Maybe AlÂs squirrels have enough nuts to eat and thatÂs why they donÂt bother his tulips. The first year I planted them I soaked them in red pepper dip and they did not dig them up. They bloomed well but I had to keep going out the spray the blooms. The second year they dug up and ate or nipped almost all of the bulbs, despite the red pepper dip (not just tulips, plenty of other bulbs, puschkinia, every last crocus out of hundreds). ItÂs like they suddenly discovered I had tulips/bulbs and were now watching me. The third year I planted little alliums in every hole with the tulips, plus sprayed the bulbs in the hole with Tabasco spray. They dug them up, tossed the alliums aside, and ate the tulips. The fourth year I ordered tulips on sale late. I kept stalling for a spot of better weather to plant them, and it never came. It was mid December and freezing cold before I planted them. There didnÂt seem to be any squirrels around, maybe because it was so cold, they were all tunneled in somewhere. I did a lousy job of planting because I just wanted to get inside. I camouflaged the holes with dead leaves. None of those were dug up. Last year I was planting crocus, anemones, and species tulips in mid November. I saw the squirrels watching me and knew I was in trouble. I planted some one day and the next morning saw the digging and knew they were gone. The next ones I planted in clusters (even though that was not the arrangement I wanted for them) and put a big 1 foot landscaping stone over each cluster. The next morning I could see from the digging around each stone how hard they had tried, also how far they would tunnel under each before giving up. I planted all the rest of the bulbs that way. But the next spring only the tulips came up. I think the crocus and anemones rotted under the stones, I should have removed them once it got really cold like January; or after the squirrels had time to forget. I have not bought any tulips this year, though I did buy one package of crocus. IÂm going to try something that has been suggested here. I bought a roll of green hardware cloth, mesh maybe one half inch. I will cover each cluster with this, edges bent down to lock it into the soil. IÂm going to see if this works, and how much trouble it is, before I try more of the things they find tastiest. I bought things I know they donÂt eat, lots of daffodils and alliums. I still have to go out from the first tulip buds and spray with repellent. I don't have deer but the rabbits eat the flowers too. So I would try either one: plant so late that they arenÂt around, or cage/cover your bulbs with wire. DonÂt spend a lot until you know which will work for the level of determination found in the squirrels in your yard.

caseyc3 - you'll be fine...go ahead and reseed. With the constant rain we're having and the every other day watering schedule is enough to get that seed germinated. The soil is getting cool enough now that it's almost the perfect time to seed. You don't have to water 3-4 times a day to provide enough moisture in the soil for germination. I'm in south Raleigh and I just did it twice in 2 weeks, Labor day and last weekend to fill in the missed spots. It's coming in great. The grass you have now though doesn't sound like turf-type fescue, but rather the wide-leaved clumpy K-31 fescue...which is a completely different animal from tttf fescue. But, you should know what you have. I have tttf fescue AND KBG mixed, and it provides an excellent looking dark green lawn. If you have K-31, I'd Round-up it and a couple of days later cut it to 2.5", aerate, and reseed, but be sure it's K-31 before you tear up your lawn.

I hear every word you are saying and feel your pain ms minnamouse! I too am thinking of by-passing planting this year. I also have them in my house. We killed hundreds and still kill at least one, almost daily. They walked right in through ac window units in upstairs bedrooms. Really gross creatures! Contrary to what other have said, dogs don't eat them. I have 2...neither eats them. In fact, they leave the room when one buzzes. NOTHING eats them, no matter what people try to tell you. I may mass plant marigold since I believe or HOPE they won't ATTRACT even more of what we already have. It's good to hear that research is being done but it won't help fast enough. I think they are predicting Millions upon Millions of them this year. (Gloucester County Times reported it.)We are planning to buy a case of caulking and sealing up what we could find AFTER whats left in our house leaves this spring. (We don't want to seal what's here...in) We are hoping they don't find a NEW way back in, after we caulk and seal every crevice and crack we can find. We will be installing central ac which will cost us a fortune -since we live in an old house with baseboard heat. :( We will seal carefully ourselves around the new install. We are dreading this coming autumn. There is a stink bug board out there where people are saying that a certain chemical works BUT it's poison to humans and all wildlife/insects. These wasps can't come fast enough but am wondering what the cost will be to our beneficials. No matter what...something needs to be done! I'm sure you know this but, I'll say it for those that don't..We found that dish washing liquid and water works best (it smothers them) but we can't spray our walls or ceiling with it so we use alcohol in spray bottles. It helps knock them off of the ceiling and works without damage to our paint or furniture. It doesn't kill them as fast as soap though. We also will just get them with a tissue and flush them. We used alcohol to kill the hundreds we found in our upstairs bedrooms. It won't stop them from coming though. We had to replace a window this winter and found about 100 of them huddled under our siding...in one little area! I have cedar siding so the soap solution is no good for us out there. The alcohol damages our stain so that's out too ...we feel so screwed and helpless against these disgusting creatures. I really don't want to use poison but I can't live with hoards of them in my house either. If I had hundreds this year, I'm going to get thousands next fall. We need help NOW...not in a few years. I'm getting the creepy crawlies just talking about it. If you find any answers, please post! Youtube shows a man having so many that he scrapes them off of his door to get into his house...poor guy! google it...there are many out there facing this plague. I really feel so sorry for those that are being over run and run out of their houses by these disgusting...

Nails versus screws really does not matter. You need to know if: 1) a waterproofing material (usually 6-mil sheet polyethylene plastic) was put on the walls before the cement board was installed. REASON: Tile and grout are not necessarily waterproof. Water can get through the grout, trust me, and through the cement board. Cement board is not damaged by water, but water can pass through it. When it does get through it you want that wate to hit something waterproof...like ployethylene...and not drywall, which will wet crumble, and fail. If you have no barrier like poly behind the cement board, then you have a code violation. Plain and simple. 2) Same with the half wall. Cement board, tile and grout will not keep water from getting to the framing beneath. You need something more. That wall will rot out. That is a code violation. 3) Will there be a topical waterproofing like RedGard put on the cement board that makes up the niches? If not, you'll be admitting water into those framing bays. Rot. Mold. And yes, without a barrier you have yet another code violation. 4) If you stand on the floor membrane, is it sloped to the drain or is it flat? If flat, you have a code violation. Creating a slope with a layer of mud will give you a preslope, but that still does not cut it. A membrane sitting flat on a subfloor is a code violation. And again, in your very first picture, that flap of membrane that is flapping out in front of your cement board? That needs to be behind the cement board, and the (non-existent?) poly sheeting behind the cement board should lap on top of that membrane. What dies that add up to? Yup, another water intrusion point and yet another code violation. I hope this works out for you, but I'd also use this shower a lot when you move in so any problems with it occur while your homeowners warranty is still in effect. Keep an eye on the curb, on the walls and on the ceiling below for any signs of water damage. ALso keep an eye on the floor tile itself, if it ever starts drying unevenly, that's yet another warning sign. Oh, and using cement board instead of greenboard? That's nothing to be overly proud of either since using greenboard as a tile backer in a shower is also...did you guess...a code violation. Greenboard was prohibited as a tile backer over two years ago. Best, Mongo