Garden Critters

Walter, our groundhog before he was moved to greener pastures.

The most difficult part of gardening can be combating the varmints.  Whether one has slugs, deer or birds, it can be a full time job keeping nature’s pesky creatures from feasting on your hard work.  Every growing season I feel as if I’m a warrior.  Either I’m combating slugs or chasing the local groundhog away from my garden. 

I used many natural pest control recipes over the years to much disappointment. As I pen this article I wish the methods I’m about to speak were miracle cures, but they are not.  There are times they don’t appear to work either.  Nature has a way of adapting and finding ways to feed itself.  Garden critters are no different.

Slugs:  I have tried everything to rid my garden of these pesky creatures.  Many claim a thin layer of coffee grinds but that has never worked for me.  Plus, one year I actually put too many grinds in my garden in a desperate attempt to keep the slugs away and ended up having mold and mildew all around my shade loving plants. 

The best method to rid your garden of slugs is cumbersome and done by the light of the moon.  In the evening, venture out into your garden, armed with a flashlight and simply pull the slugs off of your plants.  I pinch the bottom leaves off of my plants to deter the slugs from taking refuge underneath them.  I also use empty tuna fish cans and place them into the soil and fill them with beer. I do this in the evening because the beer will evaporate throughout the day.  The next morning, I venture back out and see that my beer traps have several slugs in them. 

Birds:  Birds are tough and most deterrents don’t last forever when dealing with them.  Be creative.  Short of netting your entire garden, one can partake in the scare tactic methods like I do.  I have a scarecrow planted in the center of my garden.  That never worked alone.  I live in New York and our birds have an attitude and never play by the rules. When I arrived home from work one afternoon, I saw a few birds perched on my scarecrow.

This year my garden will have a scarecrow, which I’ll move around the garden each week, two wooden poles decorated with strings of aluminum pie pans and two shepherd hooks with wind chimes.  The glare of the pie pans and the sound they make when combined with the wind chimes keeps my flying friends at bay.

Deer:  Is there anything more difficult to deal with than deer?  I must say no.  The best deterrent is to erect a fence of at least eight feet, but the expense is high and many of us don’t want a fence.  I have tried all of the gardening tidbits such as hanging Irish Spring soap and spraying garlic around the perimeters, but what worked best for me was when my neighbor’s dog would come over for a visit.  He marked up the yard and I noticed when he did so, there would be no visiting deer.  Someone told me to place human hair in cheesecloth and hang near the garden.  I haven’t tried that but believe I will be sticking to the visiting dog method.

Critters:  Rabbits and groundhogs are my least favorite garden pest to deal with.  Children can be your best defense against the critters because when my sons were younger they would run after the rabbits and groundhogs.  They also named them, but that’s another blog entry.  The best thing to ward them off is to trap them and bring them to the woods.  There are many humane traps available at your local gardening stores.  I used a Havahart trap.  I know it’s a lot of work but when critters like groundhogs are left unattended, they will eat it all.  Trap the groundhog and save your okra and spinach!