How can I keep squirrels away from my garden?

Factual Questions
1

So I’m planting the garden on my balcony again this year, like a sucker. I figure maybe the squirrels will take it easy on me this year. And the racoons. Maybe they feel bad about having eaten the entire harvest last year (except for the cayenne peppers!) and they’ll leave me alone - not dig in the soil, not grab the tomatoes just before they turn red, not munch the squash off the vine.

Yah right. They’ve already started digging in my herbs and I’m pretty angry. I’m trying to rig up urban vertibrate pest resistant planter boxes but it’s turning out to be rather complicated. I gave up when I realized I had no way of knowing whether the little bastards could fit their theiving little bodies through the holes in the chicken wire I bought.

So my question is two-fold:

  1. How can I keep the squirrels and racoons away, without trapping/poisioning/hurting them? There must be some tricks out there for a non-voilent gardener such as myself.

  2. Anyone know any good gardening websites where this kind of information can be found?

Thanks !

2

A physical barrier is the only thing that will work. Buy “hardware cloth” (aka wire mesh) instead of chicken wire. It is more sturdy and the spaces are much smaller. It won’t look nice, but it will work as long as you secure it well.