Gardener shares genius hack that stops squirrels digging up & stealing your spring bulbs
A GARDENER has shared the clever hack to stop squirrels digging up your spring bulbs.
October and November are officially spring bulb planting months.
And gardeners and squirrels have been facing off for as long as anyone can remember.
These wily rodents can defeat any fence, deterrent, or contraption designed to keep them away from gardens and flowerbeds.
And if you’re not careful, your hard work and labour will go to waste if a squirrel or two gets their claws on your spring bulbs.
Fabulous spoke exclusively to Chris, Heligan’s Ornamental Gardens supervisor, at The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall.
He explained why squirrels love to dig up bulbs, which ones they will avoid, and how to stop them if you want to grow tulips.
Why do squirrels eat Spring bulbs?
Chris said: “The big problem people encounter with spring bulb planting is squirrels – particularly tulips.
“Bulb planting season is in the autumn and that coincides with squirrels habit of harvesting food for winter; a lot of their natural food sources are protein-rich, and bulbs are one of those things, so [are] nuts and seeds.
“They’re natural food sources are dwindling, [and] a lot of things are falling to the ground, so squirrels are naturally out and about looking for food – bulbs are one of those things unfortunately.”
How to stop squirrels stealing bulbs
“A really good method we use to stop squirrels stealing bulbs in our pots is using chicken wire,” he explained.
You can buy chicken wire from a variety of places – including Amazon, B&Q and Tesco.
“Once you’ve planted your bulbs up, place your wire over the top of the pot and crimp it round, so it’s nice and secure, and can’t get through the wire to dig them up.
“Once they’ve [spring bulbs] shot, the squirrels don’t tend to bother with them and you can remove the wire and allow the bulbs to come up.
“You can use this method on bare ground if you’re on an empty bed or allotment bed, and a nice aesthic choice would be to mulch over the top, to hide the mesh, just some leaf mould or composted bark.
“Other than that, if you’re planting in mixed beds, plant the [spring] bulbs in and amongst other plants, it makes them harder to search out for the squirrels – it makes it more work, so they’ll be less likely to bother and will go and find an easier food source.”
What spring bulbs don’t squirrels like to eat?
If you’re tired of squirrels digging up and snacking on your delicate tulip and crocus bulbs, defeat them another way by growing bulbs they don’t like.
They will easily find tastier food in another garden, so planting bulb plants squirrels don’t like is the easiest way to grow perennial flowers without worrying about underground raiders.
Chris said: “Some spring bulb varieties squirrels won’t go for – daffodils are a good one, [and] hyacinths they don’t seem to go for.
“Fritillarias, alliums and any of the onion family I guess because they smell so bad, and snowdrops – they tend to not go for snowdrops either!”
Top 5 spring bulbs to plant now
Chris, the Ornamental Gardens supervisor, at The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall revealed his favourite plants.
Daffodils – there are huge varieties to choose from and generally perennial so they’re really good at naturalising.
Snowdrops – every garden should have a snowdrop!
Camassias, Fritillarias and alliums – and that will see you right through from early spring into early summer.
Top tip! When planting, the general rule is two to three times the depth of a bulb. If planting in pots, you’re dictated to by the size of a pot. Generally, in a pot, it’s twice the bulb’s depth. There are a lot of planting tools with a depth gauge. so it’s really easy to measure your bulb and appropriately plant according to that depth.