[Community_garden] on the rodent theme

[yarrow at sfo.com]

At 10:23 AM -0600 3/29/07, Clea Danaan wrote:
>What about squirrels? I see lots of ideas for dealing with rabbits and dear,
>but nothing on squirrels. They dig up our beds and flowers constantly. I am
>averse to using fox urine.

Squirrels do negligible damage here -- an occasional unplanted 
transplant, and of course small holes whenever I put down some new 
compost, and a share of the cherry tomatoes. Occasionally a 
neighborhood cat patrols the garden, which keeps the squirrels away 
(and I've never found cat damage).

People who are bothered by the holes in container plants have put 
screens or hardware cloth or chicken wire over the soil, making it 
harder to dig. In flower beds, you could place strategic barriers 
(until the plants fill in) such as scattered flower pots or stakes, 
or put cloches (1-gallon plastic bottles with the bottoms cut out) 
over new plants until they are established. Or bird netting over the 
whole garden.