It’s autumn — time to plant squirrel food

IN THE GARDEN

Like me, you’ve probably been receiving emails or catalogues full of images of beautiful spring-flowering bulbs.

It is the time for planting but if you’re troubled by squirrels, it’s also the time to wonder if it’s worth planting tulips.

How do squirrels know where they’re planted? No doubt it’s because they’re on high alert at this time of year, sitting in a tree, watching you, making notes of where you plant your bulbs. I suspect even before then they’re watching for the mail carrier and can tell when a box of bulbs has been delivered.

They’ll also go after crocus, but fortunately they won’t bother most other spring bulbs like daffodils, snowdrops, and hyacinths. Tulips to squirrels, I’m afraid, are like catnip to cats. If they’re digging up your tulips — the squirrels, not the cats (that’s a different digging problem I won’t address here) — there are ways to discourage or prevent it from happening.

First option is don’t plant tulips or crocus, unless the crocuses are Tommie crocuses (Crocus tommasinianus). These are the smaller, early flowering species crocuses that are less appealing to squirrels.

But you love your tulips and can’t be without them, despite having fed them annually to the furry marauders. You could simply bury the bulbs deeper, as much as 30 centimetres (12 inches). Unlike rabbits, squirrels are not that good at digging and are inclined to give up long before they reach that depth. The tulips will grow just fine, even better when planted that deep.

Second option is to repel them with smell, because squirrels won’t dig up stinky bulbs. So make them stinky. Planting daffodils, alliums, fritillaria or even garlic along with the tulips is a deterrent. Spraying the bulbs with a commercial animal repellent before planting can also be effective. A more benign way would be to sprinkle blood meal or chicken manure around to mask the smell of the bulbs. A little used kitty litter might do the trick, although I’ve never tried it. Now if you could train your cat to “go” where it’s needed ....

The most effective approach is to create a physical barrier and the best would be chicken wire. After planting, lay the chicken wire on the surface or even bury it an inch or two. The squirrels can’t dig through it and the tulips will easily grow up through the holes. You can leave the chicken wire in place or remove it in spring when you see the first shoots.

A piece of plywood or old carpet laid on the soil surface will provide the same protection, providing you remember to remove it before the bulbs sprout in spring, except you might have neighbours complaining about the appearance of the front yard. It does appear, however, that the pesky critters don’t seem to go for the bulbs once they’ve gone through a first winter and become established. It’s the freshly planted ones they go after.

I’m not sure if tulips are a particular delicacy for squirrels. If not, they’d surely prefer eating anything that doesn’t require them to dig in the soil. I can’t say I’ve seen evidence of them digging up my tulips, and that may be because nearby there are black walnut trees that always produce huge crops, plenty of which show up in my garden, and sprout.

Here is one possible solution — feed the squirrels. Yes, a regular supply of peanuts might keep them well fed and away from the bulbs until the ground has frozen or, then again, it might attract more.

Speaking of frozen ground, if you can time your tulip planting until the very last moment before the ground freezes, they should be safe; otherwise I’m out of ideas, so good luck.