An Ounce of Prevention
Whether you practice in-ground gardening, raised-bed gardening, or container gardening, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Being proactive in pest prevention means using methods like permaculture practices, high-intensity spacing, diversity in the garden, and the animal deterrents in this post to tilt the odds in your favor.
I believe gardeners should work with nature, not fight against it. Organic pest control is about mitigating pest damage, not eliminating pesky critters altogether.
Common Pest Animals in the Garden
The first thing you need to know is which garden pests are common in your area. Ask your neighbors or do some research if you aren’t sure. Once you know what you are defending against, you can make an educated decision about which deterrents to implement in your garden.
The pests in your area may include some of these common troublemaking creatures:
Now is the perfect time to make a plan for defending your garden, before animals can eat prized cabbages, scatter a compost pile, ruin a strawberry harvest, or dig up flower bulbs.
Identifying the Culprit of Pest Damage
Different pests cause different damage. Even without catching the culprit in the act, the evidence left behind should tell a story that eliminates the suspects down to one.
When you see pest damage in your garden, look closely at what was eaten and the bite marks on your plants. Also, check the garden for animal droppings, tracks in the soil, nests, and holes or burrows.
After some detective work, use your observations and the information below (or a quick Google search) to identify your foe.
Deer
Deer are beautiful animals, but they find all their favorite foods in the garden. Deer often feed during the night, so it is essential to know how to identify deer activity in your garden.
Watch for hoof prints in the soft soil, deer droppings, and damaged or eaten plants. Deer will eat almost any vegetation, even garden mushrooms and woody plants.
When eating, deer leave telltale jagged or torn edges on stems and leaves. Look for missing leaves cleaned from stems up to 6 feet high and missing new growth on bushes, flowers, vegetables, and trees.
If you have a deer problem, read these effective strategies for deer management.
Squirrels & Chipmunks
It’s usually easy to spot squirrels and chipmunks in your garden because they are active during the day, especially mornings and evenings.
Squirrels love to bury things in the soft soil of a garden to build up a food cache for the winter. Their holes are shallow and small.
They will also steal and eat seeds, fruits, nuts, vegetables, and flowers from the garden. Squirrels, chipmunks, and groundhogs are common culprits of eaten spring bulbs and flowers.
Squirrels will raid bird feeders and pet food for an easy meal. Watch for birdseed to quickly disappear from a bird feeder and pile up on the ground underneath it.
If squirrels are damaging your garden, read these squirrel control methods.
Rabbits
These adorable but pesky creatures will damage flower and vegetable gardens alike. Rabbits love to eat flowers, young vegetables, and green plants, especially the tender shoots and leaves.
These shy creatures might not be easily spotted, but you can look for signs to identify rabbit damage. When you notice nibbled plants, the damaged edge of the plant will be low to the ground and look neatly cut, not jagged, if a rabbit ate it.
Also, watch for small holes in the ground, usually with a pile of dirt nearby, and pellet-like rabbit droppings. If rabbits are your culprit, read this post on rabbit-proofing your raised beds.
Birds
Birds are often mistaken for garden pests when they usually do much more good than harm. They control insect populations that would otherwise run rampant, decimating crops, spreading disease, and causing other damage.
Birds benefit the garden in more ways than eating harmful insects. They also reduce rodent populations, eat weed seeds, pollinate plants, disperse seeds, and more.
But birds will also eat fruit, flowers, and seeds right out of the garden. Look for bird droppings, nests, bird sightings, and crop damage. Birds leave large holes on crops and partially eaten fruit and vegetables in the garden.
If you are frustrated with annoying birds in your garden, read this post on using natural and safe methods to deter birds.
Why Animal Pest Deterrents Stop Working
Every gardener is aware of common pest deterrents as they apply to animals: CDs, horns, lights, motion-activated sprinklers, cans on a string, the list goes on and on! The question is, why do they all eventually stop working?
Initially, an animal’s fight-or-flight response kicks in when they feel threatened by a scare tactic. But when the perceived threat repeatedly fails to harm them, it becomes irrelevant—just another part of the environment.
Large garden pests need only 5 to 7 exposures to a scare tactic before they become used to it. After that, they ignore it and continue to feed in the garden.
Advanced Solutions for Garden Pests
Protecting your garden from animals isn’t a one-size-fits-all task. A deer fence probably won’t keep rabbits out of the garden, and cayenne pepper will keep squirrels and mice from eating seeds, but not birds.
What works effectively to keep one pest out of the garden won’t work for another. Instead, gardeners need an integrated pest management approach to minimize pest damage with various safe and natural methods while maintaining a healthy ecosystem.
You can implement the following deterrents individually to build up your pest protection system “a-la-carte” or use them all together to drastically reduce the probability of an animal coming in.
Method |
Effectiveness |
Animal Resistant Plants |
Some plants, such as lavender, echinacea, rosemary, sage, lemongrass, garlic, and poppies, are known to repel animals. Plant these around the garden's perimeter and next to the plants you are trying to protect. |
Fencing or Physical Barrier |
Fencing or physical barriers are the most effective way to keep certain animals, such as deer, out of gardens and orchards. (Deer fencing should be around 8 feet tall to be effective.) |
Scare Tactics |
Scare tactics (like scarecrows, predator decoys, and stringing up tin cans) must be varied and random to stay effective. Repetitive tactics will lose effectiveness over time. |
Motion Sensors |
Motion sensors detect an animal and trigger a sprinkler or loud noise to scare it away. Like other scare tactics, this is usually only effective if various noises or tactics are randomized. |
Cayenne Pepper |
I recommend using cayenne powder as a pest deterrent when sowing seeds that could be a food source for mammals like chipmunks, deer, raccoons, groundhogs, or mice. It is not effective against birds. |
Peppermint Oil |
Aromatics like peppermint oil can be used in the garden for many beneficial things from preventing squash vine borers to repelling squirrels. |
Repellent Sprays |
Commercial animal repellents can be effective but cost-prohibitive and short-lived because they wash away in rainfall or watering. |
Bird Netting |
I do not recommend using bird netting because birds often become entangled in it and die! |
The Ten-Percent Rule
The ten-percent rule states that you will probably lose about 10% of your crops to pests. Expecting to harvest 100% of your garden is unrealistic. I learned this rule from my grandfather, who probably learned it from his grandfather.
So, start the season with a mindset that ten percent of whatever you grow will basically be given to the local wildlife. This is simply a way of coexisting with the animals and being realistic with your expectations.
Now let's all grow bigger!
