How to Keep Animals From Eating the Food Out of Your Garden
Vegetable gardens have many benefits as they can reduce the cost of buying produce and beautify your home landscape. Keeping unwanted critters out of your vegetable garden is a task unto itself, aside from maintaining the garden year-round. Chances are, if you have a vegetable garden, then you will have hungry animals like squirrels, skunks, and maybe deer trying to steal a bite from your garden. Several popular methods are available for keeping animals from eating the vegetables from your garden, many of which are safe, humane, and will not harm the animals. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 16- to 20-inch high wire fencing
- Garden netting
- Lavender plants
- Sage plants
- Straw mulch
- Garden hoe or shovel
Instructions
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Create a perimeter border around your garden using wire fencing. Place the border at a height of about 18 inches all around the garden. This will be your first line of defense from smaller mammals. You may want to dig about seven or eight inches into the ground, and sink the fence to prevent moles and other rodents from digging into your garden.
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Place garden mesh netting over your plants. This will deter most mammals from eating off of the plants. You can use garden netting until the plants start to become too tall or bushy, after which you should remove so as not to stunt the plant growth.
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Interplant herbs and other plants that tend to ward off certain animals. Lavender and Sage are great plants to place around the perimeter of the garden and in-between other plants. Squirrels, deer and skunks tend to dislike the odor from these plants.
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Line the garden bed with straw mulch. This mulching material is disliked by squirrels, moles, deer, and rabbits. The mulch will also provide a rich food source for your garden plants after it decomposes.
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Tips & Warnings
Observe the animals that frequent your garden to determine specific garden protection methods. If you only have squirrels in your garden, then netting and fencing may work just fine.
High fences around a garden are a great protection from deer. These fences should be over six feet tall.
Sprinkling human hair around the garden perimeter can deter most large mammals. Deer and Rabbits dislike this odor.
