirrels from getting into the
bed? Is there anything I can put down, which will not harm them? Is
there something they don't like which will deter them? I don't want to
use netting of any kind so as to spoil the look of the bed.

Thanks for your anticipated replies.

Lyn

"Lyn Rennick" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I live in London but recently I have been getting a lot of squirrels
in my garden. They are very cute and I love to watch them, but I've
now found that they are ruining my garden!

I recently built a raised bed as a memorial to a friend who died in
July and planted some plants in his memory, plants with names which
meant something to us but the squirrels have destroyed a lot of the
plants, especially a climbing rose called Schoolgirl. They keep
digging up the plants, and the ones they don't dig up they seem to
have sucked all the life out of them..leaving leaves dry and withered
with a lot of evenly sized holes in them.(Sempervivums..I guess they
like the fleshy leaves.) I've not seen anything like it before.

Does anyone know how I can stop the squirrels from getting into the
bed? Is there anything I can put down, which will not harm them? Is
there something they don't like which will deter them? I don't want to
use netting of any kind so as to spoil the look of the bed.

Thanks for your anticipated replies.

Lyn

Hi Lyn,

You could spread out a fabric membrane on the bed, cutting holes for the
plants, then cover with a mulch of largish (conker size) pebbles, or slate?
Obviously you could apply the pebbles without the membrane, but after a
while they get 'absorbed' into the soil below. If you don't want to do this
across the whole bed, placing pebbles around the base of the plant should
stop the squirrels from digging there.

HTH

Nick
http://www.ukgardening.co.uk

On 19 Oct 2004 06:11:27 -0700, (Lyn Rennick)
wrote:

Hi,

I live in London but recently I have been getting a lot of squirrels
in my garden. They are very cute and I love to watch them, but I've
now found that they are ruining my garden!

treat them as a crop: squirrel stew is delicious!

Lyn Rennick wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I live in London but recently I have been getting a lot of squirrels
in my garden. They are very cute and I love to watch them, but I've
now found that they are ruining my garden!

I recently built a raised bed as a memorial to a friend who died in
July and planted some plants in his memory, plants with names which
meant something to us but the squirrels have destroyed a lot of the
plants, especially a climbing rose called Schoolgirl. They keep
digging up the plants, and the ones they don't dig up they seem to
have sucked all the life out of them..leaving leaves dry and withered
with a lot of evenly sized holes in them.(Sempervivums..I guess they
like the fleshy leaves.) I've not seen anything like it before.

Does anyone know how I can stop the squirrels from getting into the
bed? Is there anything I can put down, which will not harm them? Is
there something they don't like which will deter them? I don't want to
use netting of any kind so as to spoil the look of the bed.

Thanks for your anticipated replies.

Lyn

Hi Lyn,

I wonder if you planted your rose with bonemeal fertiliser? If you did,
it's possible that a fox or dog has been digging there. I (and my
neighbours) have had this problem in the past. Last year, when I planted a
plum tree with the aid of bonemeal, I arranged bricks over the root area
then sprinkled loose bonemeal over the soil close by. This was intended to
persuade the local foxes that I had not buried a bone (yes, that's what
they're looking for!), but that the bone odour they could smell was only
grains of bone on the surface. The ploy worked! No digging at all, and my
tree has grown away well. I suspect I didn't even need the bricks to
protect the root area, but it was extra 'insurance'.

I can't explain away your holey sempervivums as easily. Slugs, perhaps.
Have you actually seen the squirrels raiding your border? They do bury
things and occasionally steal bulbs, but they don't usually just dig up
plants. The only other thought I have is that you may have fed your plants
with slow-release pellets.
Apparently, these are quite yummy! I have certainly had my planters raided
by squirrels on account of these.

If any of this rings true, perhaps you should try watering your plants in
with a liquid feed in future, especially valued memorials or gift plantings.
Having planted up the graves of much-loved cats, I can truly appreciate your
disappointment and distress.

Hope you can resolve the problem.
Spider

Hi, Spider and everyone else who replied to me,

Thanks for all your replies.

It's definitely squirrels as I've caught them in the raised bed.
Although they have dug up a few bulbs in the borders and dug down into
some tubs and planters in the past, I didn't think they would attack
the raised bed. Why I thought they wouldn't I don't know!!!

Putting a feeder up for them is an excellent idea, as long as my cat
doesn't try to get at them. I wouldn't be able to hang the feeder up
very high..so I have to be careful about my cat. She's very fond of
the pigeons we get in the garden! :-(

Why I didn't think of putting black membrane down I don't know! I have
two rolls of it unopened, so I wouldn't even have had to go out to buy
some. I think that's the best thing to do, the membrane and pebbles.
It's very apt as, the raised bed memorial which is being destroyed, is
for my friend Brian. He was known as BamBam as BAM were his intials,
and I was known as Pebbles..so having pebbles in the bed would be
brilliant. Oh! lol lol I've just realised what I've said! lol lol
Anyway, it's a lovely idea and I shall try that.

I don't think it's slugs eating the sempervivum as I always put
pellets down to control the slugs/snails. I had a HUGE problem with
slugs/snails for years but now I only have a few. The way the leaves
look is nothing like the way a leaf normally looks after a slug/snail
has been at it. Normally, you just get holes, but the sempervivum
leaves are completely dried out and papery with so many holes it's
like netting.

I used Toprose when I planted the rose and pushed some Push Feed 'n'
Forget slow release feed into the soil, I guess it's those they were
after.

Thankfully, I'm in the heart of London and it doesn't attract too many
foxes but the few we do get around here cannot get into my garden as
the walls and fences are too high. (I hope!)

Thanks again for all your help everyone.

Lyn



"Spider" wrote in message ...
Lyn Rennick wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I live in London but recently I have been getting a lot of squirrels
in my garden. They are very cute and I love to watch them, but I've
now found that they are ruining my garden!

I recently built a raised bed as a memorial to a friend who died in
July and planted some plants in his memory, plants with names which
meant something to us but the squirrels have destroyed a lot of the
plants, especially a climbing rose called Schoolgirl. They keep
digging up the plants, and the ones they don't dig up they seem to
have sucked all the life out of them..leaving leaves dry and withered
with a lot of evenly sized holes in them.(Sempervivums..I guess they
like the fleshy leaves.) I've not seen anything like it before.

Does anyone know how I can stop the squirrels from getting into the
bed? Is there anything I can put down, which will not harm them? Is
there something they don't like which will deter them? I don't want to
use netting of any kind so as to spoil the look of the bed.

Thanks for your anticipated replies.

Lyn

Hi Lyn,

I wonder if you planted your rose with bonemeal fertiliser? If you did,
it's possible that a fox or dog has been digging there. I (and my
neighbours) have had this problem in the past. Last year, when I planted a
plum tree with the aid of bonemeal, I arranged bricks over the root area
then sprinkled loose bonemeal over the soil close by. This was intended to
persuade the local foxes that I had not buried a bone (yes, that's what
they're looking for!), but that the bone odour they could smell was only
grains of bone on the surface. The ploy worked! No digging at all, and my
tree has grown away well. I suspect I didn't even need the bricks to
protect the root area, but it was extra 'insurance'.

I can't explain away your holey sempervivums as easily. Slugs, perhaps.
Have you actually seen the squirrels raiding your border? They do bury
things and occasionally steal bulbs, but they don't usually just dig up
plants. The only other thought I have is that you may have fed your plants
with slow-release pellets.
Apparently, these are quite yummy! I have certainly had my planters raided
by squirrels on account of these.

If any of this rings true, perhaps you should try watering your plants in
with a liquid feed in future, especially valued memorials or gift plantings.
Having planted up the graves of much-loved cats, I can truly appreciate your
disappointment and distress.

Hope you can resolve the problem.
Spider