One of the most frustrating things as a gardener is to spend months preparing your garden and getting it perfect just to have an unwanted guest ruins all of your crops just before harvest time.
If you have been gardening for any quantity of time, then you know that nature’s critters are captivated by crops. Whether or not they want to eat them, dig in the grime around them, or just trample about them, these critters can cause an issue. So a well-seasoned gardener decides to take matters into their own hands, but how exactly?
Here are 5 Easy Ways to Keep Animals Away from Your Garden
Set Non-Lethal Traps
A box-trap with an alluring little bit of peanut butter and/or apples can be set up to catch ground-based intruders. Remember, nevertheless, that you will have to transport the captured critter even more than a km away and let it go in into the wild.
Be Careful With Your Mulch
Mice love to nest in mulch. When spreading mulch around the garden, make sure you don’t lay it too thick. This will prevent unwanted guests from making themselves a nice little home out of it. Try not to order too much mulch to avoid having large piles laying around, or find an animal-proof storage container to keep it in once you’ve finished.
Protect Your Trees Bark
Trees are also enticing to critters that like to nibble on the bark. To discourage these inquisitive forays, it is recommended that you wrap a thin layer of mesh all around your trees’ bases. Given that the trunks will gradually expand, it is important that you also replace/adjust the mesh as the trunk expands.
One particular of those people critters that could nibble at your tree’s bark is a rabbit. They also love chewing the bark of shrubs in the winter season and spring.
Whilst it is true that some birds are also critters that favour bark, they are not a lot of risk to your garden.
Build a Proper Fence
A simple yet effective method of keeping animals out of your garden is building a good fence. Although not the easiest, a fence is probably the best way to keep unwanted ecritters out of your beloved garden.
A standard mesh fence will be sufficient to keep your vege garden safe. Make sure it is at least 1m-1.5m high and that the wire mesh is dug 20cms into the ground to prevent any animals from tunnelling underneath it.
Homemade Repellants
Another great way to protect your garden is with the use of homemade repellants. A good way to repel unwanted animals is to try to make them think there are predators nearby. If you have a cat or dog, your can spread some of their droppings around your garden. You might also try using your own scent, you can use some of your hair or put a piece of clothing in the area to scare animals away. Peppermint oil, cayenne pepper, pepper and cloves are other good natural repellents.
Bonus: Empty Drink Bottles
Drink bottles have been utilized to scare away rabbits and other small rodents. Bury them with their necks coming out from the floor. The wind dashing over the holes of the bottles makes a whistling noise and therefore keeps these animals away.
