The Simple Gardening Swap That Can Stop Squirrels From Destroying Potted Plants

It can be fun to watch squirrels dig in the dirt with their fluffy tails in the air. But when they get their paws in your garden soil, it's not so cute anymore. The small holes that squirrels create, typically in search of food or a place to bury food, can be troublesome, especially for your  potted plants. Squirrels can displace enough soil to cause damage, not to mention make a mess. Of all the tricks that people resort to keep squirrels out of garden pots, one is both effective and attractive: adding a layer of rocks on top of the soil.

Many squirrel prevention tactics involve physical barriers of some kind, such as chicken wire, bird netting, or a cage. Squirrels are avid climbers, jumpers, and diggers, so sometimes it takes Fort Knox-level protection to prevent them from finding their way into your containers. But while these solutions might be effective, they're almost as unsightly as squirrel holes, and they can make it harder to enjoy your container garden. By contrast, using rocks as a barrier has aesthetic appeal and leaves the rest of the plants visible and accessible. To use this technique, just add a few inches of river rocks, poultry grit, or fine pea gravel to the top of the soil instead of mulch. You might think squirrels would dig through the rocks as well, but luckily, they much prefer dirt.

Squirrels are hole-digging aficionados. Because they rely on their caches to survive through the winter, the ability to find spots to bury food (and the ability to find buried food later) is hard-wired into their instincts. They can smell exposed dirt and are attracted to it, which means freshly dug soil is especially likely to attract squirrels to your yard — just like the dirt in your newly potted plants. That's why the secret to a squirrel-free garden is to cover up the dirt with rocks: it makes squirrels less likely to gravitate toward your plants in the first place.

Squirrels may occasionally dig in your plants for other reasons, such as to look for grubs or roots to eat. A layer of rocks is also a deterrent in that case, because squirrels enjoy digging through dirt way more than they do rocks or gravel. If they do happen to stop by, they're more likely to give up and try another spot than if the soil was bare. However, this method is not as foolproof as a wire barrier or a cage for squirrels in search of a snack. The same applies to squirrels who are munching on other parts of your potted plants, such as fruits, so you may want to use a combination of pebbles and wire covering until the fruiting season is over.