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Followup To
Question -
 hi!  hope you can help with this..my girlfriend and i have started a garden, which is now doing a good job of growing some veggies. however, when she went to plant new seeds, one of which was watermeleon, she discovered the seeds were gone the next day. she saw broken shells, assumed this was being done by birds, so we covered the seeds over the wire mesh screen. but...next day, the seeds were gone, and something had put a hole in the mesh screens to get to the seeds.  what could that have been?  the most important question is...what can we do so this wont happen in the future?  thank you!
Answer -
Hi,

That sounds like maybe a squirrel.  Soak or coat the seeds in mint.  I use powdered mint or fresh mint in a blender if it is available. (don't put the seeds in the blender) Most rodents hate mint.  Rats are an exception. I couldn't plant seeds like sunflower or peanuts without treating them.  They would get dug up like you are seeing.

Dan       FOLLOW UP:  WHERE CAN YOU GET THE MINT TO SOAK THE SEEDS IN?

Answer
Herb supply sources. Also check spice sections of large stores. They might have larger bulk size containers of it for a realistic price.  The little jars are too expensive. I've bought mint powder from this source. pepper mint or spear mint doesn't matter for this. It was just a few dollar per pound several years back. It keeps for years.  You can put it in stored grains, beans, seeds etc to keep rodents out of it.

AmeriHerb, Inc  
P.O. Box 1968, Ames, Iowa  50010-1968.  
Phone orders:  1-800-267-6141.