Wednesday, June 27, 2007

If I Feed Them, They Will Come

I've decided to embrace my squirrels. It may seem an odd choice, especially since they have caused irreparable damage to some of my plants and picked my serviceberry clean. But as the saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

On the advice of Karen at 1-2-3 Go Garden, I have started feeding them. In a recent blogger exchange, Karen left me a note saying that she has a big feeder in her garden and the squirrels tend to leave her plants alone. That sounded like an easy solution to me. So I picked up a Squirrel Snacker.

And voila! Here's the scene that greeted me when I got home tonight. A squirrel digging in to a mix of seed and corn. So the "snacker" is working. Whether it will distract the squirrels from the plants remains to be seen. But so far, so good. One thing is for sure though. These squirrels have a huge appetite. If this is going to work, I think I'm going to need a bigger feeder.

6 comments:

Connie said...

Here's hoping your plan works!! At any rate it should be fun watching the squirrels...though they can be a nuisance they ARE cute!

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

I have never seen a squirrel that black. Nice pics and I hope they leave your plants alone.

O.I.M said...

hello connie & iowa. dare i say it ? i think there's been less dirt dug out of my containers in the last few days. could the feeder be working? I hope so. but the corn and seeds are fast disappearing. I already need a refill.
Irena

Jeremy said...

I love watching their acrobatics while attempting to pull the peanuts out of our bird feeder. The kids do a pretty good job of chasing away the rest of them!

O.I.M said...

Hi Jeremy. I enjoy the squirrel acrobatics too. But sometimes I just want to scream. I'm not ruling out shooing them away with my broom.
Irena

Philosophical Karen said...

Hi, I am late coming back and finding this entry, but I just want to say that (as you are noticing) it's sort of a continuing pact, as well. I really notice it in my garden if hubby lets the feeder sit empty for any length of time. Certain parts of my garden get trashed in protest.