Hi, I'm Marci Degman, the aspiring gardener. Today, we're going to talk about squirrel problems in gardening. The number one thing that I hear people complain about, is squirrels getting into their bird feeders. And even though squirrels can be cute, they can eat a lot of seed. And in my area, I have some native squirrels, and I don't really mind the squirrels so much and I don't even mind feeding them. But the problem that I have, is that they knock all the seed to the ground. I can fill the feeder and within seconds, it's down. So, what we did was, we came up with a platform like this. So that when they do that, and they will, they come down on the tree branches. And they get the feeder and they knock it down. So, now, it falls onto this platform and then, they eat it still, it doesn't really save me seed. But what it does is, it keeps it from falling to the ground, the birds going down there, and the cats getting the birds. So, that was the big issue I was having. Now, there's other ways that you can keep squirrels from your feeders, but they're not always perfect. You can buy a baffle at a bird store, a round, it's usually made out of Mylar or something. And it fits over the top of your feeder, and they can't get a grip on it. but as you can see here, is as long as you have trees and branches. Squirrels can jump and climb, and they'll get around that. So, unless your feeder is like, out in the center, with nothing else nearby, where they can't jump onto it. Maybe that baffle will help you. So, that's one other way. The other thing that you have, is maybe digging, a lot of squirrels like to dig. Now, that's really something hard to combat. So, what you want to do, is you want to figure out what's drawing them to that area. Maybe it is a bird feeder, maybe there's something else there eating, it's usually food that draws squirrels. So, if you're trying to get them out of an area of your garden. Look to see what's drawing them in and try to eliminate that food item, that they're coming to get. So, there's never one, perfect way, but there's a strategy that you develop within your garden. To try to limit or eliminate the problem with squirrels. This was the best thing that I came up with and at least it's protecting the birds and it's saving the seed. So, you'll have to try different things in your garden. But chances are, you'll always see some squirrels.
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