5 tips for a tick-free garden

No words are enough to emphasize how important it is to protect ourselves from ticks. Severe tickborne diseases can put a huge health risk on our life, our family members and our beloved pets, as well. Prevention is essential: we can choose from a wide range of tick repellents, pills and natural remedies adjusted to our environment and our own needs. It is extremely important to do a thorough examination on our bodies and our dogs after walks, particularly a long walk or a hike in the woods or meadows, in order to get rid of all the possible intruders.

Unfortunately, our dogs can encounter ticks even without leaving home: our gardens can easily become wonderful hiding places for these tiny parazites, especially, if we let the plantation boom. Is there anything we can do to avoid this? Paying a little attention to our environment can be rewarding – read our tips to learn what to do:

1. Don’t let fallen leaves pile up

Always collect fallen leaves in your garden. Ticks just love hiding among the leaves, it’s an excellent safe haven for them to survive the cold winter months. Put the leaves in bags, close them and get them transported away with the green waste. If we fill up our compost with these leaves, our little enemies can safely continue their lives there and then slowly conquer the garden.

2. Get rid of the junk

Ticks prefer to avoid wide open spaces, instead, they'd rather choose places that are packed with rubbish. To clear your garden from possible tick-hiding places, get rid of all the junk you may store in the backyard, that you haven’t used for ages. Less junk means less ticks and it will be refreshening for us to look around in our re-designed, clean garden.

3. Mow your lawn regularly

This is another anti-tick step, which will help you kill two birds (or ticks) with one stone. Keeping the grass short won't provide with suitable hiding-places for the tiny intruders, opposite to neglected, long lawns. The warm rays of sun will find their way easier to the ground while keeping it dry. Ticks will soon decide to leave your garden, as they prefer moisty, humid environments. Lawn-mowing, no matter how annoying sometimes it can be, is an excellent cardio-activity with a pleasant result - just remember how tidy and pretty your garden appears s after it.  

 4. Keep the small animals away

Cats, rodents and small mammals, like hedgehogs, are just some of the main hosts of ticks and they can easily bring them into our garden. We can hinder their unexpected visits by letting our dog outside in our yard. However, these animals can still enter our garden while your furbaby is sleeping peacefully beside (or in) your bed. Check the fence for smaller holes, and repair it if necessary. This way you can take another step to keep the ticks out of your home and your life.

5. Obstacles for ticks

Building obstacles for ticks can be useful, in particular, if you live near the woods or a meadow. Cover the ground with pebbles or gravel in half-a-meter wide zone around the fence to cut it off from the vegetation. This surface warms up in short time during sunny days, which makes it impossible for ticks to get into your garden.