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NUTS!


Mistydawn

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post-58664-0-09833200-1362925372_thumb.j

Okay, wanted to share this with you gardeners out there in UM land.

Two weeks ago I spent a fortune on seeds and a weekend on planting them in tubs, six tubs in fact. Spring onions, rocket lettuce, bell-peppers, hollyhocks, sweetpea and night-scented Stock.

Yesterday a squirrel went from tub to tub diging little holes to bury his fat-ball (put them out for the birds and it nicks them).

AAAAARGH! Love the little rogue, but really, I want to.......! :gun:

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Fox urine...you can get it powder form for use in gardens.

Urine. Oh I do love gardening. Thanks Lily! :blush:

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Urine. Oh I do love gardening. Thanks Lily! :blush:

The glamourous life!

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I know schizy, I look so sexy bent over with a trowel and dressed in my baggies!!! I don't know how the squirrel keeps itself from hugging me to death!!

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Squirrels are so squirelly.

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You can have them -- but one word of advice -- don't give them a way to get into your attic.

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but it looks so cute !

but it looks so cute !

huh, so do i!! Don't be deceived!!

Squirrels are so squirelly.

yeh, little sh**s!!

You can have them -- but one word of advice -- don't give them a way to get into your attic.

Haven't got one, thak f!!!

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huh, so do i!! Don't be deceived!!

yeh, little sh**s!!

Haven't got one, thak f!!!

hahahaha seriously i admire their ability to survive in urban lifestyle

and the fact they annoy us is so adoreable :D

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heh, I lost a couple hundred corn starts last year do to the local critters. Made me mad as the dickens.

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heh, I lost a couple hundred corn starts last year do to the local critters. Made me mad as the dickens.

rashore, by local critters, you can't mean "squirrels" surely?!

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What's up with squirrels?

Well you know what they say about a rodent being a rodent.

I didn't know storing nuts in trees would make them a garden pest.

Tbh spraying your plants with the urine of a major predator isn't a bad idea.

So what about getting foxes away from chicken coops?

Spray the coops with hunting hound urine would be logical.

In fact that isn't bad despite foxes not being official prey to the hounds.

At first I thought this was a thread about a certain lads magazine.

No! Just a load of tree rats.

Edited by Medium Brown
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rashore, by local critters, you can't mean "squirrels" surely?!

Yeppers. My first batch was squirrels and a chipmunk, second batch squirrels and one raccoon that snatched up the scraps, and the third batch was squirrels and drowning by an unexpected rainstorm... I ended up with 12 corn plants, 3 of which grew up, barely... Because by then the drought was on, heh. Squirrels LOVE corn around here, and a lot of people put out cobs for them year round.

Chipmunks decimated all my edamame and bean starts too, though those did a smidge better in the garden.

Between the critters making it a hard start, and being unable to keep up with watering needs during the drought, last years garden was a total wash cept for the gourds. This year I'm not sure if I will do any pre-planting, I got 8 weeks till the wedding and too much crap to do. So I'm prolly gonna go all direct seeding and plants from the local nursery that does tons of heirlooms.

And heh, the squirrels are my main competitor for the Chinese chestnut tree in my backyard- I have to start collecting those spiny balls the moment they start falling otherwise the squirrels just leave me a lot of sharp husks to clean up.

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hahahaha seriously i admire their ability to survive in urban lifestyle

and the fact they annoy us is so adoreable :D

I adore the wee **** too.... :whistle:

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What's up with squirrels?

Well you know what they say about a rodent being a rodent.

I didn't know storing nuts in trees would make them a garden pest.

Tbh spraying your plants with the urine of a major predator isn't a bad idea.

So what about getting foxes away from chicken coops?

Spray the coops with hunting hound urine would be logical.

In fact that isn't bad despite foxes not being official prey to the hounds.

At first I thought this was a thread about a certain lads magazine.

No! Just a load of tree rats.

EEEh! Heee haaaa har har!!! Nuts!! oh right..! Sorry, must stop laughing! hahaha! :w00t:

Medium, you've put an image of a hound dog digging in my pots in my brain now!!

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Yeppers. My first batch was squirrels and a chipmunk, second batch squirrels and one raccoon that snatched up the scraps, and the third batch was squirrels and drowning by an unexpected rainstorm... I ended up with 12 corn plants, 3 of which grew up, barely... Because by then the drought was on, heh. Squirrels LOVE corn around here, and a lot of people put out cobs for them year round.

Chipmunks decimated all my edamame and bean starts too, though those did a smidge better in the garden.

Between the critters making it a hard start, and being unable to keep up with watering needs during the drought, last years garden was a total wash cept for the gourds. This year I'm not sure if I will do any pre-planting, I got 8 weeks till the wedding and too much crap to do. So I'm prolly gonna go all direct seeding and plants from the local nursery that does tons of heirlooms.

And heh, the squirrels are my main competitor for the Chinese chestnut tree in my backyard- I have to start collecting those spiny balls the moment they start falling otherwise the squirrels just leave me a lot of sharp husks to clean up.

Cripes! that makes my moan a sneeze in comparison! We have squirrels in the local Park, but this wee one is a bit of a rogue, just the one, who has discovered cover further from his friends home. People here about think he's cute. Well he is, but in more ways than one. Good luck to you.

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All this trouble with squirrels and British want to hunt foxes?

All this trouble with squirrels and British want to hunt foxes?

Yeh, we are a strange bunch.

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EEEh! Heee haaaa har har!!! Nuts!! oh right..! Sorry, must stop laughing! hahaha! :w00t:

Medium, you've put an image of a hound dog digging in my pots in my brain now!!

Lol.I'm the stuff of nightmares!

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Lol.I'm the stuff of nightmares!

Not going to disagree with you!

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I dunno how helpful this is or not...

But last year I tried using literbox leavings by one of the gardens to help keep critters away, and it helped a little, but I thought it kind of gross. I started using ammonia in the little weeds in my driveway cracks, and that seemed to scare off the squirrels for a while, and coons for quite a bit longer. I made a bunch of "scares"- tinsel attached to stakes- and that helped with the birds a lot and the squirrels a bit, but did pretty much nothing for the coons. And I didn't see a squirrel or coon on the redbud tree I hang finch feeders and orange spikes on after I wound the base with a heap of raspberry brambles I deadheaded out of the raspberry patch.

I also have a squirrel dedicated feeder in a tree that's a bit away from all the other temptations in the yard, and I think that helps a lot. Most of the chestnuts I try to collect are for later distribution to the squirrels, hehe. And I have a tiny meadow that helps keep all the critters happy and away from where I don't want them to be.

I haven't resorted to predator urine yet- we already have some in the area, and this is currently an astonishingly healthy ecosystem, so I don't want to put out false scents yet beyond what I tried with my cats litter.

I've just pretty much given up on the notion of corn till I can get a couple caged raised SQFT beds made with. This year we are working on getting our first three "regular" beds set up, the preliminary testing for the future hops pavillion, and hopefully a beehive set up and a couple bat boxes.

And with all the other critters going on, they aren't even my worst garden problem- I have had some success with deterring them all. VOLES are the terror of my yard. Oh my, I'm still trying to figure out friendly ways to get those things out of my yard. Other than spreading a bunch of poison several times a year. The only thing natural I've noticed is that they don't seem to disturb areas of wild chives as much, so I've been encouraging those to take over my yard, but it's really slow.

Ticks are also a big problem, but in a couple years we will start keeping a few hens, and that will go back down.

Mosquitoes are amazing, especially down by the pond. In general, they don't like me, as in everyone else is being eaten alive, and I'm not bit once. But these skeeters like me just as much, and everyone else even more. So we are planning in beds of bug deterrent borders all over the place too and hopefully will get the first major ones down to the firepit established this year.

And back around to squirrels... One of the main bedding plants we are using for bug deterrent is also purported to be rather unpleasantly scented to squirrels.. Marigolds. They seem to really pop up on the deterrent plant lists. And I've heard a lot of gardening advice that says marigolds work too.

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I dunno how helpful this is or not...

But last year I tried using literbox leavings by one of the gardens to help keep critters away, and it helped a little, but I thought it kind of gross. I started using ammonia in the little weeds in my driveway cracks, and that seemed to scare off the squirrels for a while, and coons for quite a bit longer. I made a bunch of "scares"- tinsel attached to stakes- and that helped with the birds a lot and the squirrels a bit, but did pretty much nothing for the coons. And I didn't see a squirrel or coon on the redbud tree I hang finch feeders and orange spikes on after I wound the base with a heap of raspberry brambles I deadheaded out of the raspberry patch.

I also have a squirrel dedicated feeder in a tree that's a bit away from all the other temptations in the yard, and I think that helps a lot. Most of the chestnuts I try to collect are for later distribution to the squirrels, hehe. And I have a tiny meadow that helps keep all the critters happy and away from where I don't want them to be.

I haven't resorted to predator urine yet- we already have some in the area, and this is currently an astonishingly healthy ecosystem, so I don't want to put out false scents yet beyond what I tried with my cats litter.

I've just pretty much given up on the notion of corn till I can get a couple caged raised SQFT beds made with. This year we are working on getting our first three "regular" beds set up, the preliminary testing for the future hops pavillion, and hopefully a beehive set up and a couple bat boxes.

And with all the other critters going on, they aren't even my worst garden problem- I have had some success with deterring them all. VOLES are the terror of my yard. Oh my, I'm still trying to figure out friendly ways to get those things out of my yard. Other than spreading a bunch of poison several times a year. The only thing natural I've noticed is that they don't seem to disturb areas of wild chives as much, so I've been encouraging those to take over my yard, but it's really slow.

Ticks are also a big problem, but in a couple years we will start keeping a few hens, and that will go back down.

Mosquitoes are amazing, especially down by the pond. In general, they don't like me, as in everyone else is being eaten alive, and I'm not bit once. But these skeeters like me just as much, and everyone else even more. So we are planning in beds of bug deterrent borders all over the place too and hopefully will get the first major ones down to the firepit established this year.

And back around to squirrels... One of the main bedding plants we are using for bug deterrent is also purported to be rather unpleasantly scented to squirrels.. Marigolds. They seem to really pop up on the deterrent plant lists. And I've heard a lot of gardening advice that says marigolds work too.

Jees rashore! You sound like you are bombarded with rampaging rodents of all kinds!! I am feeling a little ashamed moaning about one ickle little squirrel!

(crawls off into a corner to hide)

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We got teems of little critters.. But we got teems of critter eaters too. Lots of predator birds like at least three kinds of hawks and two kinds of owls, foxes, coyotes (I've howled the local pack a couple times, and it gives ya the willies), cougars- though I haven't heard of anything since the far neighbors horse was mauled a few years back..

So it sounds like we got a lot, but it's really not that much. Voles are my big complaint. And ooh, a snowfall or two ago we got to watch a thin coyote play a game of ponce and feed in the snow with a fat vole- it was awesome.

And you shouldn't feel bad about moaning one icky squirrel... Squirrels are like mice- if you see one, you got at least a dozen. In the city, those effers... grrrr, bane. In one home I owned, they got into the mud porch roof. I tried all sorts of crap to get them out, even put up metal bits- nothing. At the right time of year, re-sided the whole house and made sure the little buggers weren't there first- and the bastages ate holes through the siding the next spring to get back into their old ground!

In another urban house... I found the only things I could grow with some reasonable expectation of getting anything was fully caged tomatoes, hot peppers, squash, parsley and sage. Little turds ate anything else I planted. I burned through dozens of packets of legume seeds, and somehow even with caging they figured out how to get at them.

Edited by rashore
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We got teems of little critters.. But we got teems of critter eaters too. Lots of predator birds like at least three kinds of hawks and two kinds of owls, foxes, coyotes (I've howled the local pack a couple times, and it gives ya the willies), cougars- though I haven't heard of anything since the far neighbors horse was mauled a few years back..

So it sounds like we got a lot, but it's really not that much. Voles are my big complaint. And ooh, a snowfall or two ago we got to watch a thin coyote play a game of ponce and feed in the snow with a fat vole- it was awesome.

And you shouldn't feel bad about moaning one icky squirrel... Squirrels are like mice- if you see one, you got at least a dozen. In the city, those effers... grrrr, bane. In one home I owned, they got into the mud porch roof. I tried all sorts of crap to get them out, even put up metal bits- nothing. At the right time of year, re-sided the whole house and made sure the little buggers weren't there first- and the bastages ate holes through the siding the next spring to get back into their old ground!

In another urban house... I found the only things I could grow with some reasonable expectation of getting anything was fully caged tomatoes, hot peppers, squash, parsley and sage. Little turds ate anything else I planted. I burned through dozens of packets of legume seeds, and somehow even with caging they figured out how to get at them.

We got teems of little critters.. But we got teems of critter eaters too. Lots of predator birds like at least three kinds of hawks and two kinds of owls, foxes, coyotes (I've howled the local pack a couple times, and it gives ya the willies), cougars- though I haven't heard of anything since the far neighbors horse was mauled a few years back..

So it sounds like we got a lot, but it's really not that much. Voles are my big complaint. And ooh, a snowfall or two ago we got to watch a thin coyote play a game of ponce and feed in the snow with a fat vole- it was awesome.

And you shouldn't feel bad about moaning one icky squirrel... Squirrels are like mice- if you see one, you got at least a dozen. In the city, those effers... grrrr, bane. In one home I owned, they got into the mud porch roof. I tried all sorts of crap to get them out, even put up metal bits- nothing. At the right time of year, re-sided the whole house and made sure the little buggers weren't there first- and the bastages ate holes through the siding the next spring to get back into their old ground!

In another urban house... I found the only things I could grow with some reasonable expectation of getting anything was fully caged tomatoes, hot peppers, squash, parsley and sage. Little turds ate anything else I planted. I burned through dozens of packets of legume seeds, and somehow even with caging they figured out how to get at them.

Where in heck are you rashore? Must be a wild and beautiful place, I am envious! I know they are a pain, but in the city they are kind of a treat in that they are rare to see.

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