Gardeners are encouraged to place garlic in their gardens this winter to help safeguard against a prevalent pest. Although January can be chilly and rainy, gardens continue to attract, and sometimes suffer from the presence of rats.
In the battle against rodent invaders, timing is everything. While waiting for professional pest control to come to the rescue, you can’t sit idly by. That’s where DIY rodent repellents swoop in to save the day. Garlic has qualities that go beyond flavouring your favourite dishes. Its strong, pungent scent can also be “a natural and effective way to repel rats”, according to the experts at Proof Pest Control.
Using garlic as a rat deterrent is easy. Simply crush fresh cloves and place them in areas where you’ve seen rat activity in the garden.
For longer-lasting protection, put crushed cloves in a mesh bag and hang them in problem areas.
Another option is making a garlic spray by mixing garlic oil with water. Spraying it near potential nesting spots creates a barrier that rats will want to avoid.
Since rats rely heavily on their sense of smell to find food and detect danger, strong odours like garlic make it harder for them to navigate, encouraging them to leave.
As well as rats, garlic also helps to deter slugs from the garden. Slugs find it overwhelmingly pungent, and the smell seriously affects them.
Garlic contains allicin, a compound that is released when the bulb is crushed. Strangely, the slugs are initially attracted to the odour. However, after a while, the smell irritates their mucous membranes, effectively repelling them.
Use the vegetable to make a garlic water recipe, which is simplicity itself and can be adjusted to your desired potency.
Spray or water with your garlic repellent weekly throughout the year, and basically for as long as you have plants that are growing that you care about and don’t want to lose to slugs.
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