I have ground squirrels. They have a condo-nest under the back porch where they've dug out an impressive amount of road base and gravel on which the big, square bricks lie. Last fall, I caught 5 with a trap going in the hole. This year, none so far, but they keep digging it out when I block it. I don't want to leave the trap overnight because i'll catch a skunk.

They are why I don't even try to grow strawberries anymore. And they are why I intentionally let a tomato out on the ground in the garden so they have something to gnaw away at.

I also have a pellet gun.

Moonscapes! Ground squirrels will turn their environments into moonscapes.

I probably had a raccoon in one garden a few weeks ago. An entire "sampling" was done. It even included dahlia branches!

My first thought was "Marmot" but marmots are terribly unclever squirrels. They may eat sprouting sweet corn but require weeks to figure out that lettuce is edible. By that time, the gardener will have harvested the lettuce. It may take a marmot 1 or 2 generations to learn that onions can be eaten.

I'm not saying ground squirrels are clever. It is just that they initiate bare earth campaigns. I bet they eat plants that are close to their burrows that are completely left alone if those plants are at a distance.

Bulldoze the burrows, David!

Steve

try sprinkiling cayenne pepper around the area. The squirrels used to eat my winter sown sprouts .. but the cayenne pepper made them leave the entire area alone. It was funny to watch them hop, skip and jump out of the yard.
I got a big container at SAM's Club.

Well, there's an idea! Thanks, COgardener.

I have quite a bit of dried peppers. I wonder if "dusting" the tree trunk with it would result in him getting it on his feet and having problems that way . . .

A few feet up on the tree would mean I could still water everything without washing the pepper off.

Steve