i plant mainly acorns and other nuts and trees so yes, i am ravaged by squirrels year round. i have lost it. its game over for any squirrel that tries now.

Netwiz, I had the same thing this year. (not the deer, but the squirrels).

Squirrels love sunflower seeds -- even the black oil ones you put in bird feeders. (They dug up all the F1 hybrids I bought) If your garden is in the back, throw out sunflower seeds in a line leading out to the front. They follow them and then you just keep shortening the line so it's only in the front.

I had the squirrels practically trained by the end of the spring, but now I noticed bunnies are eating my baby plants! And they aren't running away unless I get right up on them. That deer stuff is expensive, but that's all I know that will work for bunnies except cats.

Lime

For deer and bunnies I use a commercial critter spray. When a nursery went out of business I bought several gallons of concentrate which has lasted two years. Soon I will need to either buy more or try a homemade concoction. I don't spray every day or week. Two weeks in a row usually convince the critters that those plants are not tasty. Later if a plant is in bud or I've seen recent evidence of critter damage I will spray again. For me, it works but oh, the smell, yuk. Glad the smell is undetectable to humans after the spray dries.

My vegetable bed and tulips and a few special flowers are in a fenced in area.

This year the only thing that worked for me with squirrels was to poke twigs, extra homemade plant markers, plastic knives, etc in the pot or ground area to discourage the squirrels. After a week or so I removed those things and the squirrels generally no longer bothered the plants. Others have commented that squirrels seem to be attracted to freshly turned earth.

I've come to accept a bit of critter damage but don't find Bambi and Thumper all that cute anymore.

I grow lots of hot peppers each year specifically to control rabbits and squirrels and other rodents. I dry them and mash them coursely (they last longer that way than the finely ground hot pepper. I put them around my fruit trees and in my new planting beds in late fall, winter (on top of every new snow) and in the spring time a couple of times. It seems to deter them and for the rest of the growing season they stay away from those areas.

The cats would be lots more helpful if they didn't sleep all day!

Milorganite is the perfect (and cheap) answer to keep deer away.

Squirrels and deers here too. Like Joanne, dogs are not a deterrent. They actually do more damage when running after the squirrels, and the deers know the routine...

So, for squirrels, I feed them. I get sunflower seeds, so the chickadees, blue jays and the squirrels all have full bellies. The feeders are close to the gardens, but the squirrels don't bother the plants and just aim it for the feeders.

In terms of the deers, I've started growing more and more plants they don't like. They decimated a huge hosta garden this past summer and I've started replacing some hostas with Digitalis, Ostrich Ferns, Japanese Painted Ferns, Columbines, Thalictrums, Cimicifuga, Astilbes, etc. The Hostas will all be taking a four hour drive to my parent's (including the ones I winter sowed) in the spring where they will grow on a 10 acre deerless property.

I love hostas but refuse to grow them just for the deers to eat as desert after they chew out the neighbour's veggie garden.

In terms of repellents, Some work and some don't. If I didn't have any dogs I'd be using one which is known locally as a sure-fire thing. It's roadkill powder, and yes, it comes from roadkill. Our Dept. of Natural Resources basically picks-up roadkill and brings the carcasses to a powdery base. Sticks like heck for a few days after you apply it, but works like a charm! Ever heard of blood and bone meal? Well, there you go! If you don't have pets - dogs go crazy over the stuff and will dig your gardens up - and the product is available to you, I'd suggest it.

I don't have a problem with deer although there are herds of them around my place. The stock fence with the Aussies inside seems to keep them at bay. The squirrels have been warned by numerous casualties on the bird feeder this summer. The rabbits....that's another story. They have caused more damage than anything else. But I put out bungy sticks - sharpened bamboo skewers like you would use for kebab - around some young plants. That helped a lot. Somehow they are quiet enough not to draw the dogs' attention. DARN!

Joanne: How to combat deer and squirrels next year? When you can answer that question, you can become one rich lady!

Karen

I have trapped the squirrels with a Have a Hart trap and relocated them. I didn't get to them the past 2 years and now I have quite a few out there. A high crop of acorns and a large population of squirrels doesn't make for a good combination! I am preparing myself to dig up 5,000 sprouting acorns this spring. The squirrels always bury in the soft spots in the yard which are my flower beds!

OT - I was out in the yard a couple of weeks ago and a squirrel came over my fence from the neighbors yard. He had a big, pink plastic sippy-cup in his mouth! It was so funny; it was almost as big as he was! He must have robbed it off of their back deck or something. He wouldn't drop it for the life of him either; he ran up into the tree with it. Every once and awhile I find something strange when I'm digging. I think they mystery might be solved :)

Thanks for all of the great replies. My neighbors tell me that I'm fighting a losing battle since we live in the woods. I could live with them destroying "some" plants and seedlings, just not my favorites all the time! I'm going to try several of the ideas posted and keep my fingers crossed next season. Thanks again!

Joanne

I used to live at the edge of some woods near a water source. And I grew a perfectly lovely vegetable garden. The deer came by every morning and late afternoon/evening when they went to water. They stopped and looked longingly at my lettuce, peas, beans and corn, but all they got was a single bite from a wide-ranging pea vine.

The answer: wire mesh fencing simply laid on the ground around the perimeter of your garden. Deer can't see their feet because their eyes are on the sides of their heads (like most prey animals). As soon as they feel the wire mesh under a hoof, they back off because they think it's a trap. And because they don't know how far it extends inward toward the garden, the won't even try to jump it.

I read about this in Organic Gardening quite some years ago, and it REALLY works. I used regular 2"x4" welded wire fencing that was 3ft tall (or wide, when laid down). If you flatten it out fairly well, you can mow right over it.

I've heard that the bamboo "Punji stakes" do well for rabbits, and you can just step over them. These are those shish kabob skewers -- you can usually get packages of them in two thicknesses from the dollar stores.

Sue

I can just see myself slipping on wet muck or patio and impaling myself on the "punji stakes"...LOL. And having the rabbits stare at me indifferently from not too far away to boot. Not known for my balance or grace!

I am sorely tempted to try shish kabob skewers around baby plants though. Wonder which the ER would prefer...wood or metal?

Until I started all this gardening stuff this year "because I wanted color and nature and beauty all around me..." I did NOT know all the little considerations one must keep in mind. If and when my bulbs start to come up (deer and rabbit candy) and little WS babies are planted out and I get them safely past their tender phase I'll forget all these "concerns" and have a very happy, content and peaceful look at the natural beauty that might come forth to greet me.

If that happens all the other stuff will have been worth it!

I did buy 3' high fencing to put out about 2 ft. from the perimeter of a new butterfly garden I started this fall. Only problem I see is that it's got to come down in spring or butterflies aren't going to "see" the attractive colors. Evidently they have very poor eyesight (who knew?) and that's why they're attracted to masses of colors and often bright colors at that. Luckily I've chosen mostly plants that deer supposedly don't like but since they've eaten evergreen bushes for years "don't like" means they'll take whatever's there for the taking when they've gone through what they prefer.

Who am I kidding? It's going to be a battle with deer and rabbits. Such is life.

Lordy, Lordy, just let me see some blooms...any blooms...next year and it'll all have been worth it...LOL. I'm sure you don't have anything better to be concerned about than my miniscule patch of earth...LOL. World peace? Pifflewort...everyone asks for that. I'm sticking to the small things in my own backyard.

When all is said and done a person can only deal with their own backyard anyway and hope others are doing the same...flowers and most other things in life.

Happy nature and a peaceful thought to all on this snowy Sunday here in Jersey. I will stay calm about this...I will stay calm about this...I will stay calm about this...
LOL.

Sue, I didn't get what you were saying about the shish kabob stakes and rabbits. You push them vertically in the ground? How close together? Am I tring to make a fence? What is it about them the rabbits don't like, or is it a fence they can't go through?

Lime

To deter critters eating my seedlings/plants I make my own concoction that really seams to work as long as you spray regularly starting mid May thru July. Let's see if I can remember it:
1/2 c milk
1 egg
1T oil
1T dish detergent (I use Ivory for the strong scent)
I blend this in a blender and then set out in a glass jar to ripen (not needed but it seems to increase the effect). Then using a strainer to remove any chunks pour into a sprayer and add 1 gallon of water and spray leaves until it starts dripping off of the plants. This needs to be resprayed to cover any new growth or else the critters will eat the new growth only. My exterminator recommended adding garlic, they use eggs & garlic to deter deer. And they guarantee there recipe.

I also have learned to only sow plants they won't eat. Like-poppies, snapdragons, columbines, bee balm, all edible & ornamental herbs (pennyroyal, catmint, yarrow, etc) bleeding heart (fern & oldfashion). But mostly a trial and error thing. You have to find out for yourself what the critters in your area don't like. But remember when foodstuff is in short supply they will eventually eat anything.

I think I've mentioned this on another forum, but both deer and bunnies hate the smell of original (Manly yes, but I like it too) Irish Spring soap. I run around the garden with a cheese grater, and it really does work. (Must be renewed after a rain, though). People I know with deer problems suuspend bars of soap with string around their tomato plants (at nose level?) and the deer stay away from the tomatoes.
Look for the black box, and green smelly soap.