Gardeners are being urged to put aluminum foil in their yard right now, and you might be surprised why

Spring is here, and the perfect opportunity to start planting outdoors or simply appreciate the brighter days. Be it sowing seeds, flower bulbs, or planting March vegetables, you’ll want to ensure you have healthy growth and tasty results.

So it can be disheartening when you see your hard efforts ruined by pigeons or other pests digging up your soil. Additionally, pigeons pose a double threat — their foraging not only harms healthy plants, but their highly acidic and corrosive droppings can damage any metal or painted surfaces and even attract rats.

Luckily, I’ve just found a surprising hack to deter pigeons and fellow pests from your garden and safeguard your plants without resorting to chemical sprays. What’s more, all you need is a common item in your kitchen, typically used for cooking. So what is this rather unusual deterrent?

Use aluminum foil to scare away pests

According to gardening experts, aluminum foil is a great, cost-effective hack for scaring away pigeons and other pests, such as rats. This is thanks to its bright reflective surface, which can act as a deterrent.

Since pigeons are particularly sensitive to such surfaces, the glint of aluminum foil in the sunlight should be enough to make them fly away.

“When the light hits the foil, it reflects and scares the pigeons away,” explains Adeel ul-haq, gardening expert, to The Express. “The foil movement creates the illusion of a predator, making pigeons think twice before settling in your space.”

He suggests that a simple way to do this is to hang scrunched-up balls of aluminum foil on a string and place them around your yard or near precious plants. With any luck, this should prevent pigeons from digging up the soil and keep them at bay.

“The best way to keep pigeons out of your garden is to make it as unwelcoming as possible without harming them, and a cheap way of doing so is using a roll of foil from the supermarket,” adds Adeel.

Lay strips of foil under the soil

Another alternative is to lay strips of aluminum foil under the soil. Experts state that birds don’t like the feel of foil under their beaks and will stay away.

In addition, rodents such as mice, also dislike the texture of tin foil, making it a possible temporary deterrent. “Mice don't like the crinkly sound, and if they happen to chew on it, they really don't like the sharp texture,” states Jeff Schumacher, owner of All-Safe Pest & Termite. “The metallic odor, mostly undetectable by humans, is also a deterrent to mice.”

So the next time you spot a few birds pecking at your plants or ruining your hard efforts, it might be worth delving into the kitchen cabinet for the trusted foil to see if it does the trick.

Of course, if all else fails and attempts at controlling pigeons (or other pests) don't work, consider calling in a professional pest control company.

For more top hacks, check out these other surprising uses for aluminum foil.

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