I planted my kabocha pumpkin seeds a few days ago about an inch deep in very damp soil and again, something has been digging them up and eating the seeds, leaving the husks on the ground. Is it more likely squirrels or birds? Both are very common here. Whatever it is evidently has a good sense of smell. Otherwise I can't imagine that they would know where to dig. How can I prevent this?
Dan
Seems like a bird would carry the seed away. I haven't had any digging from the squirrels in my yard, except for some small potted plants. The digging in my garden mostly comes from raccoons. I lose a few plants but it is no big deal. You may want to do as Bungadora recommended, not long ago, and put down some chicken wire to discourage digging.
If it's only a small amount of seed you can germinate them indoors, then plant them out as soon as the first pair of true leaves appear.
Both birds and squirrels love squash seeds. I've seen birds pull them up in the past when they've just begun sprouting. And row and jays might be just clever enough to have watched what you were doing and gone looking for the buried seeds. (Blue jays will tuck caches of seeds into the ground themselves;sometimes they remember to come back and eat them, leaving hulls, and sometimes I end up with half a dozen sunflower plants sprouting at some random spot in the garden.)
My solution has been to make small tent-like things out of hardware cloth to put over the seeds that I plant in hills (like squash) and remove them when the seedlings are fully emerged. I have reused the same ones for a few years now.
I've used bird netting suspended over arcs of pvc pipe to protect larger areas from birds (such as beds planted to sweet corn) and skirts of chicken wire at the bottom of the trellis where I plant peas.
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