How To Keep Animals Away From Garden
Keep Animals Out of Garden Without Fences – Sometimes no matter what you do, critters will find their way into your garden.
If you're in a position where furry animals are hopping into your garden and doing damage to your crops, it may be time to put up a barrier.
Fencing around your property or garden can only help so much and may still allow small critters to get through.
Thus, we've researched a few different practical methods on how to keep animals out of garden without fences.
While it may not be impossible to keep them out for good, you can definitely reduce the amount of damage they do.
How to Keep Animals Out of Garden Without Fences
Here are some of the ways you can keep animals out of garden without fences and keep your garden safe from animals:
Determine the Type of Critters
Depending on where you live, there will be different types of animals doing damage to your garden.
Identifying what type of critter can help you successfully manage what kind of methods are needed to prevent them from coming back.
Some common critters that tend to wander into gardens are deer, rabbits, and groundhogs.
Looking for tracks in the soil can help you identify what type of critter goes into your yard.
- Deer: Deer tend to leave behind hoof marks and will leave nibble marks on shrubbery.
- Rabbits: This animal tends to leave tiny footprints and snip away at small wooded plants.
- Groundhog: If you notice burrows, damages to leaves on plants, or pellet droppings, then you may have a groundhog. They typically will make a home near your garden and are quite noticeable once you look for specific markings.
- Bird: The last type of animal that you may find ruining your garden is birds. They tend to pick at any crop they can lay their hands on, even when it's not done growing. Birds aren't picky eaters, which is why it's a bit more challenging to get rid of them.
Change the Types of Plants in Your Garden
One method that doesn't suit everyone but is an alternative is to switch up the types of plants you're growing.
Plants that are less enticing to animals are less likely to get eaten by them.
Although, when animals are desperate for food, they eat everything.
Switching up the type of plants you grow can help deter them from eating them.
Plants with pungent smells, prickly textures, or fuzzy exteriors tend to bother animals like Osage Orange Trees.
Sprinkle Coffee Grounds Around Plants
If you're looking for a more natural repellent, coffee grounds tend to ward off critters.
Sprinkle a small amount of coffee grounds around each plant, and it will keep away cats, bugs, and little critters.
The grounds won't damage any of the plants and will compost over time.
Try Using Repellents
A modern solution is using plant repellents designed to keep animals away.
These are generally inexpensive and can keep specific types of critters from coming into your garden.
There are natural and artificial types of repellants, so you can switch it up if necessary.
Natural repellants include the following:
- Castor oil
- Garlic clippings
- Predator urine
- Hot pepper extract
Artificial repellants include:
- Ultrasonic sounds
- Chemical sprays
- Noisemakers
Consider Trapping Techniques
Not everyone agrees with trapping techniques, but they can definitely be useful if other methods haven't worked.
Not all traps are inhumane and can help deter animals from going near your garden.
It only takes being trapped once or twice before critters change their mind about wandering into your space.
Live traps include steel mesh and spring-loaded doors.
These traps trick wildlife into the materials and then trap them alive.
In some provinces, it can be illegal to use or relocate wildlife, so be sure to check state laws.
Hunting can also be a good alternative to keeping critters out of your garden.
However, we understand that not as many people prefer this method.
Plus, state laws may prohibit you from hunting certain types of animals.
So, we'd only suggest this to gardeners located in legal hunting areas.
Invest in a Guard Pet
Animals tend to be wary of other animals in the area.
Investing your money into a house pet can be an effective method at warding off any critters.
Small critters will easily be scared off by dogs or cats.
That said, you'll need to avoid getting household pets if you're facing predator critters like foxes or wolves.
Dogs generally work well for scaring off larger breeds of animals, but can sometimes cause a mess in your garden.
Training your pet to be a guard dog is recommended, or else, you'll end up with dug up plants.
Cats, on the other hand, make less of a mess but tend to ward off smaller animals.
Their urine gives off a specific smell that can scare away voles, gophers, or rabbits.
The only downside is that they aren't as effective as dogs and will less likely guard the area.
Use Wire Cloches
If you only have a select few plants that are being disturbed, then switching to wire cloches may be the solution.
These are small wired mesh covers that help protect against animals.
They are very effective at keeping smaller critters away from thriving crops, but they only cover a small area.
They work exceptionally well with rooted plants such as lettuce, broccoli, and small strawberry bushes.
The mesh design comes in numerous sizes, so you can easily find one that works well for your garden.
The only downside is that larger animals may be able to knock over or remove these meshes, as they are lightweight.
Place Alternative Food Sources
A significant reason for animals going after your garden is that they lack food in their natural environment.
When food sources get scarce, they will tend to eat anything they can get their hands on, including plants that they usually wouldn't consider eating.
Identifying if they're using your garden as a food source can help you take measures to prevent them from nibbling on crops.
Placing alternative food sources in other areas outside your garden may be able to deter them from eating them. Of course, you'll have to research the animal's favorite type of food; otherwise, they will still eat your crops.
- Nuts and Seeds: For birds, we recommend placing bird feeders at the end of your property. Smaller critters will also climb up the trees and eat nuts and seeds from the bird feeder.
- Food Pellets: For larger animals, we recommend placing herbivore plants or food pellets.
While this can be an excellent method for deterring critters from your garden, it can end up attracting more critters' attention.
Making the food less readily available is your best option, as an abundance of a food source can cause more critters to rely on the food.
Counting how many critters wander onto your property can help you make a better estimation of how much food to place down.
Install Automatic Sprinklers
If you can't get critters to stop wandering into your garden, then an excellent way to spook them is to use automatic sprinklers.
Many sprinkler systems are motion-triggered and can easily scare off skittish animals.
While this can be an effective method, wind, leaves, or any moving object can also trigger the sprinklers.
We highly recommend using the sprinkler system only if you have a few critters attacking your crops.
If you install motion-sensitive sprinklers while having a lot of critters, it may cause the plants to become overwatered.
Plus, this is only a practical method if you're using it against smaller critters.
Larger animals may just ignore the sprinklers and use it as a water source.
If this method fails, you can always use the sprinkler system to water your garden.
Use Noise, Lights, or Motion Activated Traps
If all else fails, then it's time to invest in unconventional methods.
Sharp noises or music can be an excellent alternative to scaring away critters.
While your neighbors may not appreciate it, you can turn up the volume on the radio or speakers.
Another suitable unconventional method is to invest in motion-activated lights.
Many animals tend to make their move either early in the morning or late at night.
If you can't play noise or music at those times, then using lights can be useful.
Critters sensitive to light can become spooked and decide not to go into your garden.
Lastly, motion-activated traps can be the best last resort.
This includes electronic scarecrows that will flail their hands up and down and scare away the small critters.
On top of that, you could use ultrasonic repellents that send certain sounds towards the critters.
How to Keep Animals Out of Garden
As you can see, there are plenty of methods when it comes to keeping animals and Pygmy Goats out of your garden.
We've done our best finding the best means of how to keep animals out of garden without fences.
If you feel like we've missed anything or have more ideas, then please leave a comment down below.
We'd love to learn from you and your experiences on how you prevent critters from getting into your garden.
How To Keep Animals Away From Garden
Source: https://rurallivingtoday.com/gardens/how-keep-animals-out-garden-without-fences/
Posted by: jacobsoulding.blogspot.com
0 Response to "How To Keep Animals Away From Garden"
Post a Comment