Best way to get rid of squirrels?

[Fiacre]

I've been sick with a cold over the past couple of days, and as such I haven't been outside to tend my small garden as often. I'm still sick, but went out to make sure nothing was dying or otherwise in need of help.

I discovered that squirrels had decided to start digging in my orchids. They've been pests already, digging in my potted plants, but never before have they bothered my orchids. Now it's utter war, because they tore up one of my cattleyas and shoved a peanut in its pot. That's right, a peanut - I live in an apartment complex, and my neighbor (who is a nice older fellow) loves feeding the little bastards...right in front of my apartment. I've chased them off physically, I've put cayenne pepper and coffee grounds in my pots (not with my orchids of course, I haven't had to before), I've done everything short of using a pellet gun.

What in the world can I do? I don't know if my little cattleya will survive the damage inflicted on it, and I would be devastated if they did this to one of my larger orchids. I don't have the room in the apartment to bring my orchids inside, and they certainly wouldn't get enough light if I did. This is really discouraging, because I had just made peace with them destroying my other potted plants, as long as they left the orchids alone, but now they're even bothering those.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.