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I live on the first floor, and have loved having windowboxes of flowers that brighten both the stoop and my apartment. But over the years, the squirrels have torn apart everything I've planted - now they're in the habit, and deterring them has been impossible. This year I tried dried blood, but the stench was incredible. And on top of that, my plants all died. (Not that I have the greenest of thumbs anyway - don't know if it was the dried blood, which is supposed to be great for plants, or just my idiotic luck with greenery.) My windows look so bare and unhappy now - any suggestions for prettifying things? HAAAAAALP!! My aesthetic sense is just all broken up about this.
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dried blood? please tell me where you found that? (crushed red pepper flakes work pretty well)what would you tell me, if i could hear you speaking?--t.r.
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brooklynpotter » dried blood? please tell me where you found that? (crushed red pepper flakes work pretty well)
tell me more Crushed red pepper flakes like from the little bottles work to deter squirrels frm eating plants>.?? If so I will get some tomorrow because I have about 25 pots out on the back porch and the little demons are already beginning to destroy them. -
Ok I do have an idea.. will not work if the window boxes are street level but a little higher towards the sky.. yes... Take a walk between 9th street and 16th street on 5th ave. All those junk stores sell fake flowers.. some even plastic.. plant afew of those and also get the windmills they sell on stakes... One store around 15th street has these birds and bugs on stakes ( dollar each) and sat do some stoop sale and find some interesting colored kid toys like plastic trucks and stuff. decorate the boxes (presume they still might have soil in them by planting fake flowers, interspersed with windmills and birds and bugs and perhaps afew colorful toys mixed in there..as I types that I flashed on the Landmark pub.. send that thought away!! I won't give away my anonymity but my front garden always has a theme.. flamigos, or bugs or something.. and people really don't mess with it.... so every year I come up with something.. One year I decorated some window boxes with broken china plates.. the patterns and colors were amazing together and it formed an abstract sculpture of sorts..stuck in to the soil at various angels and different levels.... and intertwined strand of white christmas lites that were on in the evening.. That was a hit.
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Pintchiks sells dried blood. As far as pepper goes, I usually head to any Carribean tore, or a supermarket that stocks Carribean goods on Flatbush Ave (past Empire) and buy big containers of cayenne pepper powder. I take a tablespoon or two, pput in a sprayer with water, shake and then spray on the dirt and leaves. If that doesn't work I stab 'em with my pitchfork and feed them to the pigeons."Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah!
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Pintchiks sells dried blood. As far as pepper goes, I usually head to any Carribean tore, or a supermarket that stocks Carribean goods on Flatbush Ave (past Empire) and buy big containers of cayenne pepper powder. I take a tablespoon or two, pput in a sprayer with water, shake and then spray on the dirt and leaves. If that doesn't work I stab 'em with my pitchfork and feed them to the pigeons."Clamato! Straight Up! No chasah!
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HA! I've tried the pepper thing - doesn't seem to deter them. They are vicious animals and have chewed through my cable wire as well - TWICE. I love the idea of plate shards in the windowbox. I got the dried blood at Leopoldi's. It's a byproduct from slaughterhouses. My dad used to use it in our garden to keep the rabbits out.
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do they just go after your bulbs, or do they go after everything? if flowers don't work cuz the critters eat them, perhaps you would consider ornamental grasses. granted, you won't have lots of different colors, but you could have a combination of textures. add a few sedum into the mix and at least it'll still be texturally varied and interesting.Get your paws off my canned chicken
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I like the idea of ornamental grasses and in fact there are many colors but this would be an expensive project for window boxes.. I did visit the Nursery on Caton off of Coney Isl. Ave and he has a nice variety but these grasses are perrenials and not appropriate for window boxes.. unless you know something about these grasses I don't. I have plants from bulbs and others and the squirrels are non denominational demons and they love to just dig the earth in the pots up and that destroys the plants.
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veets » I did visit the Nursery on Caton off of Coney Isl. Ave and he has a nice variety but these grasses are perrenials and not appropriate for window boxes.. unless you know something about these grasses I don't.
i doubt it! i'm an amateur gardener at best. but my front yard is full of planters, and i have used ornamental grasses and sedums in the mix and they've taken pretty well, even coming back year after year. once they start regrowing i just dig out the dead stuff and refill with annuals. only thing is that i bet some of my planters hold more soil than window boxes. and you're right, perennials would be more expensive than annuals, but i'm guessing that in the Great Squirrel War of '07 the OP might consider shelling out a little more dough for a little peace of mind.Get your paws off my canned chicken -
Yeah - I don't have the front yard (my landlord isn't a resident, but he loves to plant in the yard), just the bottom windows, so I'm limited to windowboxes. Dough is not the problem (within reason) - it's the dang skwerls - Veets is right...they are nondenominational and just like to DIG.
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