The squirrel population has more than exploded again this year and they are devastating my garden once again. If they aren't eating my vegetables they are digging up my raised beds like an army of tiny excavators.
I am working as hard as I can to remove them from this world but they are still increasing in numbers faster than I can decrease them. My fall and winter plants are ready to go out into the garden but the plants that I already set out are now chewed down to stumps. I guess I will have to invest in a large bag of blood meal because it does deter them but has to be sprinkled around and on the plants after every watering or rain and the stuff is expensive. It is the only thing I have found that deters them. My eight dogs and the neighborhood cats don't seem to bother them at all. I think they just wait in the trees and watch for the dogs to take a nap and then go to work chowing down on Bill's Buffet.
Last year I was unable to grow a single Brussels sprout because they ate them before I even got them set out in the garden. I had placed the trays of Brussels sprouts on a table in the middle of the yard to harden off before planting them and the next morning I looked out to see a half dozen squirrels happily munching away at them. I'm hoping for better results this year but it is looking grim because I am running out of time. The plants are ready to go out right now but there is no way I am feeding the little furry tailed rats my hard work.
I'm just a bit frustrated and needed to vent. I know the only solution is to thin them down mercilessly. From looking at the huge number of nests in the surrounding trees it looks like I have a huge job ahead of me. The one big oak near my garden has around a dozen nests in it and all the other trees seem to have at least three apiece in them and there are a lot of trees around here.
Bill
