How do I protect against squirrels?

What are some ways to protect against squirrels. Preferribally not chemically but im open to all ideas.

Originally Posted by outdoorfresh

Iv had squirrels only dig up my seedlings never touched the actual plant. I took chicken wire and covered the soil so they wernt able to dig anymore. kept them away and my seedlings safe.

i can say for sure if they were squirrels or chipmunks but something of that size did major damage last year, id see the see little scratch marks on the side of the buckets from their nails, and at first thought rabbits, because it was only on the lower branches, after all the nice green leaves were cleared from the bottom of most of my plants, i come back to find a few of my main crowns bent over and broke, with little scrapes and scratches on the main stem up to the crown, and squished bent down bud where it looked like they climed up. withh the evidence i saw and multiple similar occurances, i know it was something small enough to be crawling on my plants, my guess is squirrel or chipmunk bc i spotted alot in the area. they would climb all over them, break numerous branches, and eat as many of the leaves surrounding the bud as they could but wouldnt touch the bud.