Using Irish Spring to keep out garden pests.
Perennials are springing up everywhere. And the herbivores are loving it. The hostas pictured above are always the first course. Around here, the biggest culprit of garden dining are deer. Don’t believe me? I took the following picture of our back yard two years ago. Apparently, we are living in the Grand Central Station for the Bambi crowd.
Garden stores sell various deer and rabbit deterrents, but most are topical treatments that have to be applied after each rain or even heavy dew and, generally, they’re expensive. Since many are based on smells (a popular one is coyote urine), it’s not surprising a non-appetizing, odoriferous, rainproof thing such as Irish Spring keeps the critters at bay.
Just cut a bar into cubes, wrap the cubes in scraps of cloth, and staple them onto stakes.
Drive the stakes in among the tantalizing vegetation. I also cut smaller bits to scatter along the ground.
Yes, the yard smells ‘refreshing’ and no, the soap doesn’t suds up during a rain. Last year, I did the stake trick at the beginning of the year, but replenished my scattered pieces once a month or so. Together, they seemed to do the trick; the deer left my plants alone.
Original post can be found at Curbly.
Great deer trick, now how do I get the cute little bunnies out. They eat up my bushes all winter long leaving me with half eaten spireas and I can’t even bother planting a bulb, they come and nip the tops off.
Bunnies aren’t a big problem where I live, but it might work for them too.
Why is it all these cute things are so destructive?
A few years ago, I was in a battle with a squirrel who was snarfing at one of my bird feeders. Of course, every time it came for a snack, I took pictures/laughed/shook my head in amazement. They are entertaining little thieves.