How to get rid of a cute and tiny critter from invading your garden. That’s coming up on This Land of Ours.
Chipmunks are cute but they can do some serious destruction to your garden. While they’re mostly in foraging on the ground, they aren’t afraid to sneak some of the seedlings and grains from your garden and love to climb trees to harvest nuts and fruits. Beyond eating your plants, they also like to dig.
Several techniques to keep them out include using chicken wire to build a fence to keep them away from your crops. Or, better yet, hardware cloth. The small holes and welded wire of hardware cloth make it impervious to chipmunks. Sprinkling spices not the ground around your plants will also keep them from walking near plants. They can’t stand the smell. Or, use a little caster oil or garlic spray. Motion activated water spray guns do a good job of scaring them off. As well as fake predators, such as snakes placed on the ground near burrows.
Chipmunks don’t like open spaces. If you use an open landscaping plan you can naturally deter them. Wood piles and stone walls provide hiding places for chipmunks and other small animals. Keep these away from your garden.
Listen to Cathy Isom’s This Land of Ours program here.