Rabbits, Squirrels and Birds Oh My… Gardening Solutions

Every year my husband and I enjoy planting our own organic vegetable garden. We enjoy working in it together and teaching our children about how things grow and taking pride in growing our own food. Each year brings challenges like weeds, animals, bugs, etc. Last year we struggled with a rather large raccoon and many squirrels. This year we have a cute bunny who my children have named and love to watch hop around the yard. He has eaten several cucumber plants and bean plants.

Cucumber plants before the bunny got to them:

Cucumber plants after the bunny got to them:

Bean plants before the bunny got to them:

Bean plants after the bunny got to them:

I quickly began to dislike the bunny since I’ve put many hours of hard work into my garden. We also have seen birds and squirrels bothering our plants this year. Desperate to save our hard work and yummy veggies I have been researching ways to humanely keep the animals away.
First my husband used some old railroad ties and beams along our fence where the bunny was going under to get into the yard. That seems to have ended the bunny’s access totally. I also had someone suggest I use blood meal around my plants which is a natural (nothing harmful or chemical) animal preventative because they smell the blood and want to run away. I don’t blame them, it smells gross. It has helped also.
Then I remember something my parents used in their garden to prevent birds/animals while I was growing up. I’ve been gardening since I was very small and should have thought of this sooner. My mom would nail cheap tin pie pans loosely to stakes around the garden and they would blow around on the stakes and rattle and reflect the sun. This would scare away birds and other small animals. So my girls and I went to the store and got 2 sets of 3 pie tins for $1.25 each set. I had old stakes and I decided to add something to it to make them louder and more of a fun project for the girls.

Supplies:
– cheap aluminum pie tins
– wooden stakes (mine were old and varying heights)
– long screws
– screw driver
– nail
– hammer
– hole punch
– string
– large plastic beads

1. Separate pie tins and hole punch 5-6 holes along the one side of the tin.

2. Cut string into 6″ lengths and tie one end through the hole and put 4-5 beads through the other end and tie it off with a knot.

3. Repeat until all holes have string with beads hanging from it to maximize noise when it blows in the wind.

4. Next place the tin with the beaded string side up on the stake with the center towards the top of the stake. I used a nail and hammer to mark and begin a hole in the wood for the screws. I then removed the nail and screwed the screw on not all the way but loose enough the tin rattles around on the stake. I repeated this process at the bottom of the tin to keep it from spinning around and the beads not being effective.

5. After making four of these noise making stakes I put one on each corner of my garden.

My girls and I had fun making them and they are cute, but most importantly we have not seen any critters in the garden or evidence of ruined plants! Sometimes simple old ways are best and no bunnies were harmed in the saving of my garden 🙂

Thanks for stopping by!
Johanna