Cracked open like sunflower seeds at a baseball game.

Awwww... what a bummer!

That sucks!! Sorry to hear that!!!

Are you sure it squirrels...at night?

Cover them with chicken wire fencing or hardware cloth into a high dome with landscaping pins into the soil. You can still water.

I've had to do that with patches of grass seed from the birds.

The also have been digging holes in my Coleus pots, round holes like they're looking for walnuts. Plus eating my green apricots.
Birds would have flown away with the seeds.
I'm replanting them (to sprout inside!) but the problem is they moved the markers. It won't be a big deal if I get the wrong variety but I'm upset I just lost two weeks. I gave away most of my fruit trees this past 10 years because I never got any fruit due to varmints.
Thanks for letting me cry on your shoulders!

I can relate! One year I had about 200 veggie seeds planted left them outside and went in the house for like two hours and came back to chaos..all trashed, eaten, dumped over etc. by the tree rats (squirrels).

You have my sympathie. I have a walnut tree and a plum tree. Squirrels just buried every seeds and totally forgot where they stored them. I've removed 7 walnut seedlings last year and over 2 dozen plum seedlings this year. My 2-year-old Little Grey Pearl died because one walnut they hid grew in the same pot last year. Fortunately they haven't dug my herb seeds out yet.

My sympathies, Carla. I used to think squirrels were cute many years ago--no more. If you lived here, my first choice for seed thievery would be quail. We have dozens and dozens of them hanging out in back, and they eat every seed in sight. I can't sow things like cosmos because the quail eat every one. The quail scratch and peck like chickens, so it doesn't matter if the seeds are lightly covered in soil, either. They love seedlings just as much as seeds, too. Quail are just chickens with a topknot. I hope you have a squirrel proof bird feeder--that can make a real difference, I think. I have a very effective one, or otherwise, I wouldn't even try to feed birds (quail are the exception). Diane

For Diane..

Who's a Quail? Lol

That is the Emperor of All Quail, sporting a complete headdress, rather than just a top knot. Diane

Sharon, that is not an annoyance, that is a tragedy. I can't imagine such destruction. My gardening friend's husband used the 22 solution to end a squirrel's blatant pilfering. He's a hunter, and they live in the country. He's done the same to a destructive gopher, too. The smoke bombs didn't work on Mr gopher. Diane

She's a naughty girl. She and her duck friend escape together out of their pen every few days or so. Im sure they will end up in the veggie garden this summer. She just might be a quail hiding in a chicken suit.

I have lost hundreds of dollars to squirrels. They love to dig up my plants, especially the newly planted ones with nice, soft soil. I have tried putting rocks as a top dressing and actually witnessed the squirrels picking them up and tossing them out. They don't like human hair, so I have put some among the rocks and it helped some. I also have used animal repellant and that works for only a couple of days. Besides, I don't like the smell, either. I built cages around my plants made of netting used for trellises. That worked, but it's time consuming and the plants grow through the holes, making it hard to re-pot and to clean up the dead leaves. It also blocks the natural beauty of the plants. Now the squirrels have figured out how to find openings in the netting and they can get in anyway. I'm very stubborn and determined not to let the squirrels win.

Robin, have you tried sprinkling cayenne pepper around plants newly planted? garlic powder? Oil of peppermint? At last resort, you could try clumped cat pee balls or moth balls. Irish Spring soap is worthless as a repellent. I find deer repellent works pretty well here to keep deer from eating roses, and the scent fades rapidly. Some repellents work better than others (I've tried quite a few). Diane