Foxes can be a nuisance in gardens during spring, but gardening experts say a certain food scrap can help keep them away naturally
Foxes can be a nuisance in gardens during spring, but gardening experts say a certain food scrap can help keep them away naturally(Image: guyonbike via Getty Images)
Foxes venturing into your garden can prove troublesome, particularly as spring approaches when their activity ramps up in search of sustenance. Fortunately, a gardening specialist has revealed that a simple kitchen leftover could provide the solution to your fox troubles.
During springtime, young foxes become especially active whilst hunting for food. This means keeping watch for any foxes that might be digging up and devouring your plant bulbs becomes essential.
The secret weapon to deter foxes from ruining your garden? Used coffee grounds. So don’t throw them in the bin just yet and put them to good use in the garden.
Sprinkle a thin layer of coffee grounds near the entrances to the garden that foxes use(Image: Getty)
How to keep foxes away from gardens
Coffee grounds serve as an excellent natural deterrent against foxes and other rodents, as reports the Express. Garden and greenhouse specialist Lucie Bradley from Easy Garden Irrigation explained to Ideal Home: “When using coffee grounds, the strong, acidic smell can overwhelm their sensitive noses and make them feel in danger, so they won’t want to be in areas where the bitter smell is.
“In addition, the strong scent of the coffee will mask the scents they would otherwise find to tell them food is in reach.”
Coffee grounds prove remarkably effective because foxes find their pungent aroma intolerable. This sensitivity stems from their highly developed sense of smell.
Distribute the coffee grounds around garden areas where foxes typically enter. Since they’re often attracted to waste bins, the specialist advised scattering a light layer of grounds in those locations as well.
The gardening gurus at Atlas Sheds recommend combining citrus peels with coffee grounds to create an overpowering scent. Additional ingredients worth trying include garlic and chilli.
Atlas Sheds explained: “For this, you can make a homemade repellent by boiling garlic cloves and chopped chilli peppers in water, then straining it and placing it into a spray bottle. Apply this to areas of your garden where you have spotted a fox or two.”
Steer clear of instant coffee, as it’ll wash away quickly when it rains, and don’t use coffee pods either, as they contain plastic which won’t decompose properly in the soil. Reapply the coffee grounds every couple of days, or following rainfall or particularly frosty weather.
Coffee grounds can also boost your garden plants by serving as a natural fertiliser. They can be mixed into plant feed, mulch or scattered directly onto the earth.
Coffee grounds are packed with nitrogen, alongside potassium and phosphorus. Oxford Garden Design noted that acid-loving plants benefit most from coffee grounds. These include azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, hydrangeas (blue varieties) and Pieris (Japanese Andromeda).
That said, it’s important to know which plants and vegetables aren’t fans of coffee grounds. Keep them away from tomatoes, lavender, rosemary, succulents and cacti, as well as clovers and legumes.
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