Thank you so much to Debbie for sharing this recipe from a friend.
PROTECTING YOUR GARDEN
This is a Great recipe for protecting your garden. And believe me it works. A kind gardener
gave me this recipe when I first started gardening. This was her post to me:
“Debbie, my sister swears by the following recipe to keep away squirrels, moles, mice, racoons, possums, etc. from her garden. She has used it for years.
I bet it works for geese and snakes too. The dogs go around my garden now. It doesn’t hurt the animals, but it does keep them out. It’s like an electric fence . They go up to it and turn around
Into an old milk jug add:
2 cups water
3/4 Tbsp ground cayenne pepper
1/3 Small bottle of hot tabasco sauce
1 Tbsp Caster Oil
Squirt of liquid dishwashing detergent (Dawn or any other)
Shake everything well
Pour on plants or the ground where bulbs are planted. It doesn't harm plants or environment. You can mix bottles ahead of time and store as long as you wish.
Also, do not try putting it in a sprayer. The castor oil and soap makes it too thick to come out of a sprayer.
Probably the best way to use it is to just pour it out of the bottle or jug, or if you have an old watering can that you can drill the holes bigger in it, that would be ideal.
For birdseeds, another trick that I use (my DS gave it to me) is to put cayenne pepper and tabasco sauce in a big plastic baggie. Shake well. Then throw in bird seeds and shake. Doesn't hurt birds and they don't even notice the hotness, yet keeps away mice, raccoons, etc. I especially like this because it doesn't draw rats/mice when cracked seeds fall to the ground.