Having your own garden can be a real joy. It is so much fun to grow your own fruits and vegetables, and there is nothing like eating food that is as fresh as it can get. You go out and pick out some carrots, cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes, cut it up, and have the freshest salad imaginable. It tastes so much better when you are the one who did the work to make that salad happen.
Having your own garden makes for a tasty way to have great vegetables for your meals, and fruits to snack on or have for desserts. They are a real joy, and give you some instantaneous enjoyment from your labor.
However, you are not the only one who finds great pleasure in your homegrown foods. Many insects and animals would like to partake of the food in your garden as well. The insects you can keep away with repellants and many of the animals you can take some simple measures to keep out, but a skunk is an entirely different story. Because of their small size and sharp front claws, they are able to dig their way into your garden to steal your food. If you are trying to stop this from happening, here are some tips for you.
Many people put up a fence, and this will work against a large number of animals, but those sharp claws make a skunk a lot different challenge. You need to make sure that the fence that you build is buried at least one foot below the surface. This will ensure that if they start digging they are still not going to get in. When you fill in the hole where you put the fence, make sure that you add rocks in with the dirt and that they are kind of sharp. That way it will hurt to dig and they will go away.
Once you have installed the fence, it is a good idea to look for repellants to put in with the dirt and around the fence. There are many great commercial brands you can get. Be aware that you will need to replenish the amount you have laid, as rain will cause it to erode.
You can also look at such things as predator urine. Adding some coyote or bear urine around your fence line will add some protection. Know that this is a very strong odor, so you may not want to make this a permanent solution.
If you can, run a motion light out near the garden. Skunks do not like to be out in the day as much because of their poor eyesight, so you are likely to scare them off if a big light pops on when they come out near the garden.
Read more:
Skunk Control,
how to kill skunks.
