’Tis the season to start planning and planting your backyard garden, and part of the prep is to prevent the appearance of public enemy No. 1—and doing it in a sustainable, eco-conscious way. Rodents can pop up anywhere they have access to newly planted seeds, low-lying veggies and greens, composting heaps and just about everything in a garden—you name it, they want it, and they don’t care how much damage they’ll cause.
An Australian man, however, is changing that after a mouse ingested poison from a conventional garden rodenticide and died in his home, causing $6,000 worth of damage. The homeowner, Sean Borg, vowed that would never happen at his house again and helped create an all-natural deterrent.
A research specialist in the organic herbal foods, minerals and disinfectant field, Borg developed Mice Away using a form of peppermint that had been growing in his garden—and went untouched by rodents. Just like we are repelled by strong odors (think about your reaction to a skunk’s spray), mice, rats and similar vermin simply stay away when their olfactory senses detect the herb. Each indoor-outdoor Mice Away unit disperses the minty scent and covers around 3,000 square feet. Goodbye, dead critters; hello, home-grown garden veggies.
The best part? The repellent, priced at $14.99 per unit, is nontoxic to humans and household pets—and the scent is rather pleasing to our noses. Product engineers say it may also ward off certain insects that frustrate Garden State homeowners such as moths and stink bugs. Now if it could only keep deer off our lawns!