Chicken wire over the soil surface. In a pot, you can then cover with a light layer of mulch to hide it.

Chicken wire over the soil surface.

For sure a good idea for a pot NHBabs.

(I often see the same advice when the 'tasty' bulbs are in the ground. Do people really lay out chicken wire in such a circumstance given that for bulbs to show effect one should plant lots and so it would likely be a large area that would need protection?)

Some gardeners make a cage of hardware cloth around each bulb before planting it! Myself, I mostly stick to narcissus bulbs. I will be planting some gladioli in containers, with wire on the surface.

I gave up on planting crocus and tulip bulbs because both get eaten by voles. I stick to daffodils. As a gardener, I follow the path of least resistance.

I have been soaking bulbs like tulips in a mixture of water, deer deterrence liquid (the type that absorbs into plants and doesn't need multiple applications)and cayenne pepper. Leave it over night and then plant with out rinsing. A good paste of cayenne pepper should be on the bulb. I then sprinkle the ground above with cayenne pepper. Seemed to work this winter for what I assume are the squirrels. I have been sprinkling rabbit off for the leaves of the tulips that have emerged....

Paul, I occasionally use cages around in-ground bulbs or other plants that are susceptible to voles, but not individual cages. Mine are 8"-12" in diameter, and I typically plant two types of plants within, such as several daffodils 6" deep and 3" deep a bunch of crocuses or a clematis and 3 lilies or a Dianthus with some crocus bulbs. However, like Spedigrees, I mostly plant bulbs that the critters won't eat.

This is why I only grow poisonous bulbs(except lilium lancifolium.. that plant is just too awesome to pass on). I am particularly into lycoris bulbs. I have lycoris radiata and lycoris sanguinea bulbs in my garden, and although chipmunks and squirrels dig holes like right next to the where the bulbs are, they never bother to eat or even touch it. Same with my daffodils. I also love growing chives in which critters don't bother with at all

Can you just put the hot sauce and bulbs in a ziploc bag and shake it up a bit before planting the bulbs? I think I'll try that and see if it works.

Tobacco has a fair amount of vinegar which some plants don't like. I prefer powdered or fresh hot pepper and often combine it with castor oil and water in the blender.

I put the tabasco diluted with some water into a solid plastic container and put the bulbs in that while I'm planting. I've never had a problem. It's the easiest way I know of.

I don't have any explanation... but for me…. The chipmunks/voles/periodic squirrel only dig up planted bulbs in the fall that I plant them… or sometimes in the spring. But if they make it through that time… they don’t get messed with in the subsequent years. I’ve planted plenty of tulips and crocus.. Hyacinth .. Scillia. One patch of crocus I planted was almost cleaned out from chipmunks over a few weeks…. but a few made it through a season… and today have multiplied and are nice and happy. The chipmunks are still poking around the garden and live under our patio.

Over the years I replaced tulips and crocus with daffodils and hyacinths as was getting few tulip and crocus blooms due to critters eating them. Squirrels were the problem when planting bulbs and chicken wire placed over the bulbs, weighed down with bricks, kept them from digging the bulbs out. When the ground was frozen or early in the spring the chicken wire was removed. Thankfully there were no voles to worry about.

I still grew a few crocus and tulips in my fenced vegetable area.

I cover bulbs planted in the fall with hardware cloth, pinned to the soil with landscape staples. Then sprinkle with cayenne pepper or baby powder. In spring I remove the hardware cloth as soon as I see tips poking up.

In subsequent years the squirrels don't dig them, but they are very insistent in fall. Neighbors feed them so I am overrun with them. I wish I could get them to stop.

Linnea, tell your neighbors about squirrels and other rodents carrying ticks and tick diseases (Lyme (borellia), babesia, powassan, anaplasmosis, ehrlichia.)

Oh, that's a good idea. They are very insect-averse.

You know, as much as I hate to do this I'll probably have to stop putting up my bird feeders this year too. They attract wildlife to my yard and then my garden becomes an all you can eat buffet for whatever wanders in. At least I can still have my hummingbird feeders tho...

Perennial, that's exactly what I did this winter. There are no more rodent holes, fewer squirrels, no deer under the feeders. I miss the birds at the feeder but my neighbors feed them and I still see the birds around the gardens eating seeds and bugs off the plants and house. Hummer feeders will go up end of April. I have chronic Lyme and this horrible illness is not worth the feeders!

Prior to this year I had never had squirrel trouble but this morning I had two large pots with a dozen tulips coming up in each of them. This afternoon I find leaves, roots and potting mix scattered about and every single bulb eaten. I now officially loath grey squirrels. They're an alien species here introduced in the 19th century by some idiot land owner who thought they were cute. Consequently our native red squirrels are almost extinct and a huge amount of damage is done in forestry and horticulture. Going to have to get some chicken wire for next year.

Huh, my neighbors feed the birds - puts 2x2 together .....

Floral, invasions are heartbreaking. I drove through the North East and you could see from the highway the devastation from the ash borer. It's amazing the delicate balance that exists in nature.

My yard looks like a lunar landscape from all the holes squirrels have dug! They are trying to hide the peanuts the neighbors give them. There are so many holes it looks like I have had the lawn aerated.

floral, I remember a movement to promote eating grey squirrels a few years back. Over here squirrels seem to have enough to eat and ignore my bulbs. Recently I learned on GW to be alert for bulb flies, sigh.

Squirrel always was on the menu (along with wild ducks, other game birds, rabbit, and venison) at my Grandparents' annual New Years game dinners. They are tasty but a lot of work to skin and de-bone for not a lot of meat.

Will fencing out the bed where the bulbs/perennials are with chicken wire a good idea to prevent critters from digging? Or will they try to dig underneath the fence

We have enough hawks around here that the squirrels are kept on their toes. Every now and then there's a patch of feathers on the lawn or a squirrel tail and I know my feeder isn't just feeding the songbirds :/

I need to get animal repellant for around the crocus. Hopefully it works since I only get to see them for about a day before they're discovered... and then every night they mow down the new flowers before I see them.

The squad. No squirrel or bunny problems here! Occasionally in the front they will dig around in my pots, but I keep the feeders full and they leave my stuff alone. The dogs never catch them but they like to chase!

One of my co-workers reports that her dog digs up tulip bulbs and eats them. Said dog does not chase the squirrels that dig up bulbs and replant them in the lawn.

Paul that's too funny - they are in cahoots! Our old guy used to dig up bulbs too, he should have been a truffle sniffer!

I applied a generous layer of used coffee grounds on my newly planted bulbs last autumn. I think I lost just one crocus bulb to the skwerls. (I planted over 100 crocuses and about 30 or so species tulips.) As things have emerged this spring, I've had some leaves nipped off as the new growth was apparently too tempting and I think one or two flowers have been nibbled on too. But on the whole, things have worked out well.

I have an abundant skwerl population due to the density of pines on my property and in surrounding gardens.