You only need two items to prevent foxes from digging up your garden (stock image) (Image: Getty)
In many cases foxes can go unnoticed, causing no damage to outdoor spaces. Signs a fox has been in your garden include trampled plants, eating leftover foods, and sometimes chewing through hosepipes and polythene tunnels.
While foxes may appear cute, when they’re digging up the garden, raiding bins, leaving smelly feaces, or threatening your pets, they can quickly become a menace to have to deal with. Foxes are drawn to outdoor spaces that offer access to food and shelter, making residential gardens an ideal place for these animals to raise their babies.
While they should never be harmed in the process, there are some ways to successfully deter them away from your garden, and it may even be easier than you think.
One garden expert has now shared her top tips on how she used just two items to help save her plants and prevent foxes from digging up her garden beds.
“How to repel foxes from your garden,” the woman’s YouTube video read at the start, before she went on to share her simple tips.
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“Foxes cause a lot of destruction to gardens in the UK,” she said as she showed her garden beds, which had seemingly been dug up and ruined by the creatures. “They dig soil, damage plants, and leave faeces everywhere.”
While it is illegal to use harmful poisons and materials to deter foxes from your garden, the garden enthusiast went on to share how using just two items has helped save her garden beds and plants from being dug up by the foxes.
She went on to share how she’d used toothpicks and placed several inside her pots and around her plants, as the sharp edge of the toothpicks will help keep foxes at bay. She also explained that she’d then covered her plants and pots with wire as an extra precaution.
“Thanks to this simple trick, I managed to get rid of the foxes in my garden,” she explained at the end of her video.
RSPCA’s tips to deter foxes from your garden
Animal welfare charity RSPCA has warned anyone who has foxes in their garden that they need to make sure they are following the law if they try to deter them, or you could face serious consequences. This could include using dangerous repellants or other substances to repel them.
The animal charity then went on to share some other approved ways to deter foxes from your garden that would cause them any harm.
If you have animal feeders in your garden, they recommend changing your birdfeeder to one that won’t spill the food to the ground for foxes to eat, and to place other feeding stations for wild animals, like hedgehogs, in places where foxes won’t get to it.
If you have fruit trees or vegetable crops, you can protect these by using fences or solid weld-mesh, with holes at least 4cm wide. And make sure to promptly clean up any fallen fruit. Also, avoid using garden fertilisers that contain meat, fish, blood or bone products, as this might be encouraging foxes to dig in the garden looking for buried food.
They also recommend using securely sealed dustbins and composters, and to never leave bags of rubbish out, as this will help prevent foxes to break through in search for food.
Finally, make sure you don’t have any areas in your garden where foxes may like to hide, such as areas of tall grass or overgrown plants, and block up areas under sheds or decking.
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