Squirrels

Squirrels don't eat lettuce or spinach, but they love to dig in soft dirt. They imagine a tasty acorn buried in any soft dirt they encounter, so, of course, they must dig to find it. Spinach and lettuce seedlings often get in the way.

In the early fall, when I'm planting spinach, the oak trees are producing acorns in vast quantities, and the squirrels are eating as much as they can and burying the rest. I have planted spinach, given up on it sprouting, and dug into the spot to replant and found acorns neatly placed where the spinach seed had been.

Your winter garden will be riddled with ruined seedlings and numerous holes unless you keep squirrels away from it. I use my pea trellises, 4' X 8' frames of chicken wire that support my peas in spring and early summer. In fall, they find another use resting across the framework of my winter garden and keeping squirrels away from the soft dirt.

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