How To Build A Garden To Keep Animals Out

Any gardener will tell you how challenging it is to deal with animals and pests. No matter how often you drive them away, they keep coming back. Some of them even rummage through your plants in the hopes of finding food. You can't help but think of how to scare the animals off, but if they still manage to find ways to enter your garden, you need to take steps to keep them out. Here are 8 innovative ways to keep animals out of your garden.

Add a fence around your garden or plants

One of the most popular ways of keeping animals out of your garden is by building a fence around it. The fence acts as a wall between the animals and your garden, preventing them from coming near your favorite plants. Although fences create a divide between the animals and your garden, they are pretty expensive and may take time to build.

Some of the things that you need to keep in mind while building a fence around your garden are the fencing material, such as metal, plastic, or wood, whether you want to build a barbed-wire fence with fence posts around the garden or a tall fence that doesn't allow animals to see what you are growing, and finally whether you want to build an electric fence or not. An electric fence is prevalent in many houses as they scare animals away once they get electric shocks.

Create raised beds

A garden on a raised bed can effectively keep animals away. You can make raised beds using stones, wooden planks, concrete blocks, or bricks. Make sure you build the raised bed at least two inches from the ground. That should keep rabbits off from munching on the leaves of your plants. Also, don't forget to add a bottom layer of mesh fence, as it would prevent rabbits from digging burrows.

Make covers for your plants

Some plants require extra care and protection during their early stages, but animals in your garden can make a mess of your plans. Therefore, it's crucial to keep the animals away from these plants to ensure they get time to grow properly. If you cannot scare the animals away and don't have time to build a fence, you can buy fence covers for these plants. These covers protect the plants from garden-invading animals and pests.

Most of these covers are transparent, meaning your plants will receive the sunlight they require. The gap at the bottom allows moisture and air to reach the plants, thus allowing them to grow correctly.

Apply animal-repellant sprays around your garden

Most animals that sneak into your garden do so because the smell of fruits and vegetables attracts them. They come to your garden in search of food, but you can keep them away using animal-repellant sprays.

Buy animal repellants that resemble the smell of a predator's urine so that it seems as if your garden is an unsafe place for small animals like cats, dogs, rabbits, deer, and squirrels. They would look to find other places to find food and leave your garden alone. Alternatively, you can also buy spicy sprays or unappealing sprays that make the animals feel uncomfortable. Make sure you apply these sprays frequently as their efficacy starts wearing off once you water the garden or after rainfall.

Keep animal repulsive plants in the garden

This technique is helpful if you know the type of animal that frequently visits your garden. You can accordingly keep plants that the respective animal doesn't like. For example, rabbits stay away from plants like marigolds, peony, lamb's ear, boxwood, and azalea. Plants such as mullein, hyssop, daffodils, and bleeding hearts repel deer.

Alternatively, you can mix the plants to make your entire garden unappealing for rabbits and deer. Keep these plants right at the edge of your garden so that the animals go away as soon as they smell them.

Scare the animals away

Animals find different ways to sneak into your garden if they find food there. However, you can scare and startle them away in time so that they don't destroy your plants. Some of the modern scarecrows come with motion sensors, and they spray water at the animals that come to nibble at your garden. A few repellents have shiny, reflective materials that frighten off birds. Additionally, you can purchase electronic repellents that trigger an alarm or play a frightening noise whenever they detect any movement in your garden.

Pay attention to landscaping your garden to keep animals at bay

Certain landscapes make animals feel uncomfortable. They prefer to stay away from such gardens and inform their tribe not to look for food there. Rearranging your garden's landscaping may work wonders for keeping animals off your garden.

For example, avoid heavy plant cover or weeds in your garden, as they provide the perfect place for animals to remain hidden. Take out the woodpiles lying in the corner of your garden, and replace them with a few plants mentioned above that animals don't like. Finally, cut the shrubs and bushes in your garden to prevent animals from hiding behind them.

Make a mixture with hot pepper sauce

A mixture of hot pepper sauce sprayed around your plants can keep animals and pests away for a long time. You need to take an ounce of hot pepper sauce and mix it with a cup of aromatic leaves and four drops of dish soap. Add water and blend everything into a smooth puree. Strain this puree and transfer the mixture into a spray bottle. Spray this mixture around the plants at least once every week. Animals and pets would stay away from your garden because of the smell and taste of hot pepper sauce.

How to keep animals out of your garden without fence?

While many gardeners would recommend building a fence around your garden, it isn't the only way to keep animals out. Installing a fence involves spending time and big bucks. Everyone may not be able to afford to build a fence around the garden. If you are looking for alternatives, here are a few that you can try:

Not many people know this, but milk is a deterrent for deer. If you find deer lurking around your garden, you can mix a quarter-cup of milk with a few drops of dish soap and water. Spray this mixture around your plants every ten days, and you may not see a deer near your garden anytime soon.

Apart from milk, soap can also work as a deterrent both for deer and squirrels. Take a bar of soap and skewer it properly. Stick the soap at a height that's just above the plants that deer and squirrels usually target. This should prevent them from munching on their favorite plants in your garden.

Startle animals with electronic repellants. Some of the advanced repellants come with motion sensors that trigger a startling alarm that scares animals away. A few gardeners keep wind chimes near their gardens, but they aren't as effective as electronic repellants.

Final thoughts

Animals, pests, and birds can wreak havoc in your garden if you don't take action right away. However, it's not necessary to shoot them down or call pest control immediately. Instead, implementing a few innovative techniques can provide fruitful results that keep your garden free from animals, thus allowing your plants to grow safely without the prying eyes of these intruders.