Pest Control Tips for a Vegetable Garden

One year, I didn't get a single cantaloupe because all the local rabbits had conventions in my garden. This year, it is squirrels attacking my sunflowers! I planted five Moonwalker sunflowers, and I have three surviving, barely. These are multi-head sunflowers that can bloom all summer long. The stalk is supposed to have from five to twenty heads on it, from mid stalk to tip, but because of the squirrels, I don't have any near that.

Here are some tips for keeping rabbits and squirrels out of your summer veggies.

Squirrels: First of all, the best way to keep squirrels off of your sunflowers is to not put a freeway to the plant from the fence. I did not water for a day, or three, and the stalks started to slump over. In all of my wisdom, I purchased some twine to tether the stalks to the fence. It was a great plan and my sunflowers were coming back in full bloom. Just after a few days they looked beautiful! One morning, right around sunrise, I looked out my bedroom window to marvel at my sunflowers and gasped! All the heads were gone! There were some 'pieces' left on the fence, but that was all. I bet the squirrels were thanking me for the freeway to their breakfast. I promptly took down the tethers and used poles/dowels instead. They work much better. (Add a bit of Miracle Gro and the sunflowers come back nicely.)

Another tip to keep squirrels out of your garden is to not drop old sunflower heads to the ground. I wanted to feed the birds the old, dried up sunflower heads, so after I snipped them, I left them in the yard for the birds. Well, it wasn't the birds I attracted, it was a squirrel family. I thought they were adorable until I saw the devastation in my garden. Not doing that again.

My last tip for keeping squirrels out of your sunflowers is to plant them a few extra feet away from the fence. I went out last weekend, a week after taking down the tethers, and noticed scratches on the fence. I took a closer look and it was squirrel nails on my fence! Those little critters were trying to jump from the fence to the sunflower and back again. Argh. Luckily, they have not touched my pumpkins, gourds, carrots, tomatoes or bell peppers. (So far.)

Rabbits: If you live in an area that has a lot of wild rabbits, then growing a garden in your backyard is a challenge. (Luckily, I live in the 'burbs and do not have a rabbit problem, just squirrels.) Anyway, one of the best ways to get rid of the furry pest is to plant things they do not want to eat, but that is almost impossible because rabbits will eat your entire garden! Preventative measures are the best.

Put up a fence. With Cottontails, a two foot high fence is fine. If you have Jackrabbits, then increase it to three feet around the area you want to protect. To keep the rabbits from burrowing under the fence, bury chicken wire around the base of your fence. A friend of mine did the same for her digging dogs, and it worked. You put up the one inch square fencing and dig a trench type hole around your 'fence'. Attach chicken wire at the base and curve it outwards and cover with dirt. This should help prevent anyone tunneling into your garden. (For the dogs, we turned it inwards to keep the dogs in the pen.)

There are repellents that can be used to keep the rabbits from feasting on your veggies, but they cannot be applied to the edible portion of the plants, and need to be reapplied after watering, rainfall or new growth. A few are moth balls, ammonium soaps, and blood meal.

If these don't work for you, then you can always get a humane trap. Bait it with whatever the rabbits have been eating from your garden, like apple slices, and wait. Once trapped, they can be relocated.

Sources:
Personal Experiences
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/