While mostly harmless to the home gardener, chipmunks have been known to feed on newly seeded garden beds. They can also be a nuisance in rock gardens, where they burrow into rocks as well as your plants and bother them. The primary tactic for getting rid of chips and dales is to eliminate the place where they might settle, such as hollow logs and piles of rocks.
Prevent chipmunks from digging in the garden by sprinkling dried blood meal on the surface of the soil as its smell repels them. The blood also supplies nitrogen to the soil.
Chipmunks have an appetite for newly planted flower bulbs – especially crocuses, hyacinths and tulips. Plant the bulbs in wire baskets for protection or sprinkle moth crystals over them. You can even plant bulbs deeper than usual and cover them with coarse gravel, since the animals usually give up digging when they get to the stones.
Another good tip is to take plastic forks and stick them upside down to keep squirrels and chipmunks away from wine barrels and flower pots planted with various flower bulbs.
Deer look shy and cute, but they have proliferated in recent years and have become a nuisance in many areas. They’ll eat almost anything—flowers, leaves, fruits, and vegetables—so your garden will provide an inviting menu. While eating your plants, deer will trample the yard and nibble bark off trees, and they may even damage patio furniture — or themselves — while trying to sate their appetites.
Hit the hot sauce. Deer will find another place to eat if you spray your bushes with a very diluted mixture of cayenne pepper and water.
Protect individual shrubs by covering them with ½-inch wire or vinyl netting. Attach the t to the bottom of the panel with twine.
Anchor chicken wire flat around the perimeter of your garden. Deer don’t like walking on it, and it’s not an eyesore like an upright fence.
To leave a smell that deer don’t like, stuff the foot sections of an old pantyhose with human hair collected from hairbrushes or your local barber. Better yet, stuff the pantyhose with Rover’s fur after a good brushing. Tie the ends together and hang the nylon bags where deer like to snack. You won’t be back for seconds. The hair or coat loses its smell after a while, so replace it every four or five days.
