Operation Rid Foxes Round One Complete

So round one is complete in my campaign to rid my front garden of those nasty critters who keep befouling and stinking up my pathway and hedges. I went to my local DIY store and got some pepper dust, som garden bags and rubble bags and lastly some bark chips, you know the decorative kind that smells really nice.

Firstly I had to clear up all the hedge clippings that had nicely dried up. I had wanted to burn these in my bin burner, but having just moved to a new neighbourhood, I don't really know what they are like about burning stuff so I though better to just bag it up ready to take to the garden waste disposal center, wherever that is.

Next came the earth and stones that I cleared away from the side under the hedges that I had just cut back. This is an important step. You see the whole point of getting rid of repeat pest offenders, be they foxes, cats or dogs is to get rid of anything that they can recognise in the area, and that means anything with their scent on it. I took off about 2 inches of the top soil and the pebbles (decorative garden pebbles) and bagged that all up in rubble bags.

Finally in this my pest control preparation phase, I took a bucket of hot water, filled with bleach and detergent and washed down the path, the walls and the front steps and side of the walls of the front garden, again, what I am trying to do here is get rid of any traces of scent that they may have used to mark the territory. Finally throwing the detergent water in the soil where most of the fouling had taken place for good measure.

Once happy that this stage was complete, I dusted the soil and lower portion of the remaining hedge with the pepper dust and layed the new freshly scented bark chips. Topping off with another liberal dusting of pepper dust.

My only problem is that I have only done half of the front garden, but I am hoping to do the second half over this weekend providing the weather holds.