Photo credit: Torsten Reuschling / Foter.com / CC BY-NDPhoto credit: Torsten Reuschling / Foter.com / CC BY-ND
A few weeks ago there was an article in the New York Time’s by Woody Allen. He explained that he is not a hypochondriac. In fact he said, all his sicknesses are real and he is just very concerned and worried - some times leading him to panic.
Lately, we had few days of snow and for a short while I was happy and relaxed. Squirrels were jumping fearlessly between branches; Geese flew calling hello and good-bye to friends. The scenery seemed perfect or rather almost perfect, then the snow started to melt.
Oh no, the squirrels got down from the trees moved closer and closer to my bed of precious bulbs - closer to my tulips, crocuses and hyacinths. My worry had changed to panic.
Photo credit: Harald52 / Foter.com / CC BY-NDPhoto credit: Harald52 / Foter.com / CC BY-ND
What to do???
Luckily there is a solution, a simple one. You can skip the scarecrow – it will just make the squirrels laugh - similar to the roadblocks that the Germans use to slow down the Russian army in World War II. The story goes that the German roadblocks made the Russian army to slow for 61 minutes: one hour to laugh and one minute to move the roadblocks aside.
The solution to protect your bulbs is to put a chicken net or mesh on top of the bed. Just after planting the bulbs cover them with soil, cover the soil with the net and then put on some more soil or mulch to hide the mesh. The flowers will find their way up through the net.
Another option is to cover the bulbs bed with gravel. Squirrels find it very hard to dig in gravel. Finally as the famous saying goes "if you can't beat them - join them'" you can always put a plate of food for the squirrels in your garden. Squirrels are forgetful and they seem to forget where they buried your bulbs from last year ... they’ll appreciate your generous offering.
If you have any gardening questions, please feel free to ask.