You spend so much time cultivating your beautiful flowerbeds, and they’re a source of pride for you and your home. You hate to see them be destroyed by pesky critters. It can be very difficult to keep critters off your crops, but you want to protect your plants. There are pesticides and poisons, but there are also many effective natural methods and organic products to dissuade unwanted animals. In a perfect world we all wish we had an invisible fence. Here are some ways to keep animals out of your flowerbeds, without posing any harm to the environment.
Radio
Most animals won’t try to venture into your flowerbeds if they hear you or other people around. Set up a small, portable radio, and turn it on. Any station will do, but the noisier the better (think rock music over jazz). Don’t turn the volume up so high that it will bother your neighbours, but just enough to scare off any unwanted visitors.
Hot Peppers
A very effective way to keep many types of critters off of your plants is by spraying hot sauce directly onto the flowers. It won’t damage them, but it will deter rabbits, squirrels, other small animals, and even deer. You can also ground up and sprinkle it around the soil of your flowerbeds.
Fruit Peels
Whenever you use a lemon, chop up the peels and sprinkle them around your beds, and this will deter cats. If you chop up and sprinkle orange peels, that is great for deterring fire ants. Grapefruit peels work for dogs.
Garlic and Pepper Spray
One homemade spray that you can concoct in your kitchen to deter critters is a mixture of garlic and peppers. Blend a couple of red hot chili peppers with a few bulbs of garlic in your blender, and let the mixture cool overnight in your fridge. Then, strain out any small particles, and mix one cup of it with one gallon of water. Spray this all over your beds, and it works wonders.
Plants
If you have room in your beds, add some plants that are natural deterrents to critters and insects. Some good plants to try are garlic and chives, onions, narcissus, marigolds, and castor bean plants. These are great for rabbits and moles, and they will also attract butterflies and bees.
Underground Fencing
Installing a fence around your flower beds will help keep out animals, but it’s a great idea to also extend the border at least several inches into the ground. This will help stop burrowing animals like moles.
Bacon Grease
If you sprinkle bacon grease around the outside of your beds after breakfast, the smell will put off rabbits.
Soap
Rub very smelly soap on the boxes of your flowerbeds, or drill holes in bars and hang them from your fence, to ward off deer.
