Put the cats on bail and set 'em loose.

Prof

Need a good recipe? I have no problems dealing with animals that don't understand, this is not your space because I am higher on the food chain.

Bakemom: Ok, so the issue is the salvia, not the squirrels. Maybe some aroma? Can you put these up somewhere?

They are up and away. Will it work - idk.

I am so sorry about your Salvia!
How do they know? They seem so stupid, no memory at all of where they put their own nuts, no ability to learn that I will spray them with water if they are found inside my containers, yet, somehow, they know just which seedling I really care about and that's the one they tear up!

Bakemom...you need chicken wire...it protects against squirrels and birds!!!

Lisa

Bakemom and all, I'm convinced there is something in the salvia that those damn squirrels go after and it's in gazania as well.

I can't keep them away from any kind of salvia or gazannia but they leave the rest of the flowers alone.

The salvia, any kind, never get a chance to grow much and sure don't bloom because the keep getting eaten.

The gazania are a whole different story. Those stupid, no brain to remember where their buried nuts are critters, patiently wait and bide their time till the gazania are ready to bloom, they wait long enough for me to know exactly what color the blooms will be. Then turn my back and they chomp off the stem with the flower and leave it behind. They damn things don't even eat the stem or flower bud.
I've seen them do it too.

Got a plan though this year. My one and only gazannia that bloomed had marigolds planted around or near it. never got touched by any critter.

So marigolds keep those 4 legged critters away.

So here is this year's plan. Will it work, I don't know, but I'm going to try it and, at the very worst, the gardens will still look great.

Step one.

old window screen is weighted down on the top of the growing salvia in their WS containers once they germinate and it stays on till I plant them out and they get planted out last.

Step 2.

40 containers that measure 12x 12 by 6 inches deep are full of marigold seeds. 4 different varieties.

step 3.

every one of my beds is going to have a hedge of 8-12 inch marigolds surrounding in on all sides. One type of marigold in each of the beds.

step 4

in and around the gazannia and salvia will be plants of marigolds as well.

step 5

gazannia and salvia will be planted last.

step 6

pray that this idea works to keep the rabbits, squirells and the chipmunks from eating everything. Oh and the groundhog doesn't go near the plants that have marigolds near or around them either.

Fran

Of all things for them to ruin, bakemom! Ya feed em and this is how they reward you...the indignity of it all. I figured my squirrels didn't bother plants because they're too busy eating all the corn and sunflower seed I put out for the birds. They literally eat that stuff all day. My presumptive calm about squirrels vis-a-vis little plants is sorely shaken about now.

Fran, can we exchange groundhogs? They got up on the back deck and dragged their mangy bodies across the basil, zinnia and anything else in their path to get to the pots of Marigolds. I yelled bloody murder and now live with a coil of chicken wire weighted down by bricks blocking the deck stairs. Don't ask how many times I've either tripped over chicken wire or gotten my clothes ripped stepping over it...LOL.

Last year somebody ate all the Marigolds I'd planted around other things in bed & containers in front of living room. Thought they were a "safe" plant. I'm putting up an ugly green rabbit fence around 4 huge containers of Zinnia out there since the corner of the house is a prime spot for Butterfly nectaring.

I truly hope they work for you. Maybe in greater numbers they'll act as barrier and mine were eaten because they were spread out. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.

Leslie

I think I'll get some more marigold. Which ones are the most annoying to the creatures?

I think I've already put the squirel recipe on here so here's one for groundhogs!

Groundhog pie
Servings: 6-8
1 groundhog skinned and cleaned
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup green pepper
1/2 tablespoon minced parsley
1 tablespoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 1/2 tablespoon flour
3 cups broth

Biscuits:
1 cup flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon fat
1/4 cup milk

Cut groundhog into 2 or 3 pieces.

Parboil for 1 hour.

Remove meat from bones in large pieces. Add onion, green pepper, parsley, salt, pepper, and flour to the broth and srit until it thickens.

If the broth does not measure 3 cups, add water.

Add the meat to the broth mixture and stir thoroughly.

Pour into baking dish.

For biscuits:

sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in the fat and add the liquid.

Stir until the dry ingredients are moist.

Roll only enough to make it fit the dish.

Place dough on top of meat, put in a hot oven (400 degrees F.) and bake 30 to 40 minutes or until dough is browned.

-B
(proof that anything can be found on the internet!)

anewgarden, the marigolds need to be the kind that have a smell. Doesn't even matter if they bloom or not, even though the blooms are pretty.

The key to marigolds working is the scent they have in the stems, leaves and flowers.

Some of the new hybrids have no scent, so if you are buying seedlings, just pick up the flats and smell. If you smell that tell tale scent, they should do the trick.

As far as I know, most of the marigolds still have that scent. Maybe someone else will know which specific ones have been bred to not have it.

Newbie in NJ, thanks but no thanks for your offer to trade groundhogs. I've not seen any that travel up the stairs to a deck before. But then again, one never knows what my crew will try this year.

What I do know is that everyone in my neighborhood has at least 3 of them living on their property. They aren't fun either and can be dangerous.

A friend of ours in another town had some very serious damage done to their home and shed by the groundhogs. The tunnels they dug underneath the shed caused it to collapse last year after heavy rains for a month, 12 inches of rain fell in July, filled the tunnels and caused the soil underneath to cave in.

They also had a very old but beautiful tree fall onto the house because of the tunnels that where dug under and around the tree. the groundhogs chewed through healthy roots to get to where they wanted to go. In the end, with all the rain that flooded the ground, the tree didn't have enough roots to hold it in place.

Brnadymulvane. nice souinding recipe if you left out the groundhog. somewhere I read that groundhog meat is very dry and not tasty.

Does go to show that you can find anything on the net.

Fran