Protect the garden you worked so hard on from wildlife. This is how it works!
Photos by: Unsplash
Now that spring has come, it is time to dream of green vines climbing up their cages and beds made of lush, vibrant perennials. There is almost nothing sweeter than planting, maintaining, and harvesting the rewards of your own garden. They spend hours researching, pruning, grooming, and looking. As it turns out, however, you aren't the only one who has cared about your garden. Quadruped, furry creatures from near and far have likely been watching it for some time. So what can you possibly do? Fortunately, there are a number of ways to combat the threat or nuisance of wildlife in your yard.
What is a threat?
Depending on where you live, different animals can put the health of your garden at risk. For example, in most areas of North America, rabbits, marmots, deer, dogs, cats, moles, chipmunks, possums, raccoons, squirrels, and skunks are just some of the furry dangers you will encounter. However, since deer do not hibernate, they look for whatever they can find during the winter months. It is therefore important to protect the garden all year round.
Tools for protection
Unless you're ready to share your bountiful harvest with the local wildlife, you need to plan ahead and take steps to protect your garden even before seeds get into the ground.
- Deer fence – A strong, high barrier around your garden is an excellent physical boundary between it and the animals that want to enter. Deer can easily jump over ordinary neighborhood fences, which are typically around four to six feet tall. The deer fence stands eight feet taller to completely disable the deer's ability to enter. Smaller, staggered fences, arranged in two rows, a few feet apart, or in other patterns work well as another option. Deer don't like to be hit between two obstacles. Fences like the one on Deerfencing.com also keep smaller animals out, making them your best option for protecting the fruits of your labor.
- Keep the garden tidy – Eliminating areas where smaller animals like squirrels, mice, and moles can hide is a great way to keep them from nesting in your yard. Removing overgrown brushes and grass will make your garden less attractive to them.
- Repellants 1 – There are a number of repellants on the market that are geared towards keeping animals away. Predator urine, castor oil, and garlic clips serve this purpose. However, it is important to remember that repellants must be reapplied or they will lose their effectiveness.
- Pets – It's time to get Fluffy and Rover to make a living! Both dogs and cats provide natural protection against smaller animals, although they can sometimes have their own interests in your seedlings.
- Sensory devices – There are a number of devices on the market that use either audible or visual cues to deter animals. These include motion-activated sprinklers, ultrasonic sound wave devices, reflective tape, and even artificial predators. These devices may work well at first, but when it comes to finding food, wildlife finds ways to adapt to deterrents which then decrease their effectiveness fairly quickly.
- Wire bell – These small wire cages fit right over the plants to keep animals away. They can also serve as a grid for various grapevines and ivy.
- Providing an alternative source of food – Animals in the wild will eat what your garden has to offer, largely because they cannot find food anywhere else. Set up a bird or squirrel feeder filled with nuts and seeds to draw the attention of small animals away from your yard. For larger animals, you can sprinkle food pellets and herbivore plants. Keep in mind that while this is an effective way to keep creatures out of your yard, it can also attract other wildlife to your area.
- Resistant landscape plants – While no plant is completely "deer-proof", some plants naturally repel deer because they are poisonous, unattractive, or uncomfortable for deer. Some of these are yearbooks like Ageratum, Anise, and Dusty Miller; Perennials such as Dame & # 39; s Rocket, Buttercup, and Horseradish; and ornamental grasses such as Hard Rush, Indian Grass, and Japanese Sweet Flag.
- Resistant landscape trees & shrubs – These trees and shrubs are taller and sturdier and can act as a barrier or perimeter around the garden area that you want to protect. These include the katsura tree, Japanese black pine, heather, and dwarf Alberta spruce.
When it comes to keeping critters out of your yard, there are a number of options available. Other important factors to consider include your location and identifying the creatures most responsible for visiting or terrorizing your yard. You will likely have to try an option, or a combination of two or three, on a trial and error basis to determine which will work best for you.
