Identifying squirrel damage: Soil or mulch disruption
Squirrels enjoy digging up the dirt and mulch in garden beds and pots, so if you notice this in your garden, you may have a squirrel problem.
Master Class recommends that you protect the roots and use one of the various natural squirrel repellents.
Identifying squirrel damage: Missing bird food
Squirrels are scavengers of rodents and they look at every prospective food source, including bird feeder seeds, Master Class reported.
Sunflower seeds, which are commonly found in bird feed, are a favorite of squirrels.
Squirrels will not only eat what falls to the ground but also climb up and eat from the real bird feeder.
Identifying squirrel damage: Bulb damage
Squirrels eat natural foods, and they don’t recognize the difference between food that falls from trees and food planted in a garden by homeowners, according to Master Class.
Squirrels dig up planted bulbs in the spring and fall, not only for the food but also to provide hiding places for other foods they’ve acquired.
Identifying squirrel damage: Absent crops
Master Class wrote that if your plants are consistently lacking harvests, it’s likely that a squirrel got to them before you had a chance to harvest them.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, berries, lettuces, and other fruits and vegetables are examples of this.
There’s still time to use repellents if you see nibbling on any leaves or the crops themselves.
Squirrels are one of the biggest problems for gardens
Squirrels are food-obsessed and will eat practically everything in a garden, Master Class reports.
Squirrels are known for their fondness for acorns, but they aren’t fussy eaters.
They will eat vegetables from your vegetable garden, flowers, flower bulbs, and any birdseed you may distribute around your lawn, yard, or garden.
Squirrels may be attracted to your home by even mundane items like rubbish.
A resurgence in gardening thanks to Covid-19
During the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, spikes in an interest in gardening were reported by many media outlets, according to The Ecological Society of America (ESA)
The exact reason for the spikes has not been determined, but the ESA reported that the spikes are being investigated further.