Ground Squirrel Gardens Update
By The Horse
@TheHorse (238313)
Walnut Creek, California
May 10, 2016 2:56pm CST
Well, It's May 10, and I just got back from work. It's warm and dry here today, with lots of sun, so I watered the garden there twice. As you probably remember, last Summer, the ground squirrels devoured our entire garden, including the decorative cacti that surrounded it.
This year, I did something different. I DIDN'T clear the area around the garden. So my precious corn, sunflowers, squash, and green beans are "hidden" amongst tall weeds. There was also rain this year, meaning the the vicious herbivores will have other things to eat later into the Summer.
We'll see what happens. Of course, I'm also sending stuff home with each of my kid clients, so they have plants to tend to even if the garden at work gets destroyed. I'll attach a photo from last year, right before the destruction started, and take a picture from this year soon.
21 people like this
17 responses
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
10 May 16
The rain may be your best ally. Good luck.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238313)
• Walnut Creek, California
24 May 16
@ElizabethWallace I think it's the ground squirrels.
1 person likes this
@ElizabethWallace (12069)
• United States
11 May 16
@TheHorse Oh, no. By whom or what?
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (189833)
• Boise, Idaho
11 May 16
I think I'd put up some barbed wire around the garden with netting over the garden attached to the wire.
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
10 May 16
quite spectacular destruction they've caused to your crops there
1 person likes this
@arthurchappell (44941)
• Preston, England
11 May 16
@TheHorse our squirrels are usually just cute - my mum often puts nuts out to attract them to the garden though we see lots anyway with being close to a park
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (238313)
• Walnut Creek, California
11 May 16
@arthurchappell I actually find them cute as well.
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@TheHorse (238313)
• Walnut Creek, California
9 Jun 16
We have lots of slugs and snails In Berkeley and Oakland, where it's more most that it is out here in the 'burbs. I agree with you hypothesis. But the grasses out there are drying up already, so our garden may soon be the best source of water again.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
11 May 16
I have heard there is a thing you can shove in the ground that emits a sound that scares underground critters off, coworker said it worked, have yet to try
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
11 May 16
@TheHorse coworker said it worked for them, we are prob going to try and nothing else has worked for us either
@toniganzon (77184)
• Philippines
11 May 16
Well i hope your new strategy would work.
1 person likes this
@changjiangzhibin89 (17240)
• China
11 May 16
It is indeed a hard work to fight those rodents down.Hope this year the rain promises a good harvest!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382104)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 May 16
Good luck with your garden. I remember when it was demolished last year.
@fishtiger58 (29819)
• Momence, Illinois
14 May 16
So do you think all the weeds will deter the squirrels.
@mommaj (23112)
• United States
11 May 16
Glad the green is a plenty. Maybe they will leave your garden alone this year. LOL That was a good idea to send a plant home with a kid. My daughter is asking me if she can plant some flowers since she is done with school and her brother is still going. LOL So it looks like we will be planting something. Wish us luck.
@bagarad (14283)
• Paso Robles, California
11 May 16
I am very sympathetic. The ground squirrels completely devoured or destroyed our vegetable garden several years ago and I've not had the heart to provide them with another buffet. Gardening was supposed to be stress free and relaxing, but the squirrels made it very stressful. Every day I'd find a new tomato plant cut off at the ground and they were going down the row taking out the plants one at a time. I moved a couple that were in pots to the other house patio, but the ones in the raised beds were too big to uproot and move. Since then I've only had a small patio vegetable garden.
