Ugh! I have seen them screwing with my plants, chewing off buds, etc. It’s wartime around here I got a bunch of cayenne pepper and spread all along my fence lines and gardens where they are burrowing. Hope to witness some squirrel tongues hanging out soon.
I waged war against them when I was married. One neighbor half gave me grief over it, but then squirrels started to eat away at her siding and wood roof shingles (I had slate).
Her husband bought commercial bait for squirrels and other rodents.
It was a losing battle. Another neighbor with her kid would feed them whole peanuts, and yet another would dump whole peanuts out the kitchen window onto the bulkhead. You could hear the noise.
I even found a peanut shell up in a second story gutter.
Outwitting Squirrels: 101 Cunning Stratagems to Reduce Dramatically the Egregious Misappropriation of Seed from Your Birdfeeder by Squirrels
Yeah, I also forgot that I did try to attract birds, the reason for the war.
Try mothballs.