Keeping stray animals away from vegetables?

[MomToTwoBoys]

Our neighborhood has mainly stray cats and bunnies (from across the street) with a few skunks roaming around in the spring and summertime. I have plans on putting tomatoes and other vegetables in the front yard when the ground gets to where it can be worked and the last frost has passed. I'm concerned about the animals eating the plants. Is there any way to keep them away from the plants?

[HandyMom]

Same here! I await an answer to this one! My only recourse so far is to grow in containers on my front porch where the animals won't go. I've seen some of my neighbors use some chicken wire with the tall metal stakes you can drive into the ground to hold them. They put that temporarily around their gardens. My next door neighbor had all his tomato plants ruined when his big dog layed on them and broke the stalks.

[FrugalMomof3]

I NEED the answer to this one too! I am more worried about squirrels and the stray cats.

[HomeschoolMom]

I have not tried it but I've heard that dog hair scattered around the edge of the garden can keep critters out - don't know if it really works or not.

If you don't have a dog you could try going to a grooming salon and picking up some dog hair from them. Bet they'd be glad to give you a bagful.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I'd love to do that but any sort of pet dander around DS10 causes him to have a severe allergic reaction.

I had also been thinking of the chicken wire and metal stakes idea, but that just seemed really not my style. I want people to be able to see my awesome vegetables.

[kmeyrick]

Wow, Nanagail! Those are great ideas, I never would have thought of any of those!

[Trishagirl]

I've seen people hang pietins in their garden to scare animals away also. I hear that the human hair keeps deer out and human urine also but haven't tried that.

[MomToTwoBoys]

My FIL also told me that if you sprinkle the soil with cayenne pepper, it keeps the animals from coming back because when it gets on their paws, it's too hot for them to lick off. The Irish Spring soap thing sounds like a winner to me too!

[Greebo]

My FIL also told me that if you sprinkle the soil with cayenne pepper,

I've heard this too - only it was from my Mother In Law who was calling it "canine pepper" :rofl:

[Denvergirlie]

Cayenne pepper - We've done this with mixed results in the past. Worked like a charm to keep the squirrels off the sunflowers... they would hang upside down and clean a sunflower head in a day or so.

As for the other produce... no luck. We put bird netting over some homemade metal hoops to protect the strawberries....darn squirrels figured out how to get in the netting and then would eat every darn berry and get trapped inside... I'll admit it was very amusing to watch them bounce off the walls and be all frantic when they discovered they were trapped, but didn't actually save the berries.

Cats don't eat anything in the garden, but did take to making it their own kitty litter box... grrr.... got some burlap bags (free) from a coffee roasting place across town and cut them open and used as a mulch barrier on the dirt. That fixed that issue.

No rabbits, but do have an occasional raccoon. But mainly it's the squirrels that get the most. Not much I have been able to do to deter them. When we find a tomato or squash they have started in on, we set it aside on a saw horse and the squirrels tend to stick with the chewed on ones as well as our rejects. Sadly I've found it's better to set aside squirrel food where they now expect it that let them pick and choose in my garden.

They also raid the compost pile from time to time, but it's not an all the time thing.

Sadly I think you might need to prepare yourself to lose some of the harvest to the animals.

[Missy]

you could also make long,box shaped frames tht fit over your rows cover each frame with chicken wire. It would end up looking sort of like a long wire and wooden milk crate. Or hoop house style protectors over the veggies.

[MomToTwoBoys]

Yeah I'd honestly feel bad by shooting any animals that got nearby, which is odd because I was taught to shoot human beings when I was in the military without remorse.



Omg Greebo, that canine pepper comment cracked me up!

The skunks are primarily interested in garbage more than they are with fresh stuff. I might just give it a go and see what happens. I'm going to give the moth balls a shot too.

[mzpepper]

I keep a fence around my vegetable garden and it works pretty well for large animals. Generally I just plant more than I think I will need and plan to lose some to the animals. I consider it my "tithe to nature". So far I have put up enough to last me till the next harvest.

[StaceyS]

DBF has quail everywhere at his house. We're going to garden there this year, and I need to try to keep them from eating the new sprouts. I'm thinking of the netting over the hoops, or chicken wire "cages". Has anyone dealt w/ quail?