In my yard, squirrels are often the culprit. They go even more after potted stuff for me, it seems. I came home today and found several things dug up and uprooted, both in pots on the patio and in the ground. Squirrels are evil incarnate in my garden.

:)
Dee

It could be a dog going for the bone meal. Just a guess. The neighbor dogs love to dig up the Plant Tone that I put around my plants. My greyhound ignores the stuff.

Whatever it is is probably carnivorous. It's either after the bonemeal, or after grubs and insects that are easily dug out of the loosened soil. Dogs, opossums and skunks are all possibilities. Squirrels use loose soil to bury their seed caches. I've had terrible problems with them with small pots, but they aren't big enough to do serious damage to larger plants.

I just got back from the garden center and they said it sounded like skunks. Lovely. They also said to try Liquid Fence, which I did spray on this morning. I had bought it for rabbits but still haven't used it.

Tomorrow I guess we'll see if it works. It certainly stinks enough. Don't believe the label that says it's odorless after it dries. It isn't!

Give it a little time, the smell will dissipate. My neighbor uses it on roses for deer (I use Bobbex repellent myself) and I tease her when I see her out with the phew-ey stuff :( It's pretty bad initially but doesn't offend all that long.

Our problem with newly spaded or recently moistened ground here can be raccoons as well as skunks. In late summer when I water my lawn, I can count on a multitude of little silver dollar sized patches dug out the next morning, raccoons going after night crawlers.

Sometimes it can take a cooperative effort from neighbors to cut down on animal damage in the garden. None of us on this block feed pets outdoors, are careless with garbage can lids, or put out mixed-seed bird feeders where waste ends up on the ground (finch feeders seem to produce very little debris or waste)...result: raccoons, possums, mice or rats have not been a measurable problem.

The racoons do this in my yard. I don't think the squirrels are too active at night but the coons surely are. They dug up some impatients the night I planted them and then a few nights later they dug up a strawberry plant and just tossed it aside. They also ate all the almost ripe strawberries on my established strawberry.

Raccoons dug up one of my Summer Sky Echinaceas last year. They are attracted to the moisture of where you just watered your plants.

Didn't think I had to worry about the raccoons in my brand new gardens! Have always concentrated on keeping them from destroying bird feeders and ripping apart metal suet feeders.

I know rain isn't too popular in midwest right now but I'm thrilled it's poured here for past couple of days. Haven't had to hand water in mulch moats. I didn't use all the bone meal I bought because I'd been warned on some of these forums that it would attract critters. Only place we used it was when installing 5 new rose bushes last month. They have rabbit fencing around them but that certainly wouldn't deter raccoon as they could probably unhook fencing from metal stakes and/or dig under it if they wanted to. Incredibly strong little critters.

Liquid Fence didn't keep Bambi or "somebunny" from eating Gaillardia and Great Blue Lobelia leaves and buds(gaillardia) for past 2 days/nights. I think I smell worse than the plants after spraying that and Deer Off! Rather pungent smell but whatever works in alternating applications of different sprays is more than bearable. They don't work with regularity, except this spring on tulips, but I don't feel like I'm surrendering to critter damage without at least putting up a little fight...LOL.

I guess rabbit fencing will have to go up around Butterfly Garden though I thought I wasn't going to have to do it because wanted unobstructed view of flowers and any possible Butterfly activity but an unobstructed view of chomped plants without blooms certainly isn't progress...LOL.

I used Bulbtone instead of all the Bone Meal I bought to plant fall bulbs after hearing I was inviting critters to dig up or tunnel to get to the Bone Meal source. Haven't rechecked Bulbtone to see if it includes Bone Meal but I went overboard with protection and sprayed bulbs with Repels All and wrapped them in fine steel wool for which I was reprimanded because squirrels little paws can apparently get tangled up in the steel wool. From what I've seen of these little "wizards" they ponder a challenge for VERY long stretches and usually figure out a way to beat any obstacle or challenge.

Don't know about anywhere else but our squirrels are "in heat" around here. Five of them came zipping out of the trees but thought they were just play chasing each other as they're apt to do. Then I heard them making this strange sound similar to their warning sounds and they were getting extraordinarily close to me which made me wonder if they were rabid. Finally I saw 4 of them chasing one poor little thing who took refuge in a wheel well under my car. That one was "crying" and I called to that one as if I was trying to reach out to a bullied child. It came over very close to me but the others swarmed around it. Tried to find refuge in a drainage pipe next to where I was crouched in driveway but soon realized it was a dead end and backed out all water soaked and looking at me with as pathetic a look as it sounded. It was then I saw the 4 chasers were in heat and the poor little crying one must have been the pursued female. This went on for over ten minutes and those males didn't care how close to me they got and stood their ground.

Sorry for the off topic vignette about the squirrels but I still get impressed with these close encounters of the "nature" kind be it flora or fauna. :)

They weren't so endearing before we found a way to keep them out of the bird feeders!

Raccoons and skunks...more critters who can wreak havoc in the gardens. Guess they're all part of the natural environment but it's got to be upsetting, to say the least, to see plants dug up which were so carefully/lovingly planted in soil that's been amended and turned til you can't lift the shovel anymore. Maybe the squirrels here haven't bothered all the new plantings in ground or containers with other obvious current interests but they could turn to plants after their hormones quiet down...LOL.

In my garden, squirrels have been the culprit when plants are dug up. The interesting clue to me, is that nothing established was dug up. Squirrels seem to be attracted to newly dug soil. I have heard a theory that they think it is another squirrel having just buried a nut so they go investigating. Sometimes they just dig it and that is it and sometimes they put tiny teeth marks in it. They also disturb my containers sometimes in this way. Last year, newly planted fans of iris were dug and they ran off with the tubers. Very irritating. The only suggestion I could offer, is to cover the newly planted with a turned over milk crate and a brick for the first week. Maybe by that time, the soil will not seem disturbed to them. They will appreciate the shade for the week too.

good luck..
pm2

something dug up all my annuals in my back shaded bed the night after I planted them. They have only dug up one or two since though. So strange. I didn't put any bone meal or anything.

The milk crate idea is a good one. I don't have any (what ever happened to the ones I used to have in college 25 years ago?), but I do have an old laundry basket that might do the job at night. I can take it off during the day.

So frustrating, if it's not the deer it's the squirrels, rabbits, skunks, possums, groundhogs, insects, disease. Remind me again why we do all this gardening!

"So frustrating, if it's not the deer it's the squirrels, rabbits, skunks, possums, groundhogs, insects, disease. Remind me again why we do all this gardening!"

I have that same feeling just when I'm so tired and sore from kneeling for hours transplanting those little seedlings and amending clay soil.

I laughed when you mentioned the milk crates from college days...they were a staple of "home design" and were usually free.

The rabbits have been sitting in the middle of the lawn which is full of clover this year. Why then did they need to eat almost all of my Gaillardia and half a Coreopsis?

I went out this afternoon between thunderstorms and found my New England Aster pulled over, stems snapped where they stood in grid ring so they don't flop when in bloom and eaten from there down. Think that was the groundhog I chased earlier in the day from the Cosmos seedlings he/she was eating because I don't know what else could have pulled down 3.5' NE Asters and snapped them at about 1.5'...although he/she did have a leg up with the grid supports. Now I'm worried there won't be enough new growth to have blooms in Fall for butterflies. May have to get out to farm nursery and try to find a couple young plants to at least have some NE Aster flowers this fall.

It's expensive enough to buy/sow plants without having to replace things as the season gets into full swing especially when a lot of garden centers/nurseries are sold out of some things and it's way too late to get things to bloom this year!

Why am I whining...at least the gardens aren't under a couple feet of water like some parts of the country.

Why do we do it in spite of critters and the rest?

Cause it's sheer joy to see all that beauty in bloom and maybe get to see some Butterflies, birds eating seed in Fall...mostly the beauty of each different flower with its unique foliage and their varying colors and forms.

It's a sight to behold and makes us smile and feel all's right with the world for a few moments when we don't think about anything but the beauty in front of us!

newbie in nj, you are right of course, we do this because we love it.

This morning I was mulching a bed in the far corner of the property. My cats followed me to make sure I knew what I was doing. They seem to think I'm incompetent and follow me whenever I'm gardening. Anyway, as I'm mulching along, one of the cats decided the old mulch made a very nice litterbox. At least he didn't disturb any plants. I have to remember to wear gloves when I get to that area!

Skunk update: last night they decided to uproot the sedum they had left alone the night before. Never know what grubs they might have missed the last two times they uprooted it. Fortunately, sedum is tough and will take all this abuse. The gaillardia, however, is toast.

The other day, I was walking past one of my beds, made up mostly of yellow marigolds.

(note: I really don't like marigolds at all, but needed something colorful in the front of the house that the rabbits wouldn't demolish)

I noticed that Those Darn Squirrels had gone in and pulled up approximately every third one and tossed it to the side. I'd planted these over a month ago, so it wasn't exactly freshly-turned soil... perhaps they were making an editorial statement about my choice of flowers?

This digging up is completely new to me. Hasn't happened here yet although the eating of plants is well underway.

I put rabbit fencing and some 4' plastic fencing all around the Butterfly Garden yesterday morning. It looks awful partly because I hate having to look through that fence to see the plants and partly because I was all thumbs in trying to get the fencing attached to the metal stakes, get stakes spaced correctly and/or deeply enough to accomodate hooking fencing onto stakes. Looks like hell but maybe it'll deter some critters.

People keep reminding me the groundhogs can just burrow under it or climb over it, as if I didn't know that, thinking they're "helping" prepare me for the worst. Had to do something to at least slow down or discourage whatever little beast ate and/or snapped the stems of too many plants.

Deeje...so they dug up about every third plant? Maybe they have OCD and needed an odd number. :)

newbie in nj said: "Deeje...so they dug up about every third plant? Maybe they have OCD and needed an odd number. :)"

I'm thinking that they were making a statement about the spacing? LOL

newbie, if the fence works this year maybe put up something nice next year? Make this year the prototype. That's what we did with our veggie garden last year. Not that we put up a prettier fence yet, but I'm planning on one. The link below is of my garden on May 1. Ugly fence and all. The wire was given to us by some elderly friends who were cleaning out their basement. It's all mismatched, but free.

Here is a link that might be useful: my veggie garden

"Deeje...so they dug up about every third plant? Maybe they have OCD and needed an odd number. :)"

"I'm thinking that they were making a statement about the spacing? LOL"

Bwa ha ha! Clearly, our squirrels are more intelligent than they let on.

my son's friend has a thing that chickens are really smart!! they just let us think they are stupid!! LOL hmmmm.... now ya got me to thinking, ya know, cats and dogs do really look at us funny sometimes!!! LOL now i'm starting to think i don't think i really do want a cat or a dog!! they just might take over the world@!! LOL like that one movie, or the one with jeff goldbloom in it where they were secret spies!! ahhhhhhh!!! that's just crazy!! LOL