Squirrel proof cage	See more on Flickr
click photo to enlarge	For many years I would occasionally find a half eaten tomato or one with a single bite taken out of it but I was never sure what was doing it. I would also find holes dug in the garden and again never sure what was doing it. Same with my lettuce, byte marks in the leaves. Well this year some critter was destroying my garden and eating the lettuce all the way down to the ground. Since I am home more due to Covid  I decided I am going to find out just what is doing this. The funny thing is it always happened between about 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. So one day I set my GoPro up in the garden and at 2:00 PM started filming. I caught the little critter. He sat there for almost 3 minutes and devoured the entire tomato. See video here. We even put up signs to try to get him to dine next door at Ted's, but to no avail. They dug up the roots of the tomato plant, completely ate all my lettuce plants.  We tried all kinds of things such as using Critter Ridder and my neighbor made two different concoctions one hot peppers ground up, then hot peppers boiled and sprayed on the plants and tomatoes. Mr. Squirrel just laughed at me and ate away.
click photo to enlarge	Well his boldness and complete lack of respect for all my attempts made me to decide trying to make a squirrel proof cage. I started by buying 2X4s and ripping them into 2X2s. Next I used Kreg pocket holes and screwed it all together. I used one coat or primer then two coats of Behr outdoor paint. I ordered 1/4 inch square 19 gage wire fence and cut it to fit. I used a pneumatic staple gun to attach the wire fencing. Then for the final touch I put a 30% sun block on the top and south facing side of the unit. I then dug up and transplanted the lettuce plants and also planted new lettuce seeds. So far the cage has been in place for about 6 days and I see no signs of Mr. Squirrel digging in the rock to try to get around this. Time will tell but I don't believe he will be able to get in this. But they may prove me wrong.
click photo to enlarge