Gardening Plant Problems Garden Pests

7 Simple Ways to Keep Squirrels Out of Your Garden

How to Keep Squirrels Out of Your Garden

The Spruce / Candra Huff

Mischievous, maddening, and always poised for action, squirrels seem to always be one step ahead of gardeners when it comes to the damage they inflict on our flower and vegetable beds. Rarely does any one single method achieve complete squirrel control, but with some persistence and a multi-pronged approach you can put a damper on the havoc these rodents wreak in the landscape.

squirrel on a fence
The Spruce / Micah Issitt and Adrienne Legault
  1. Grow Unappealing Food

    Squirrels relish many of the same plants that we do, including fruits and vegetables, seeds, nuts, and berries. They will also make quick work of tulip bulbs, and even tulip blossoms.

    However, there are many plants that squirrels find distasteful. These plants have strong odors or flavors that squirrels do not enjoy.

    Consider adding alliums (onion, garlic), daffodils, galanthus, lily-of-the-valley, geraniums, fritillary flowers, goldenrod, and bleeding hearts in your beds, borders, and hanging baskets.

    squirrel eating plants
    The Spruce / Micah Issitt and Adrienne Legault 
  2. Use Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeders and Unsavory Seed

    Like all wild animals, squirrels are opportunistic, and will take advantage of the proverbial low-lying fruit in your landscape. Bird feeders are one of the biggest squirrel attractants, and it doesn't matter if your feeder is the Fort Knox of squirrel-proof feeders, as seed will always spill onto the ground.

    You don't have to give up on feeding the birds, but switching to less palatable feed like safflower seed or seed treated with cayenne pepper can deter hungry squirrels. but won't bother the birds.

  3. Keep Your Yard and Garden Tidy

    Keeping the garden clean can also discourage squirrels from gathering. After the harvest is over, remove any dropped fruits or vegetables from the ground.

    Don't forget to clear away other foodstuffs that attract squirrels, like leftover pet food and dropped acorns or black walnuts in the landscape.

  4. Employ a Watch Dog—Or Cat

    The more you cats or dogs frequent the yard and garden areas of your property, the less squirrels will feel comfortable hanging around. Both cats and dogs are natural predators of squirrels, so the clever rodents will do their best to avoid coming too close.

  5. Try Repellents

    There are many squirrel repellents on the market, but most of them are based on predator urine or hot pepper. Homemade recipes may also include garlic or onion, vinegar, or peppermint oil.

    Repellents may have some success used in conjunction with other deterrents, but gardeners must be vigilant about reapplication. Wind, water, and sunlight will cause repellants to break down quickly.

    squirrel eating from a bird feeder
    The Spruce / Candace Madonna 
  6. Fence Squirrels Out

    Fencing a small area with cage material like chicken wire can be an effective pest exclusion tactic for squirrels, but this type of squirrel-proof fencing can also be expensive and unsightly for larger areas.

    A floating row cover is surprisingly effective as a barrier in the vegetable garden. Squirrels do not like the feeling of enclosure, which prevents their ability to escape to safety, so they will avoid entering a covered row.

  7. Protect Your Plants

    In wooded areas or those adjacent to parks, it becomes impossible to exclude squirrels, and in these places it makes more sense to protect individual plants from squirrel damage. It may seem like a lot of work, but as a bonus you will also be preventing damage from mice, voles, groundhogs, birds, rabbits, and deer.

    Metal mesh cloches are ideal for young vegetable plants, especially leafy greens. You can buy handsome antique replicas, or create simple DIY cloches with chicken wire. Sink additional chicken wire over freshly planted bulbs to prevent digging.

    Aluminum flashing works well for wrapping tree trunks, and also prevents squirrels from running up trees. Paper bags will enable sunflowers to fully ripen without molestation.

    Old stockings or cheesecloth can prevent squirrels from one of their most infuriating practices: taking a single bite from a ripening tomato, and then abandoning the spoiled fruit.

Squirrel Decoys, Noisemakers, and Sprinklers

Fierce resin owls and creepy black rubber snakes seem to populate the garden aisle every spring, giving gardeners the promise of scaring the squirrel out of his wits. Faux predators may have some limited effectiveness, but you must provide the animation they lack by moving them around every day, and even with that effort, the squirrels generally catch on.

Ultrasonic noisemakers and motion sensor sprinklers may give squirrels a start, but rapidly decrease in effectiveness over time. As urban animals, squirrels have adapted to live alongside all kinds of noises and other stimuli.

squirrels climbing a tree
The Spruce / Micah Issitt and Adrienne Legault 
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  1. Werner, Scott J. et al. Repellent Application Strategy For Wild Rodents And Cottontail RabbitsApplied Animal Behaviour Science, vol 185, 2016, pp. 95-102. Elsevier BV, doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2016.10.008