Has it been dry over there? Maybe they are seeking water? (Seeing as how it's the fruits that are popular and then the eggplant and okra)

V.

Last year, they ate almost all of my sweet corn. They are ruining stalks this year looking to see if there is ripe corn yet. I put out rat poison in cans and they have been eating it. I've got a lot of squirrels so I still see some live ones out there. Haven't found any dead ones yet. Maybe it's not enough to kill them.

Any advice on how to deter them?

Squirrels are like Ninjas. Figure out how to stop ninjas and you will have figured out how to stop squirrels.

There is no fence or barricade that stops them. They are, after all, ninja like.

They do seem very attracted to freshly dug or soft soils.

The best solution I ever heard of for dealing with squirrels is to heavily feed them.

Squirrels, like Ninja, are opportunistic and will strike easy targets before hard targets. Giving them ample food (like corn cobs on a stake) tend to induce them to feed on the easy food versus the more difficult food like garden plants.

It's not foolproof, but squirrels, like Ninja are difficult, if not impossible to beat. Best to try and pacify them with food. Yes, Ninja like food too.

Squirrels regularly annoy bird feeders. Why? Because bird feeders are easy targets for squirrels. Put out a bird feeder or 6 and let the squirrels have their way with them.

Same thing occurs with deer, another ninja like creature. Folks bothered by them generally aren't surrounded by fields of edible (to deer) crops or wild flowers. Those who are are generally not bothered until those crops are finished for the season.

Feed the squirrels until they are fat and happy and chances are they will leave the stuff you want to eat alone.

Adopt cats into your family. Treat them well and they will guard your gardens for you.

I haven't seen a squirrel in my yard for years!

Being another CA gardener, here is what I know about squirrels.

They live for 3 or 4 years typically. The young ones are sometimes unaware of your vegetables. Older, craftier squirrels can be real pests.

They take figs and young green apples from my fruit trees. They don't particularly like oranges but will sample a few.
My dad protects the apples by putting plastic bags over the apples and stapling the bags shut. Figs are more difficult to guard. If it as a good crop, there's plenty for everybody.

They like the blossoms of zukes, melons, pumpkins and will eat those. They may take the fruit of these plants later on. Tomatoes they will sample, but not too many (usually the biggest ones which they bite a few times then discard for you to find).

Controlling them: a dog or cat can do it. If you have hawks or raptors around, they will nail squirrels for you. I've heard you can spray cayenne pepper around and it may repel them, but cayenne pepper is expensive and I'm not sure that works anyway. Scaring them is also good. They are naturally timid and maybe they will go elsewhere, but more likely they will come back, since they don't seem very smart and are likely not to remember where that person who yells and chases at them lives.

Bottom line is: they are annoying, sometimes maddening. I would find it difficult to try to kill them by any method. Some years are better than others in terms of what they sample. Perhaps feeding them peanuts or the like in one section of your yard would decrease your losses. Pests are a part of gardening though.

When I planted my garden earlier this year, I found them digging up my onions. I then put chicken wire around the entire garden and have not had any issues whatsoever since. Keep in mind the garden is right beside the back deck, which houses a family of rabbits. There is also a forest 15 feet from the garden which is FULL of squirrels.

I do have a suspicion that these animals are just waiting for my veggies to ripen and then ransack my plants, though. We'll see I guess...

Thank you for your responses. I guess I can put it more in perspective.

There is a stream and tall trees with acorns right behind my backyard fence. So water is available to them.

Don't want to do any killing. Besides the fact that I have small kids and I have to set an example for them, past experience has taught me they can go and die in hard to reach places and stink up the place.

Feeding sounds tempting, but for personal reasons I cannot do that unless they are starving and I happen to have food for them.

I would have preferred a cat or dog but its too much work ( I guess my loss is not yet so great to make it worth)...I am not particularly a pets person.

The squirrels have left my bellpepper, zucchini and cumubers alone so far. So (touch wood), I can hopefully deter them with netting. Its just shocking that they can sneak under net to chomp on leaves. Maybe my garden is more easier food for them than working on the acorns or other stuff in backyard trees...But they tease me so....

They have attacked my bell peppers, but ignore the jalapenos. Ive read that if you hang shiny things like christmas ornaments or CDs in the fig trees, they will leave them alone. I actually built a giant tomato cage that is larger than my living room so that i can grow tomatoes, peppers and super snack sunflowers.

Could you have other critters in your garden such as rabbits? We have plenty of squirrels and for the most part they leave most vegetables alone.

The squirrels do like my grapevine. Last year I used gift bags to enclose the clusters. It worked pretty well overall. maybe you can try that with some of your peaches

Squirrels ruined ears of corn well before the kernels filled out, and sunflower heads before the seeds were edible. Squirrels were smart figuring out how to hang from the stem to destroy these, but were stupid because they didn't get much actual food. Maybe just because people have left out dried corn cobs and sunflower seeds for wildlife? Other than that, squirrels might dig up planted pea seeds, maybe birds do that too.

I've seen them nibbling on cherry tomatoes, and I have holes in melons that are the sizes of squirrel snouts. My neighbor says he saw one munching on a melon.

I routinely trap and displace them (along with possums and coons). Displacement works, because they only colonize seasonally. That is, it isn't like bailing a leaky boat. If you start moving them in spring, by summer and fall you won't see very many. That's the lesson of a decade of pest moving.

I think the OP of this thread is probably a fossil now.

He he, this is a 13 year old thread!

There is not a single thing my squirrels will not eat. Not one thing. Cherry flowers, raspberry canes, seeds in soil, eggplants, zucchini flowers, hot peppers, sunflower sprouts, squash, all parts, tulip flowers, lily bulbs, bean plants, crocus bulbs, corn. I have tried everything and all it has done is expanded the menu.