How to get Gophers out of your Garden?
Though they might spend most of their time in beds, gardeners are anything but lazy. It can take years of hard work to see the literal fruits of your labor, but if you’re not careful, all that work can be undone in a matter of hours without you even seeing the culprit.
We’re of course talking about gophers, small rodents that burrow tunnels underground in gardens and yards. Whilst they may not look like much on the surface, these little critters can quickly destroy even the most beautiful garden from below. But don’t worry, because there are some simple, cheap, and humane ways of getting rid of them:
Barriers
One of the most common methods is to create a barrier between your garden and the underground. We recommend galvanized gopher mesh, as products like chicken wire will not be strong enough. However, this will only stop the gophers from digging holes - they will still be able to get at the roots! To use the mesh effectively, you might have to dig an entire trench around the whole garden, which can be time-consuming and costly but may save you (and your vegetables or flowers) in the long run.
Gopher baskets
A cheaper option could be to use gopher baskets, which are specially designed to deter the little critters using chicken wire or, better yet, galvanized mesh. These are ideal for protecting more valuable plants or flowers like rose bushes, fruit-bearing trees, or succulents. However, they aren’t the best for covering an entire garden, and like the mesh, the gophers may still be able to get to the roots.
Sound
Creatures like gophers are notably sensitive to noises, and thankfully you won’t need to invest in something deafening like a cannon! Instead, you can buy a battery or solar-powered sound-emitting device specifically for deterring gophers from most garden centers, hardware stores, or simply online. These create vibrations that can be unpleasant to gophers, helping to keep them away from your prized vegetable or flower garden. Alternatively, you could set up a radio or wind chimes.
Smells and Repellents
Another natural method may be to try and deter gophers using a specific scent or repellent, but this requires you being able to get enough of it as deep as possible to get to all the gopher holes and tunnels. There are quite a few different scents you could try, such as cotton balls soaked in peppermint oil, garlic stakes placed directly in the gopher holes, or chili powder sprinkled as deep as you can get. Some people have even reportedly used the smell of fish to deter gophers!
Plants
Despite their appetites, there are some plants that gophers actually don’t like, so you could try planting them in such a way that the gophers avoid your vegetable or flower garden altogether. Some options include lavender, rosemary, or salvias, whilst marigolds would also help repel many unwanted insects as well as gophers.