Re: Animals digging up bulbs
- Subject: Re: Animals digging up bulbs
- From: E*@aol.com
- Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 12:21:13 EDT
In a message dated 10/2/01 8:23:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Blee811@aol.com
writes:
<< The ultimate solution to this problem is to plant daffodils. All parts of
the plant are poisonous and the crystaline structure of the tissues is said
to cut tongues. You may find that an occasional stem is broken off and a
small bite taken out of the bud, but then it is abandoned. You may also
find
the miniature daffodil bulbs that are planted less deeply than standard
bulbs
are sometimes unearthed, even moved around, but definitely not eaten. >>
Yes, Bill, lots of daffodils. This is really a good solution. We have
thousands of daffodils, I still buy some now and then.
When I lived in city houses and planted tulips, I became aware that the bulbs
disappeared where soil was disturbed. Here in the country, if you dig up a
bed or scratch around in the veg frames, robins follow you. The animals check
disturbed soil for whatever they eat.
So...........if you put in a dozen tulips somewhere in the garden, put a
board, a few bricks, a cardboard box with some stone, anything to disguise
the area. If you live in the north, the ground will freeze and you can take
away the debris and the bulbs will not be touched - the first year. If you
have especially smart squirrels, they will dig up the bulb in the spring when
the shoot appears but usually not.
Now that I have a large country garden, I do not plant tulips. I plant some
crocus knowing they are an easy target. I lose most bulbs over time to
rodents. Once in a while I replant a bunch of them but they are not forever.
Camassia seems to survive.
One year, my husband made some hardware cloth cages for lilies. They have
worked their way up out of the ground overtime and are a nuisance. You may
have some luck planting your bulbs mixed with stones about the same size or
larger than the bulb and backfilling with grit. That seems to keep the
lilies for a while but is not foolproof.
Claire Peplowski
NYS z4
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