Home owners and gardeners have always been vary of animals invading their homes and destroying their plants and crops. Though people are fond of animals like dogs, cats, deer, rabbits and birds but the damage they cause make people look out for effective animal repellent to save their gardens. Various options of repellent are available like fencing, traps or chemical repellent. As chemical repellents ultimately reach the soil and water and cause harm to human beings, some people are vary of using these on large scale. Poisons though undesirable are used too but these tend to target only specific animals.
An eco friendly repellent is the solution to save the garden without harming the environment. Installing a scarecrow is one such solution. Apart from the traditional ones made by using recycled material, a modern one, in the form of sprinklers is very popular.
The traditional way of making scarecrows is buy using old clothes, stuffing’s, pillowcase etc. Start by tying the ends of pants and shirt sleeves and stuffing these with straw or rags. Old boots and gloves also need to be stuffed, and then attach these to the pant and shirt with either safety pins or by stitching them together. Join the pant and shirt together the same way. The head can then be created with a stuffed pillowcase. A scary face can be drawn using a paint or marker pens. Join it securely to the body and fix a hat to give it a real look. Few of these can be fixed in the garden to scare away birds and animals. Making them can also be a fun activity for the whole family in recycling old and unused items.
Sprinkler is a more effective repellent as it surprises the animal or bird and covers a large area. The unit is not visible and uses a simple mechanism which makes it maintenance free and reliable. All that is required is for the sprinkler to be connected to a garden hose and position it in the area to be covered by it. The tap can be kept open but it sprinkles water only when activated. The motion detector in it works the sprinkler when it detects an animal or bird in that area. As it operates only for a few seconds there is no wastage of water and it is spread over a large area. Another advantage it offers is that it can work both during day and at night which ensures that nocturnal animals are also kept away from the garden.