Squirrels. Ugh

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

Well, well over 30 seeds, some just starting to break soil, all gone . Butternut, bitternut and Shagbark. I had stratified them over the winter in my fridge (Mrs Sprig loved finding bags of dirt in the crisper) and planted them all in early April in my seedling bay and had recently brought them outside since we're packing for moving and I had to dismantle my growing room

They knocked over lots of pots and dug through and tossed dirt from what they didn't knock over. Our whole porch was a disaster. They even ripped a Kentucky Coffee Tree out of a pot and just threw it on the ground.

I was so mad. Mad doesn't even describe it, really. In one way I'm happy to be moving to the country because at least there I can shoot them with an air rifle.

So mad. Damn squirrels.

 

[journey11]

I'm sorry, that is so disappointing for how much effort you put into it. Squirrel stew!

 

[Collector]

@SprigOfTheLivingDead , oh man that sucks. We have tree squirrels around here, so far they have left the garden alone. Living in the country has its perks, you can go Postal on the pests.

 

[flowerbug]

really good fence with zapper at top. will help with raccoons too. finer mesh for chipmunks and baby bunnies. higher fence for deer. enclosed fence for birds. you'll waste too much time hunting varmints in the country if you try to keep them all away from the gardens and it's much more fun if you don't have to see every wild creature as a potential pest.

one way to also discourage some pests is to keep water sources outside the fenced and garden areas so they don't find your garden as attractive. we don't feed birds/animals in general because what i want them to do is eat the bugs and they do. some losses in strawberries but most of the rest of the plants are not usually touched. we don't grow corn.

the bird baths are away from the gardens.

we also don't use fish emulsion fertilzers which attract some animals to rip up plants.

 

[Nyboy]

Around here squirrels are called tree rats

 

[SprigOfTheLivingDead]

really good fence with zapper at top. will help with raccoons too. finer mesh for chipmunks and baby bunnies. higher fence for deer. enclosed fence for birds. you'll waste too much time hunting varmints in the country if you try to keep them all away from the gardens and it's much more fun if you don't have to see every wild creature as a potential pest.

one way to also discourage some pests is to keep water sources outside the fenced and garden areas so they don't find your garden as attractive. we don't feed birds/animals in general because what i want them to do is eat the bugs and they do. some losses in strawberries but most of the rest of the plants are not usually touched. we don't grow corn.

the bird baths are away from the gardens.

we also don't use fish emulsion fertilzers which attract some animals to rip up plants.

I had a fence around my garden this past year. It was this low grade chicken wire wrapped in a soft plastic. Anyways, the bunnies are through it to get to my strawberries !! Haha. Again: ugh!

 

[Collector]

@SprigOfTheLivingDead , I have a feeling you are going to turn into Bill Murray from caddy shack when you get out to the country. Look out vermin!

 

[Nyboy]

Get a couple of outside barn cats. @Beekissed had a problem with squirrels stealing her fruit, I believed the cats helped a lot

 

[digitS']

The marmot pair in my garden until recently didn't eat my pole beans!

If you are away from rocky areas, that would explain the absence of marmots but no ground squirrels, @Collector ?

The tree squirrels here at home are pesty, it might have mostly to do with curiosity. Ground squirrels dedicate themselves to clearing all green growing life within several hundred yards from their colonies. Bare ground! They absolutely cannot be tolerated near a garden.

Marmots mow lawns where they are tolerated. Maybe that is true with their ground hog cousins. I imagine that they can be perfectly well fed on a golf course or in a park, however, local grounds keepers poison them. Bunnies have been easily as much trouble in my garden but a couple of 20# marmots can destroy a planting of cabbage just before harvest! Appetite for garden produce like a deer ...

Steve
guard your garden

 

[Nyboy]

A lot of the terrier breeds where developed by farmers needing crops protected from varmints. You needed a tough dog to go up against a raccoon raiding the corn field or ground hog in vegetable garden. Terriers job was to kill any animal that did not belong to the farm