Squirls!!!?

[Sunny_gnome]

I planted quite a few sunflower seeds the other day and when I went to check out my other seedlings, my sunflowers were all dug up! I knew it had to be squirrels by the foot prints and the fence blocking the dogs from getting into my garden. How do you keep these pesty buggers out of my garden?

[rainbowgardener]

Good luck with that! Squirrels are incredibly agile, can climb anything, can make incredible leaps, drop long distances, burrow...

It you really want to keep squirrels out, you would have to totally cage your beds, including across the top, with something like deer netting. I do this for the bed the tomatoes grow in, to keep squirrels, raccoons, woodchucks away from them.

For while your sunflower seeds are sprouting, you could just lay deer netting or chicken wire or something flat over the ground where they are planted. The plants will grow through it. Once they are well sprouted, the squirrels probably won't bother them any more, until they flower and have seeds of their own. My woodchuck does though. I gave up on sunflowers, because the woodchuck likes to come along and nibble the tops off of all the sunflower plants, leaving just a stub. I don't want to cage everything!

[Kisal]

I don't let the wildlings bother me. (Irresponsible owners of dogs and cats are another matter! ) The wild animals were here long before I moved in, so IMO, they're entitled to remain. They may dig up a few bulbs now and then, and may cause some damage to a plant or two occasionally, but in the overall scheme of things, they truly haven't caused me or my property any great harm. And I get a great deal of pleasure from watching their antics. Just my view on things.

[applestar]

This is how I gre them last year:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/Image6660.jpg[/img]
...rest of the story in the Sunflower& House thread in Permaculture forum. There is a second thread "I Planted a Sunlower House!" from 2008 (I think) somewhere that details my previous project.

[KennyCouch]

I know this sounds a bit crazy but I bought two ceramic cats and I move them twice a day (once in the morning once when I get home) and squirrels, birds, etc. are becoming less of a problem.

[tomf]

I feel for you as I must take into consideration the wild life with every thing I do in my yard. I ether cage it or pick some thing that will not get eaten.