I've always chicken wired or netted pots with bulbs - mainly the little ones like reticulata Iris or crocus as they're nearer the surface, which squirrels like. The netting helps to give the thinner stems a bit of support too.
Unfortunately, the little b***ers have found the small alliums in the bigger open beds..
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I will be buying my chicken wire this weekend, so as an amateur at this kind of thing, is there a particular size of chicken wire that i will need?.
When i say size i mean the size of the holes in the wire as i want them small enough so that the squirrels can't get through but my butterfly mat seeds and bee mat seeds will be able to push through.
Any help yet again would be very gratefully received.
Plants will push up through just about any size netting, the squirrels will get through the most amazingly small sized holes if they want to - and they always do want to . Buy the smallest size you can, it does help. I also protect my bulb pots with holly and pyracantha hedge cuttings tucked around them and folded over the bulbs - squirrels don't like the prickles any more than we do. You can take the twigs off when the bulbs shoots reach a decent size - they seem not to bother then.
After around 20 years of buying just about every so called 'squirrel proof' bird feeders, all of which were solved by the squirrels in a matter of hours, I have bought one that actually works. It is called 'squirrel buster', it does, to my amazement seem to be keeping them out and the birds in - oh joy. I have tried it all, whatever you want to mix with the feed - chilli, pepper, soap, garlic - all happily eaten by the rats that squirrels are, but maybe the end of that has come. We'll see when the Spring brings baby ones and the need gets greater, that will be the true test, but so far, so good.
I use chicken wire and it seems to have solved the problem. I just get peanut plants growing in the garden where the squirrels have left their peanuts and not dug them back up, had loads last year.
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I've always chicken wired or netted pots with bulbs - mainly the little ones like reticulata Iris or crocus as they're nearer the surface, which squirrels like. The netting helps to give the thinner stems a bit of support too.
Unfortunately, the little b***ers have found the small alliums in the bigger open beds..
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
When i say size i mean the size of the holes in the wire as i want them small enough so that the squirrels can't get through but my butterfly mat seeds and bee mat seeds will be able to push through.
Any help yet again would be very gratefully received.
I've just been out to measure mine - the holes are sort of oval with the shortest diameter about 13mm. Some places call it Rabbit netting.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Plants will push up through just about any size netting, the squirrels will get through the most amazingly small sized holes if they want to - and they always do want to . Buy the smallest size you can, it does help. I also protect my bulb pots with holly and pyracantha hedge cuttings tucked around them and folded over the bulbs - squirrels don't like the prickles any more than we do. You can take the twigs off when the bulbs shoots reach a decent size - they seem not to bother then.
After around 20 years of buying just about every so called 'squirrel proof' bird feeders, all of which were solved by the squirrels in a matter of hours, I have bought one that actually works. It is called 'squirrel buster', it does, to my amazement seem to be keeping them out and the birds in - oh joy. I have tried it all, whatever you want to mix with the feed - chilli, pepper, soap, garlic - all happily eaten by the rats that squirrels are, but maybe the end of that has come. We'll see when the Spring brings baby ones and the need gets greater, that will be the true test, but so far, so good.
I use chicken wire and it seems to have solved the problem. I just get peanut plants growing in the garden where the squirrels have left their peanuts and not dug them back up, had loads last year.