We have lots of problems with squirrels, one of which is the mess they make on the lawn when building their nests. You have to rake it up. They also get into my pots and damage emerging tulips and other spring bulbs, so I approach it from several ways. I have a 'feeding station' for them. At the very back of my yard, near the fence, I have a little pail which I fill with leftover nuts, usually in the shell, and that keeps them back there. For small pots and emerging bulbs, I use cut off 2-litre pop bottles pushed into the earth to cover the greenery. For larger pots, I sprinkle cayenne pepper. I sometimes have to resort to mesh wire. I have fashioned some covers: rectangular wooden frames with domes of mesh wire attached. These are moveable which helps with tulips...the squirrels snap the flowers off to get at the seed in the middle. Recently, I have used mouse traps, just to scare them off and that definitely helps. I have come to the conclusion that they are very stupid animals. They do not like or eat tulip bulbs (I have left some of them out for them) yet they continue to dig them up. Go figure!!!

This is a story I told a while back, so mayby you heard it. A long long time ago we had squirrels in our attic. Every one told me they would chew the elec. wires and cause a fire. So they had to go. DH found the opening in the roof overhang and when they came out one morning he blocked it up with screen. As he was putting in the last staple a little head peeked over the edge of the roof. When he left it went to the patch and bumped its head against it several times. Then the second squirrel appeared and they just stared at the patched hole. I felt so bad and he asked me if I wanted him to remove the patch. I told him no, I was afraid they would indeed chew on the wires. That night I was looking trough a magazine I believe (Womens Day), and I came across an ad for a sampler (a embroidered message) It had two squirrels on the top and the message was "Blessed is the Home that Shares it's Shelter". I felt so guilty after that. The hard part is that they mate for life and my neighbor in back caught one of them in a have a heart trap and that was the end of that family. I personally enjoy watching them and decided I can't have everything my way and choose to co-exist.

I think my yard is a paradise for the squirrels. They drink from my bird bath, as well as the fountain. They dig up my bulbs and plant acorns in the many containers I have planted. Normally they are more of a nuisance than anything else and lots of fun to watch. This is the first time he got hold of a shrub. And, by the way, this nandina domestica is the firepower one that gives this particular bed color, not the invasive kind.

l. Critters don't seem to know what to do with black tomatoes, particularly Black Pearl, Black Krim and Black Prince. They leave them alone. Since Black tomatoes were bred in Russia for northern climates, they use sugar as an antifreeze and are sweeter, so we like them better anyway. 2. We vacation on the Outer Banks every year. We bring back several garbage bags of seaweed, which washes up on the shore back on Albemarle and Pamlico Sound. We run it through the chipper shredder and get a nicely diced mulch. We spread it around the margins of our garden. Our critters seem confused by the saltwater smell and texture and won't cross it. Snails also pull back and won't cross it. Next Winter it decomposes and enriches the soil. 3. We plant a ring of Ghost peppers around our red tomatoes. They're bright red just like our tomatoes. Every July as soon as the Ghost Peppers ripen, that year's crop of new young critters happily try some. We've found half eaten Ghost Peppers scattered around our yard and driveway. We've found squirrels, chipmunks and raccoons literally laying in our birdbaths with their mouths open to the water. A week or so later the red tomartoes come into season and none of the critters seem interested. We don't use the Ghost Peppers for anything else, as they're way too hot for us. But a dozen or so plants produce prolifically, so we pick buckets full and run them through the chipper shredder to produce a mulch and spread it around the margins of the garden. The critters really don't like it either. It keeps rabbits out of our lettuce.