JoAnne Skelly: A nature-loving gardener’s dilemma

I’m discouraged and upset. After using metal drums and troughs to plant vegetables in, putting down cardboard and mulch, and then framing the tubs in with fenced netting, a dang ground squirrel still dug underneath the cardboard and fencing. He got into the pot and proceeded to dig up radishes and damage the roots of the zucchini. Fortunately, he ignored the developing squash.

Ground squirrels are the bane of my existence. They are the reason I stopped growing vegetables for years. I was so excited to try again and thought maybe I had the solution to keeping them out with metal containers. But no! I was fuming as I replaced the soil in the pot. After reading coffee grounds might be a repellant, I covered the soil and around the base of the pot a week ago, but they probably need regular (daily?) replenishing. In the dark since we couldn’t quickly come up with a fencing solution, I put two cups of coffee grounds around the pest’s hole and in the pot. I then sprinkled cayenne pepper all over the ground, the hole, and the soil in the container.

My husband woke up this morning with what seems like a good solution: screwing tall metal mesh directly to the pot with screws. He will make a section into a “door” so I can get into the pot to harvest and cover the top with more mesh. Although the ceramic pots have plastic mesh wound around and over them, it is held tightly against the base with clothespins, which should keep the squirrels out.

We will keep the framed mesh fences, which are about 4 ½ feet tall, around the tomatoes in the tall trough, hoping the sides of the trough and the tall fencing are too high and slippery for the squirrel to climb.

While a dog would keep squirrels away, I’m not sure our two cats would appreciate a new friend. Besides, my flower beds have grown so beautifully without a dog running through them anymore. There once was a claim that chewing gum in the holes would kill the squirrels after they chewed it. Sounded rather mythical to me, but I still tried it years ago with no success. Heck, I’ll try almost anything that’s not a chemical poison, because with great horned owls, coyotes, bobcats, and neighbor dogs wandering around, I would hate for them to eat a poisoned rodent. That’s my dilemma, loving nature and wanting a vegetable garden.

Is all this work for a few zucchinis, tomatoes and cucumbers worth it? Going to the farmer’s market would be much easier. But there is such a satisfying joy in picking fresh veggies for dinner…

JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator Emerita, University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Email skellyj@unr.edu.