Squirrels digging - what to do?

Every spring the squirrels go nuts digging, digging, excavating, everywhere. I can't stand it. Holes everywhere around everything: hydrangeas, roses, lavender, dianthus, mints, lilies, peonies, tulips, narcissus, hyacinths, azaleas, just everything. How can I get the critters to stay away?
PS-- definitely not rabbits.

I have the same problem. I've replanted some of my containers 5 times. I have chicken wire around alot of my plants. Looks like a prison camp here. Liquid fence didn't work, cayenne pepper didn't work. Good luck, I know how frustrating it is. Every morning I get up and make the rounds, and cuss the squirrels. They're not as cute as they used to be. They even climb up on my balcony and make themselves at home.

I have used bird netting on my containers with some success but sometimes it is a losing battle.

I know what you mean. Anytime I plant anything they dig holes around it - I fill them in and they dig them up again. Did they miss something the first time.LOL I do know they don't like blood meal, but it is a little high in N to be using on a lot of stuff.

Attract raptors?

I gave up a long time ago in favor of filling holes they excavated. I have a love hate relationship with squirrels.

I am sure there are some good squirrel stew recipes around somewhere.

Yum yum! I forgot that several have been posted in the past!

We have too many squirrels. I know they are cute and all, but when the yard is covered with them it is time to take action. We live in a very rural area with no nearby homes. I have eliminated fair share of these cuties. The dog retrives and plants them for me. These then I figure grow into a bush that instantly sprout new squirrels to take their place. After 5 years of squirrel war, I felt I was making some headway, not seeing as many. So I started counting, by dropping my 17 shells into a bowl. I just checked, as of Jan 1,of this year, 50 more squirrel bushes have been planted. If this didn't seem like alot, how many are already gone? I thought many a couple hundred, but now I think it was probably a lot more. That, I call an invasion. We have lots of preditors here. They are not keeping the population in check. Squirrel proof feeders help considerably, but they still come in and eat on the ground.

I've been using coffee grounds from Starbucks as mulch and I haven't noticed any squirrel holes in the beds with the fresh-perked mulch.

I took a picture for target practice today. Not the primary diggers - those lazy grays dig by me.

Ha, he found a way to hang on the mesh feeder. Mine here hang from their toes on the tree branch, curling their tail around the branch. They look like monkeys hanging from their tails. DH keeps checking his feeder for bullet holes. The feeder is ok, but the tree has a little graze.

It's the squirrels? I've been blaming the chipmunks! Probably both, huh? Li'l boogers...bloodmeal doesn't work either. Tried that and the cayenne. I actually planted silk flowers in one of my planters, and they dig around those, too. LOL We have 30 acres of woods on this hill, you'd think they could find other places to bury their stash! Has anyone ever tried putting gravel on top the soil? Or what about those clay balls that are supposed to keep moisture in? Saw those at the flower show, but didn't get them. Maybe I shoulda...?

Well, I've gotten so fed up, I have mouse traps in my potted plants. Every day they've been set off. i just want to scare them, not hurt them. A friend told me to use moth balls. I'm going to try that in a couple days, as we're supposed to get rain later tonight. I feel like the guy on Caddy Shack, ready to put on camafloge clothing and wait. I think the chipmunks ate all my chickens and hens. There are teeth marks all over them. has anyone ever tried moth balls?

I heard mothballs would keep cats out of the garden, so I tried that but they just moved the mothballs aside and did their business in my garden anyway....don't know if the woodland critters would react the same way or not. You mean the plant referred to as "hens & chicks", right, not real birds? Scared me for a minute! LOL Yep, something ate all our hens & chicks plants last year, so I'm afraid to put out more. I like the Caddyshack reference--ROFL!! I know what you mean!
So, Yankee Cat, how long have you been using coffee grounds? I may have to start drinking coffee again....

I tried the mothballs, sounded logical, but did not work at all. I have a big old weathered stump out front and the chippies live in there. They didn't mind the mothballs at all.
I did get quite a giggle over the caddyshack reference.

Since my neighbor cut down almost 50 acres of hardwoods the squirrels have moved to my yard with very nasty results-I usually get 30 gallons or so of plums from my trees, but this year barely got 1 qt (and the 1 quart I picked with the squirrels sitting above me chattering constantly) -they are now moving on to my peaches....grrrrrrr.....I have now taken up hunting squirrels...fast little suckers, but occasionally I get lucky.....I'm afraid my fruit trees have as much buckshot as fruit now......

Rabbits could be eating your "hens and chicks". I've seen them eating on some of my succulents.

Gravel does help keep squirrels from digging in my pots but it sure is a pain to add gravel to all of my pots. I guess they prefer to dig in loose soil rather than dig through a small layer of gravel.

Nothing worse than having seedlings come up just to be dug up by squirrels. At least my dog gets his exercise chasing them.

I have a nice big snag in my yard. I used to have three nice big dead trees but two were dead for quite a while and they blew over in some really high winds we had recently. A snag has been far better for me than mothballs (Those scare me anyway) and far better for me than any other deterrent I could possibly purchase from a store because... this is where the raptors hang out. The hawks can easily attain lift with a squirrel, and they do.

I'm going to be destroying a very large Norway Maple that is here. Rather than cutting it down and chopping it up for firewood, we've decided to leave it in place to become another vantage point for raptors. Just a thought but lots of times people don't realize the benefits of leaving dead trees be.

Here's my last remaining dead tree to show you what I mean. That tree looks as if it's pretty close but it's at least 250' away. Every once in a while I can see an owl in that tree just after dusk but during the day I've seen several different species of hawks.

Nice big dead trees for everyone with squirrel problems???

We always leave some dead trees, home for woodpeckers, wood ducks, etc. Squirrels are still a problem.
sacme, you really have a problem there, with your fruit trees. Sounds like the little critters are quite happy there munching on all the fruit. A varmit rifle with a scope works better than a shotgun. You may end up killing your trees.

You do realize part of this digging behavior of squirrels is their own paranoia. Squirrel 1 has a nut. Squirrels 2, 3 & 4 want said nut and watch 1 to see where he puts it. 1 has to dig at least 5 holes in rapid succession so that 2, 3 & 4 don't know which hole has the nut. 1 leaves and 2, 3, & 4 start digging everywhere 1 did trying to find the nut. Squirrels are lazy and would rather eats someone else's stash than find their own.

If you have ever seen a squirrel run up to a road/driveway and look both ways. He is NOT looking for cars. He is looking to see what squirrels are watching him leave so they can try to steal his nuts.

Can you believe that they are actually doing a study on suburban/urban squirrels and their behaviors over food and the like?

Sounds more like greed and jealousy to me. Little too much like humans, no wonder we don't like them.

pellet gun and fried squirrel ? too bad there habitat is being destroyed. My mom had to quit feeding the birds the squirrels were chewing her house apart.

I had the same problem but now I feed them shelled peanuts which they eat. When I see them digging I shout PEANUTS and every squirrle in the nrighbohood comes running. I read that they feed them at the white house and pn parlament hill to keep them out of the flowerbeds. Now when I go out the back door thet come to see if brought out any treats.Too cute for words. Joy

Squirrels have the front doorframe of our house all chewed up, too. And today, one chewed on my fingers....he was lying on the deck, soaking wet, breathing heavily, and I thought, "Aww, poor baby fell into the water dish and almost drowned!". I went up to him and talked to him, and he just lay there. So I reached down and pet him and he seemed ok with that--it was a really young one, so I thought maybe it wasn't afraid of humans yet. Then I picked him up, and was stroking him, holding him against my chest. He was a little nervous, but still ok. It was when I reached for the doorknob to come in and get a box to put him in, that he freaked out. Gosh, they have big teeth.... Moral: Let sleeping squirrels lie.