How to Keep Animals From Eating Your Plants
Growing your own garden can be beneficial for your health and for your wallet. If you choose to grow fruits and vegetables, you always have a supply of nutritious foods available. You can also find relief from the stresses of daily life as you tend to your vegetable or flower garden. Unfortunately, the boost your mood gets from gardening will quickly disappear if you discover that animals such as deer, rabbits and gophers are eating up your plants. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 8-foot wire-mesh fence
- 24-inch fine-wire-mesh fence
- Raised planter beds
Instructions
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Enclose your garden with an eight-foot wire-mesh fence. This will keep deer from wandering through your plants, tasting samples as they go. Leave one side of the fence loosely secured with wire so that you have easy access to your garden.
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Attach an 18- to 24-inch fine-wire-mesh strip to the bottom of your deer fence. Rabbits can wiggle through wide mesh, and this additional layer of fencing will keep them out. Bury the bottom of the fine-mesh fencing at least four inches deep in the ground and angle it outward to discourage rabbits from digging their way to your plants.
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Raise your plant beds. You can buy or build beds that are at least 18 inches high. Stretch fine-wire-mesh hardware cloth across the bottom of each bed before you plant. This will keep gophers from reaching carrots, potatoes and other roots.
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Spray your plants with nontoxic repellents. Soaps (the more fragrant, the better) and hot pepper are not appealing to animals. These do-it-yourself repellents will keep animals out of your garden without harming your plants.
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Recruit predators to help. This may sound like an odd idea, but dogs, owls and other predators can discourage deer and rodents from raiding your garden. Deer avoid yards with large dogs, and some small breeds, such as terriers, were originally bred to hunt rodents. Owls and other birds of prey eat gophers, squirrels and rabbits. If you can, buy a dog or encourage birds of prey to nest on your property.
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References
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
