How Do You Protect Ripening Melons From Animals?
Growing your own melons in your home garden is a fun activity with delicious rewards. But squirrels, rodents, birds and other animals will be eager to feast on your melons when they’re young and under ripe. If you want to save all of those melons for yourself, you’ll need to give them extra protection during their developmental stages. Watch over your garden daily to make sure you catch your growing melons at the earliest stage of development. When budding melons are approximately the size of a golf ball or slightly larger, they’re ready to be protected from animals. Place a plastic milk crate upside-down over each small, ripening melon. If necessary, adjust the crate so that the melon inside will still get lots of sunlight through the holes. Push a croquet wicket into the ground with one wicket leg inside of a plastic milk crate and the other leg outside of the crate. This will pin the crate to the ground. Use two wickets per crate, and put the wickets on opposite sides of each crate.
