We tried one of those upside down tomato things last year and the little buggers still got at them. I have heard that if you plant onions and garlic around the border, squirrels wont get at the other stuff. We are going to try that tis year to see how it works.
Squirrels typically aren't that interested in the plants themselves but will dig when they find loose-packed soil (assuming it's because they or another squirrel buried something there.)
Your best bet is to buy some of that green plastic netting and cut various small pieces to cover the exposed soil and make it hard for them to dig easily.
Making sure to keep the soil moist also helps but it can be hard to keep up unless you have a lot of free time.
We've tried netting, but once the plant matures it is impossible to keep the netting from getting tangled in the plants.
We tried hot pepper powder. The capsicum is supposed to be a deterrent for mammals, but birds of any kind don't have a problem with it. I don't recall it making much of a difference.
The reality is that you will loose some tomatoes to squirrels and that it is near impossible to avoid them. Our solution is to plant a few extra plants to offset the lost tomatoes.
270 members
1 member
261 members
203 members
118 members