Backyard Pests In The Yard Dont Invite Them In

Ever wander out into your yard, full of spring greens, and the wonderful smell of soil in the hot summer sun. Ever notice how some plants just look a little off at closer inspection, and then it hits you somethings been eating my garden. Well okay; youre probably right. What you are growing for yourself is also what you are growing for all those critters walking, flying, and climbing in for the free meals. Fresh and exuberant produce and flora are open invitations for feasting. Weve all encountered snails under the agapanthus plant, but where are the corn heads, the leafy lettuce, and the turnip greens? Where are the roses?

Every animal has a favorite food: deer, raccoon, opossum, and gopher eat just about everything, including domestic pet food fed to cats and dogs in containers outside. Birds and squirrels eat seeds and greens, corn kernels and sprout seedlings. Rodents, including mice and rats, will eat roots as they tunnel under your garden, building 4-lane highways through the yard.

Creature precautions at every level of garden-building will produce optimum results.

• Build raised-bed garden areas lined with chicken wire underneath and on the sides so rodents cant dig for roots.


• Cover growing areas with netting to distract and prevent birds and squirrels from eating seeds and tender plant shoots.


• Counter grazing deer with deer-phobic plants.


• Fence the edible areas of the yard to keep out the munching deer, wild turkeys, and hungry bunnies.


• Buy eco-friendly animal deterrents that taste bad, smell bad, or sound bad to the animal, but that do not harm your veggies.


• The old scarecrow in the yard really works to deter birds, and would be a great project for kids to make for the yard.

Whatever can be grown in your yard should be grown. You are the mistress of the soil; just make sure you get to eat all of what you grow.