Landscape Ideas: Pest
Landscape Ideas: Armadillos
I couldn’t wait to see my first Armadillo–alive that is. And then I saw the little funny looking guy. Luckily he only romped in my annuals a few times. My territorial dogs made sure he knew he was no longer welcomed. One of my clients called in complaining about another such destructive little armored guy and luckily my assistant grew up on a ranch and knew just how to solve the problem—moth balls!
There’s something about the smell that is either too unrecognizable or foul tasting for them–they just do not like it. So I am happy to report that since then my client has not had any problems with Armadillos.
Landscape ideas: Ants
These guys will be here long after we’re all gone. Cinnamon and baby powder will keep these little nuisances away. I do not know exactly why I just know that it has worked for us. Of course rain and sprinklers will wash away the small granules so re-application will be constant. There’s a ton of different remedies for getting rid of fire ants. Don’t tell anyone but I have been know to lose my cool and take a propane torch to a fire ant hill-I have to protect my dogs. If you bend down and listen close you can almost here them scream–just kidding. Howard Garrett has some great home remedies on his site.
Landscape Ideas: Flies
These don’t bother me as much outside. Inside they drive me nuts and the thought of putting up that horrid spiral sticky fly paper is just gross. But apparently if you hang water filled clear plastic bags it will confuse and scare flies. Some people put pennies in them and some don’t. The word is that it works very well.
Landscape Ideas: Birds
Now obviously I don’t hate birds–well there was that one Cardinal the kept ramming into our window at 6 in the morning. Here are a few remedies
Used CD’s: The reflective surface freaks birds out a bit.
Maple syrup of Honey: Apparently my little flying friends don’t like to get their feet wet and sticky.
Christmas Balls: Preferably red-looks cool on your tomato plants. The idea is that the birds will peck the ornaments and not the tomatoes or other fruit.
Landscape Ideas: Slugs and Snails
No I am not going to tell you to salt the little slime balls, however I will tell you how to set up road blocks to your plants. 2 words–sharp edges. Most commonly used material is crushed egg shells and pecan mulch. These soft bodied little critters will not crawl across sharp edges because they will cut themselves. Using the egg shells is a good way to recycle a commonly used product and using pecan hulls supports Pecan growers here in Texas.