Hey Lisa, I live in the city but when we go camping the armadillos come out and dig. We always wake up to holes dug every where. Sounds like what you have. They dig for bugs and grubs and such. They can tear up your yard. I'm not sure what to tell you as far as how to get rid of them. Maybe mothballs. I know alot of critters don't like the smell. Good luck. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Brenda Here is a link that might be useful: Community Webshots

Most common in this area is burr clover, but would need picture to confirm, as it is more of a spring/summer weed; however, after our recent heavy rains, a bunch sprang up at our local park, so it's possible.

I have one of these growing and in my research found that it is poisonous.

I believe (and hope) that the squirrel problems have been worse because y'all have been in drought. The squirrels might back off a bit if your drought conditions end. To some extent, the ants might be related to the drought issues as well. Usually, if ants are bothering tomato plants, it is because there is a general lack of moisture and they are using the tomato plants as a water source. Another reason that ants might plague tomato plants would be if your tomato plants have aphids and the ants are coming to the plants for the honeydew secretions left on the plants by the aphids. Sometimes putting out a flat pan of water or birdbath that provides water to the squirrels meets their moisture needs enough that they leave the tomatoes alone. Sometimes it makes no difference. The black bugs, if they are eating tomatoes, might be blister beetles Or, if they are a dark brown to brownish-black, they might be leaf-footed bugs. Both of these pests are worse in my garden in hot, dry spells and particularly in bad drought years. I had a moderate outbreak of leaf-footed bugs and blister beetles in my garden last autumn after our previously wet weather turned extremely dry in July and August. I carried my garden scissors with me all the time and snipped each blister beetle and leaf-footed bug in half when I saw it. That's the chemical-free pest control method for me that works best with those two specific pests. I hate to kill blister beetles because they eat tons of grasshopper eggs, but I don't like losing garden produce to them either. Thus, I ignore the blister beetles when there's just as few of them as long as they aren't bothering tomatoes, but if there is a lot and they're doing lots of damage, I kill as many of them as I can. A possible solution to the squirrel problem might be to spray the plants with hot pepper wax insect repellent. Since the squirrels don't like the hot peppers, this might deter them in the same way it deters some insects. This is one example of hot pepper wax: Hot Pepper Wax Insect Repellent The reason I think the hot pepper wax insect repellent also might repel squirrels is that research has shown that squirrels stop stealing bird seed from bird feeders if that bird seed has been coated with a hot pepper product, though I believe in the case of the bird seed, the product used to treat it probably is not a wax but likely is just hot pepper tea. If I was having a squirrel problem, I'd probably put bird netting over entire rows of caged tomatoes, using the U-shaped earth staples sold for use with landscape fabric to hold the netting down close to the ground. Would it be hugely annoying to have to raise the netting in order to harvest and then to reattach the netting to the ground? Yes, of course it would be, but if it would save the tomatoes from the squirrels I'd do it. Unfortunately there are many pests, both insect and animal, that like tomatoes and you just have to fight them in whatever way you can.