This is for those who live in places where a wild animal could walk across your backyard at night to see if you left anything for them. How do you keep them nocturnal visitors from destroying your cherished vegetable patch? I just read this and though I've never tried think it could be a good deterrent — keep a rotten egg cocktail in your garden and the stench will drive away anything that eats herbs/greeens . . . whatever.
Some plants are more deer and rabbit resistant than others. It really depends on the amount of food they have available outside of your garden buffet. When they are hungry, nothing is really deer or rabbit proof. Bushes and vines that have thorns are pretty safe. There are some groundcovers that will deter them because of thorns or spines. Some plants are poisonous for them so they naturally avoid them. Here are a few plants that you can try. Alleghany Spurge Dead Nettle Lily-of-the-Valley Candytuft Creeping Phlox Spring Cinquefoil Bugleweed Periwinkle Anise Borage Comfrey Feverfew Wall Germander Hyssop Mullein Creeping Winter Savory Ageratum Sweet Alyssum Pot Marigold Verbena Salvia Daylilies Iris Phlox Snapdragon Black-Eyed Susan Foxglove Garden Pinks Annual Honesty Catmint Paprika Yarrow Lavender Sweet Woodruff Chives Mints
Pack Rats were the bane of my garden along with the odd rabbit. I ended up using chicken wire around my vegetable garden to keep them out. I just buried the bottom about 6 inches deep and had about 18 inches above ground. While it wasn't a perfect solution, at least the critters that did manage to get inside were unable to find their way out and could be dealt with. It was the animals of the two legged variety that were the most difficult to deal with.
My house used to get invaded by those rat squirrel looking thing and my lime tree always took the hit. What I did was set up a fence, doesn't completely put them off but managed to reduce them. What I think is best is to have a house dog. My neighbor has dogs and I always see them chase them away.
I'm actually looking for ways to keep cats out of my garden, not because they eat anything, but because they poop in my garden and I spend my times picking up something like FOUR cat poops for every dog poop from my own dog!
I have learnt one trick from my mother which seems to be quite effective most of the time. We have not just a garden but a little farm behind our house and what my mother does is she hangs empty plastic bags around using ropes that are tied between 2 trees. Then whenever a strong wind comes the plastic bags will make a loud noises and scare the animals. Another one is she builds a pretend wooden human using sticks and dresses it with proper clothes that it looks as if someone is always around the farm.
In our area the only pests are crows and the occasional rabbit that enters the garden. For crows we build a cheap scarecrow using old clothes and some sticks tied together. For rabbits, we made sure to close all the holes in our fence and we also built a cement belt under the fence to avoid eventual holes they dig to get through. Finally, for the small parasites that eat the leaves we made sure to spray the plants with the proper substances.
We just put up a fence around our garden and buried chicken wire under it to deter groundhogs from either climbing into or burrowing into it. That's really the only pest we have to worry about here. I've heard that epsom salts work to keep animals out but are good for your plants. Never tried that myself though. Seems like a cheap and easy solution.
I have to say I have not found a solution to mines yet I have a problem with squirrels. I just have to go outside and hope that they have not tore my garden apart. I think getting a house dog would be perfect.
