I can't keep anything in my window box. Well, that's not true- the squirrels ignore the grasses and go right for the flowers. For some reason, my neighbors don't seem to have this problem, but every day there are new holes in our planter. So what can we do to squirrel-proof?

Easy, silk flowers. From the inside they look exactly the same, squirrels will be freaking out. Leave a few nuts out for the fellas, and take a few real pictures so you don't have to rely on someone's lasser cut trays.

This is why we call them tree rats.

they were here first!

Sorry, my dad used to called me squirrel when I was a little girl so I guess I just have a soft spot for 'em. Plus, I'm from PA where there are probably 4 squirrels for every person in my hometown. I didn't know they were such a problem in the city as I rarely ever see them here (only in prospect park actually).

In the last month I've had 3 flower beds and a planter box completely decimated by a squirrel(s) - the planter on the day I fully expected to come home from work to find the daylillies open. This is the first year I've had a problem with them (even though I live in a rural area) and a local nature expert told my son that because of the drought in this area they're having to look closer to "civilization" for food. He advised that I use chickenwire over the tops of my beds and boxes when planting bulbs so the squirrels can't get to them and doing some research on what kinds of bulbs/flowers they don't like.
Part of me feels sorry for them, but I'd been nurturing those bulbs for 4 years - they were a gift. Being on a very limited budget will make it difficult to replant anything in those areas in the near future, and we're likely to have even more critters moving into this area since the White wildfire has destroyed acres and acres of natural habitats.
Ah well, I always say that my gardens will never be 'finished' - they're always an on-going project.

There is a huge overpopulation of squirrels in Prospect park because of the garbage that picnic-ers leave around, and because the park administration does nothing about improving garbage containers. People do their best to bag up their leftovers, but the containers are totally inadequate. In my view they should institute a carry in-carry out policy, and enforce it. There's my little rant.

But to address the original question, you can try to plant things that squirrels don't like. Here is a book on the subject:
"Squirrel-proofing your home and garden" by Rhonda Massingham Hart. Never read it, don't know if it works but might be worth a look

http://www.treehelp.com/shopping/product-detail.asp?Product_ID=1600

I love squirrels. My parents live in the suburbs and there used to be the friendliest squirrels who would run up our legs in search of peanuts hidden in our pockets. I even put out a little miniature christmas stocking out on the porch filled with nuts, but he couldn't figure out how to get to them and gnawed a hole in the bottom of it. I live in the city now and we have had problems with squirrels living in the rafters and walls, so I'm not allowed to feed them :(

I don't mind when they eat my oranges but scarfing my roses is going too far! Down with cute rats.

Re: "There is a huge overpopulation of squirrels in Prospect park because of the garbage that picnic-ers leave around..."

Maybe there is just overpopulation *in general* in Prospect Park. ;)

And, if faced with inadequate garbage disposal, why aren't people taking their crap back home with them to dispose of it?

That's the first rule of camping/hiking... take out whatever you brought in (badly paraphrased, perhaps).

I said it was the first rule.

I didn't say everyone followed it.

I've been trying to grow artichokes for a couple of years but every time the plants get to about a foot in diameter something nibbles all the stalks off leaving the leaves scattered around the pot. Because of past history I'm thinking it's got to be the squirrels but I haven't caught them at it yet. Why do they do this, destroying plants apparently without reason? It can't be just to spite me but it sometimes feels that way...

Boomer - my back yard's fenced - can I borrow your dogs? ;-)

That'd be ok as I rarely let my cats out - they'd be over the fence in a blink as they think they're mighty hunters (too much praise from me for spotting spiders, etc, I guess), only to become coyote lunch. Or bobcat dinner.

Gosh darn liberals ruinin' all the fun for hunters. How dare they!

In S. Florida, squirrels and roof rats, a/k/a Norway rats, are abundant in older neighborhoods with mature landscape. The rats are fairly easy to deal with ... we set out poison our village gives out gratis to homeowners. We hide the bait in boxes whose openings are too small for squirrels to enter. (I hate squirrels but not enough to poison them.) The squirrels we keep out of planters by sprinkling cayenne pepper on flowers and the soil. Lots of it. Costco sells large jars. For slugs, snails and other destructive crawly things, diatomaceous earth sprinkled liberally on the ground works very well. It's used as filter powder in swimming pool pumps, so it's definitely non-toxic. Home Depot and pool supply houses sell it. Some people say that it also works indoors on roaches, fleas etc.

Good luck, and here's hoping your squirrels sneeze themselves into permanent coma :)

Boomer--
I wasn't deabting you either.

And I grew up in Miami, and the squirrels never dug anything up in our yard, other than the live-oak acorns they buried for later. But it never made holes or caused "massive destruction".

So, MrGreen, killing and eating squirrels is green?

Eeeuw!!! MrGreen, I'll leave that one for my more...rural neighbors, and braver souls than I are they.

P(too), my planter would have qualified as massive destruction if it had been a little bigger - not only did the little bugger rip all my flowers out and scatter them all along the walkway, he dug thru the planter and made off with (near as I can figure) about 15 bulbs. Did a nice job of stirring up the soil, though :-/

I sprinkle red pepper flakes in the soil too. If they're munching on things try mixing some dishwashing soap, water and a few hearty shakes of tabasco in a spray bottle and spray the leaves. They don't like this at all. Aphids are also turned off by the soapy water.

2 more things about squirrels:

1. I know someone who grew big and tall eating squirrel meat. His mama chopped it into tomato sauce and served it on spaghetti.

2. When I lived in Carroll Gardens, I inherited a squirrel from the previous tenant. There he was on the fire escape the day I moved in, tapping on the window and waiting for his nuts. Every morning he was there. I guess they were good nuts, because within three months, he'd invited all his cousins to come too. Tap tap tap tap.

AnneX and Adrienne R - I'm willing to try the cayenne pepper, tabasco, and anything else that those with more experience than I say might help. I have a question, though (I'm a pretty novice gardener) - I have some tomatoes, radishes and bell peppers starting and I'm not sure if the squirrels (or anything else) might like to sample those - if I use the hot stuff on/around edible plants, will that affect the taste? I'd also thought about interspersing some jalapeno plants and cilantro with everything since I'd like to make salsa, anyway - would those be a deterent? Thoughts? Opinions? Other ideas? By the way, a neighbor spotted a deer across the street yesterday so we'll possibly be contending with them as well. (yes, I live in a fairly rural area, and three wildfires in the last two weeks - one still burning - will probably have sent even more critters scurrying our way)

Here in Portland OR, squirrels are as numerous as the trees they inhabit.

My squirrel story this week. They kept hopping into my bird feeder that I loved. It was a bowl with a minature, real, working umbrella over it to keep little bird heads dry while dining. It reminded me of something out of an Edward Gorey drawing. After the third time that squirrels knocked it down, it finally broke into 5 pieces. Grrrrrr!

Plus I think the squirrels give our indoor cats worms just because they share the back deck. (My cats have a little caged enclosure out there that they use on nice evenings. We call it "poker night".)

And, MrGreen, we all know "you are what you eat."

I make squirrel melts...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RlK0Xd4c2c

oceandreamer,

the pepper dust will wash off ... in fact, rain will take it away and you may have to replenish. You'll wash veggies anyway before cooking/eating, and that should remove all traces. I don't know much about vegetable gardening, but recently came across a good gardening website, http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/. I needed advice on how to control some voracious leaf miners on my favorite hedge. The posters were helpful and knowledgeable, and their advice actually helped solve my problem. I think you'll find many answers there.

Wow! Thanks, AnneX! That looks to be a great website - I've bookmarked it and will definately be exploring it.

Boomer - you are such a nut! I'm surprised the squirrels haven't carried YOU off!!

In a recent Chicago fire, "Investigators quickly found the cause, which was still on the scene -- a squirrel gnawing on the power line."

http://tinyurl.com/2bukzp

The home caught fire twice in 8 days- is now complete toast. (If you scroll all the way down, there's even a photo of one of the little 'perps'- who lost his life in the effort).

Squirrels are pure evil. One lives on my balcony (and occasionally in my attic) that I have to shoo away from my flowers all the time. and last Memorial Day, I was lighting my gas grill ... I had turned the gas on, was leaning over with the lighter up to the ignitor hole and was just about to pull the trigger when I realized the gas sounded way too loud. I looked down and right below my face ... at the exact spot where a person would hold a lighter to manually start the grill, he had chewed a hole in the gas line. If I hadn't heard the gas pouring out and stopped myself, I would've completely blown my head off.

It gave everyone the creeps so badly, that everyone that was there when it happened is too afraid to BBQ at my house again.

MrGreen, when did the creepy self-in-third-person start?

If you want to email me and continue this crap one-on-one so everyone else doesn't have to continue to read it, I'm at hatrickdesign at aim dot com. But I'm officially done with it. You win.

I agree, Patrick (too). It's long been time to ignore the eminent MrGREEN, and I plan on continuing to do. Qualities like his, I do not aspire to match.

Squirrels are indeed tree rats - we were at the grandparents just yesterday watching the birds feeding on the fat balls that had been hung out on the washing line for them - along came a squirrel and while we were watching chewed through the washing line which came crashing to the ground and he made off with one of the fat balls - the new washing line had only been installed on Friday! - Granddad wants to get an air rifle - I don't blame him!!

Squirrels will eat tomatoes. Right before one is ripe, they will take a couple of bites and leave the rest (either on the ground or still on the vine). In the heat of the summer, i think they are going for the water inside. I've heard you can put a pan of water near your plants and they will drink the water instead.

Flowers, etc.: I think they like to eat the roots.

Holes in the yard: I always thought thats where they had buried an acorn and dug it back up.

Dang it! Jon_B - are you sure about the tomatoes? I've got 7 pretty little Roma tomatoes on the plant that I'm very much looking forward to eating myself!

I had a big problem with squirrels last year on our patio garden. They would dig up all the planters and make a mess. This year we put rocks in all the planters and haven't had a problem at all. That and every time I'd see them out there in the Spring I'd get my hose out, sneak up on them and blast em with some water! At first that seemed to irritate them even more, but eventually they gave up and moved on to somebody elses patio.

The bunny rabbits dug up my bulbs, the squirrels ate some of my plants. I still relish their presence. Planted my garden with critter resistant plants- day lilies for starts

Last year, my mother put out two small American flags in planters on either side of the porch stairs. One of them disappeared. The stick was left behind and you could see where the fabric attached to the stick had been gnawed through.

Two days later, the other flag disappeared the same way. I guessed that one of the neighborhood squirrels had taken them. This winter, during a windy storm, an abandoned squirrel nest fell out of the big maple tree in the front yard. Sure enough, there were the flags.

I'm sure the little squirrels raised in that nest have grown up to be good, respectful Americans.

My mother put out more flags this year. We'll see how long they last.