Kermit Marsalis

A physical barrier is sometimes possible, but not always. I have tried a lot of different tactics and the only thing that has worked is keeping the plants indoors.

Do you know any tactics - humane ones, preferably - for keeping the furry varmints from destroying my herbs?

Things that have not worked:
- blood meal
- cayenne pepper
- covering the plants/soil with a thick layer of dog fur
- raising the containers up on buckets/pails, and on tables
- spiky plastic things that claim to keep creatures away (they leap over them, which is worse)
- having a dog in the back yard (he is lovable but not fast enough to catch squirrels, though he sure tries)
- trapping and relocating (it works one squirrel at a time, but that's a losing game)
- enticing the squirrels to eat other things, like unshelled peanuts piled 10' away from the garden area (even worse: they bury the peanuts in my herb containers)

The "weeds" that I welcome into my lawn enthusiastically are
Dandelion (roots, roasted, coffee subtitute)
Plantain (salve, soothes itch from insect bites)
Purslane (delicious in salads and more nutritious than spinach)

I use tons of other herbs but they're all either cultivated or introduced on purpose or I have to go elsewhere to forage them. These three counts as weeds in my opinion because they thrive in the lawn, and were both uninvited but also welcome

Maybe spearmint. It's becoming weedy with the way it escaped its container and spread out across the lawn without my permission. It smells so nice when I mow over it.