Gardening comes with a lot of challenges and among these is the entry of squirrels into garden areas during the fall.
If you’ve ever had an experience of the action of squirrels in the garden, then you will understand the kind of pests we are dealing with.
Squirrels are small mammals that feed by digging and they love nuts, bulbs, etc. and the tulip flowers’ bulb is one of those which are largely consumed by squirrels as they do have a sweet taste.
During the spring or autumn when flowers mostly thrive and grow well, squirrels tend to look for feed around, digging up plants root, and consuming the bulb of the lovely tulip plants that are in your garden.
Sometimes, squirrels feed on bulbs and as a result of their storing ability, they tend to keep them over time and those they fail to consume would sprout out in places you never expected it – this is the work of the hungry squirrels.
Squirrels are small animals that you can often find in places where there is abundant vegetation and as long as you have bushes around your garden that makes them very close by.
Having a large number of squirrels in your environment can make it very difficult and challenging to grow certain bulbs in your garden.
For gardeners, squirrels are one of the most important pests that feast on their garden and they always look for the best possible ways to eliminate them or prevent them from consuming the plant’s bulb.
Since squirrels love to feed on sweet bulbs of plants such as tulips, planting bulbs that are bitter and unpleasing to their taste will help to prevent them from feasting in our gardens.
The lovely and the garden-saver plant that we will discuss about today is the daffodil flower – a natural repellant to squirrels.
In this article, we will take you through the ways through which you can prevent damaging squirrels by planting Daffodils.
Why the Daffodil flower?
An important question that must have crossed your mind is “why the daffodil flowers?” This flower is a beautiful flower just like the tulip flower (whose bulb is highly prone to squirrels attack in the garden) and they create an awesome piece to have around.
However, that is not the reason why it is of choice in controlling squirrels but they will be discussed below:
Bulb type:
The bulb from which the daffodil flower develops from differs from that of the tulip flower.
It is not a sweet, juicy bulb like that of the tulip flower because it contains an alkaloid known as the lycorine that gives it its bitter taste and is considered very toxic when consumed.
The bitter taste of the bulb of the daffodil makes it free of rodents like the squirrels.
They tend to naturalize:
Apart from having a bitter taste, the daffodil flower has the ability to grow well in any place where it is found and it can help to prevent or reduce the actions of squirrels in that area.
You will enjoy having this lovely flower around come spring and summer.
Beautiful colors:
The blooms of the daffodil flower do come in different colors and each of them appears beautifully and lovely wherever they are grown.
There is a need for you to understand that if you are not able to grow your desired flower as a result of pests like squirrels, then you must find an alternative that will serve an almost similar purpose and that is the daffodil flower.
Tips on How to Foil Squirrels by planting Daffodils
Daffodils, tulips, hyacinth, etc. are all lovely spring-blooming flowers that we have around and they help to make the garden atmosphere appear more lively and attractive.
Daffodils have the ability to prevent squirrels from taking over our gardens and wasting our efforts; so we will learn some tips on how to easily avoid squirrels by planting daffodils.
1 – Choose a variety of choice:
There are different varieties of the daffodil flower from which you can purchase any plant of choice.
Growing a daffodil flower depends on what you want and what you want your garden to look like when they develop so you must make your choice as soon as possible.
Some variety of the daffodil flower from which you can make your choice includes “Ice follies”, “Thalia”, “Pink Wonder”, etc. Make sure you make your choice in accordance with your desire.
2 – Prepare the garden for planting
Just like any planting operation that is carried out in the garden, there is a need for you to prepare the spaces where the daffodil bulbs will be planted and to make sure that it is ready.
All necessary nutrient supplements like compost, fertilizers, etc. must have been added so as to ensure that the plant has the necessary nutrient that will support its growth and development.
3 – Plant the daffodil bulb
The daffodil bulbs should be planted in the soil that has been prepared for them and allowed to grow.
Squirrels will try to dig up the bulbs of the plants but you can be assured that they will not be able to consume it as a result of its bitter taste.
The bulb of the daffodil flower contains a toxin known as the lycorine which gives it the bitter taste and makes it inedible for the plant.
4 – Surround the tulip bulb with daffodil bulbs (optional):
in cases where you still desire the presence of another flower such as the tulip flower in your garden (though it has a sweet bulb), there is a technique you could employ.
You can grow daffodil flowers in a round or circular manner and plant a single tulip bulb at the center so as to ensure that you have a plant of your choice.
The presence of the daffodil flower at all ends or angles will ensure that the squirrel reaches a daffodil bulb which will drive it away before it could have access to the tulip bulb. With this you will achieve two goals which are:
Being able to prevent the squirrel.
The tulip flower that you desire in your garden during spring.
Conclusion
Making sure that you keep your garden plants safe from external factors like rodents such as squirrels is very important. Just make sure that you prevent those unethical squirrels in every possible way that you can!
On behalf of the author, thank you so much for taking the time to read this article !
