Gardeners urged to sprinkle 79p kitchen staple over plant bulbs to stop squirrels digging them up this spring

NOW is the time to start your flowerbeds for a flourishing summer garden.

Two kitchen items can help to protect your plant bulbs from sneaky squirrels as you wait for them to grow.

Squirrels are notorious for digging up bulbs and having a nibble on your hard work.

Once bulbs begin growing in spring, they become more pungent, drawing these rodents in.

And while you can opt for a physical barrier to protect your plants, another solution can already be found in your kitchen.

A team at Hever Castle in Kent carried out various trials to determine the most effective solution for repelling squirrels, reports the Daily Express.

They discovered that, when combined, two household ingredients were the holy grail fix.

The experts recommended using black pepper, available for 79p from Sainsbury’s to deter squirrels.

Black pepper proves to be an effective deterrent as it contains contains capsaicin, a compound that is unpleasant to a lot of mammals.

This creates a strong, spicy scent and taste which squirrels are not fond of.

To elevate the hack even further, you can mix the pepper with garlic powder, which you can purchase for 87p from Sainsbury’s.

Garlic powder has a strong pungent odour which squirrels find unpleasant.

They advised green-fingered enthusiasts to mix the two powders and sprinkle them in and around their flowerbeds.

The strong smell of the ingredients help to mask the scent of blooming bulbs, forcing squirrels elsewhere.

“With our huge displays, you can’t put wire over them so it really about the scent,” explained Neil Miller, head gardener at Hever Castle.

“If you can disguise the smell of the tulip, that’s the thing that will hopefully get the squirrels looking elsewhere.”

Neil revealed that other methods also proved effective for deterring squirrels.

Tips for keeping pests from your garden

• Plant companion plants such as peppermint to repel rats.
• Place Garden Netting Pest Barrier, over your flowerbeds.
• Fill open-top containers with beer and place in soil to repel slugs.
• Spray plants with Neem Oil, to repel ants, flies, and spiders.
• Dust your flowerbeds with Diatomaceous Earth.
• Mix 1 tablespoon dish soap, 10 drops peppermint oil, and 4 cups water and spray on flowerbeds.
• Place eggshells around your plants to protect from slugs and snails.

These included peppermint oil, grated soap, and grated moth balls.

“The tulips are all looking good in the trial beds, which is great news because it means there’s a variety of methods that gardeners can employ to keep squirrels from stealing their tulip bulbs,” he said.

“But perhaps the best trial bed holds the rather gorgeous egg-shaped Tulipa ‘Blushing Apeldoorn’ and we treated those bulbs to garlic powder and black pepper mix when we planted them.”

He revealed that analysts sprinkled the garlic powder and black pepper on top of the bulbs as they planted them.

They then added another layer of the mix after they placed compost on top of the bulbs.

And if you’d prefer a physical barrier to keep away squirrels, one gardener has demonstrated exactly how to make one.

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