When the wildlife leaves your garden looking like Animal Planet and the lawn is losing the battle, it’s time to take action to protect plants from the creatures that visit the yard.
Voles, rabbits and squirrels may look cute as they frisk across the landscape, but to keep them away from the plants you love, get a plan to thwart them.
What: The meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus) and prairie vole (M. ochrogaster), are common along the Front Range.
Damage: Though tiny, their impact is large. These small, mouse-like creatures strip bark from roots or lower trunks of trees and shrubs, girdling the trunk, often killing branches or the entire plant. If this weren’t insult enough, voles also tunnel through lawns, leaving lumps and odd trails on the surface, as if a giant earthworm slithered across the grass. In yards where many voles have tunneled, the ground may feel spongy.
Control: Lush landscapes hide voles from predators such as foxes, hawks, or humans with vendettas. Remove grasses or groundcovers that come up to trees and shrubs, leaving the area exposed or mulched. In extreme cases, encircle the plant with stout, 1/4-inch wire netting.
Lawns with vole runways will spring back on their own; fluff the area by raking, then fertilize and water. Overseed bare spots by scratching the soil, sprinkling seed, and irrigating it daily until the seeds sprout.
What: mountain, desert, and Eastern cottontail rabbits call Colorado home.
Damage: Cottontails nestle into lush lawns, creating holes — called scrapes — where they nest. Like beaching themselves on an all-you-can-eat buffet, they nibble nearby grass as they rest, leaving tell-tale droppings and a ring of green grass from their urine. Smart bunnies use the scrape only at night, so people don’t often see them damaging the lawn.
Control: Block the bunnies with a defensive ring of wire, the most effective method for keeping them out of your yard. Surround your property with a 24-inch high chicken wire fence, anchoring it by sinking it 4 to 6 inches into the ground. If caging your yard isn’t an option, spray repellents made from predator urine, chicken eggs or castor oil. Reapply after rain or irrigation, and wear old shoes — these products stink. Avoid spraying repellents on food crops.
What: Fox squirrels (Sciurus niger), acrobatic animals that consider our yards their pantry.
Damage: Unearthed bulbs, stolen produce, shredded tree bark, and dug-up lawns are hallmarks of this wily rodent.
Control: Squirrels are known for their love of bulbs; to protect them, lay chicken wire on the ground under the mulch, so the marauding mammals can’t dig them up. Spice up the yard with peeled, crushed garlic — squirrels avoid garlic or any of the allium clan.
Protect isolated trees with 2-foot wide bands of metal around tree trunks to keep squirrels from climbing, but for animals who leap through the trees with the greatest of ease, branches should be sprayed with repellents.
Read Carol O’Meara on her blog, .
