Fencing.

You can go cheap or fancy, your choice. Fence the area in to a height of around 2' and you effectively stop rabbits and most cats/dogs.

Deer would get in if they wanted to, but I wouldn't worry about that at this point. If they actually start eating from your garden then you can worry about it.

If you wanted to you could make the fence higher and have it touch the ends of your beds and it would then do double duty as a trellis.

Now, there are approximately 1.4 trillion products on the market from animal scents, ultrasonic devices and a bunch of other things, but they all have one trait in common. They generally don't work for most. For every product there is at least one or two folks who swear by it with many others saying it didn't do the trick for them.

A fence is the best all around solution in my opinion.

I have a 33" rabbit fence around the garden. The openings are much smaller at the bottom, and the bottom few inches is buried in the ground......we also have woodchucks that were trying to pull out the bottom of the fence to get in; burying some of it deterred them and now there are no problems.

No doubt a fence is the gardeners best friend. But some things will always manage to get thru or over. I always try to think about their natural enemies.

Couple years ago (After I had tried everything else.) I discouraged the woodchucks eating my broccolli (I hate broccolli) by removing the tail (& a leg) from a fox found dead in the road and placing them next to the broccolli. They moved somewhere else. Problem solved.

This year, I bought some fox urine at a hunting supply store, just in case. Alot cheaper than I expected $3 or $4.
Ever wonder how they get that stuff?

ps. A skunks only enemies are dogs & cars. Cars take up too much room in the garden.

Well, the need for action is clear. After lunch today, perusing the boxes, I found more tracks, this time in squares of planted seeds. Worst of all was a pile of dirt that when I put back in place (over garlic), I uncovered a head. It was a freshly dead baby rabbit, I presume a runt buried by its mother.

Yup. Fence. Agreed.

Not ammonia. It may keep small herbivores out, but it will attract cats instead of repelling them.

Fencing is good.

Try putting down chicken wire on the ground around the outside of the raised bed boxes. The grass will come up through it and hide it, but most critters don't like to step on it. (Neither will you, but that's what shoes are for.)

i have squirrels as much as rabbits and i know they eat a lot of my garden. the perimeter fence doesn't seem like it would do a lot in my situation. fortunately i live in the city limits and do not have deer in my yard. i would also want a fence i can easily get over (or go through a gate) to water, weed, pick etc.

the square foot gardening book has a suggestion. the short version is that, for example, if your garden is 4x4 feet, you make a 4x4 wooden frame that fits right on or around your box. you take something like chicken wire (from a 4 foot tall roll) and have it come vertical off the frame for 2 feet, bend it 90 degrees, run the 4 feet across the frame and then back down 2 feet. you use pieces of 2x4 foot fence to patch the sides and you have a animal resistant lid. it will let through light and water. of course that won't work for the vertical growing. this year i jumped from 2 square foot garden style boxes to 6. i intentionally planted things that got eaten up in 2 of the boxes, and will put the lid on them when the time comes. everything may get nibbled, but, for example, i did not get to eat one strawberry last year. most of my garden was fairly ok until i got a groundhog. that's a whole different story.

the chicken wire is not pretty, but that's the cheapest solution for full enclosure. obviously you can balance your preference of appearance with cost. just remember to keep it light weight so you can easily remove it for weeding and picking.

that may be a more intense cover than you need, but there are options. i personally tried some of the animal predator urine smell stuff and the other mixes and it didn't seem to do anything. maybe i got the wrong kind, or the garden was just too appealing. i will give some of them another go as a preventative measure though. they are cheap enough to try another brand.

I used meat meal and hair from a hair salon to keep the deer away last year. Not great for deterring dogs though. They love the smell. It worked pretty well, but I'm not taking any chances this year. Fencing, fencing, fencing.

I just discovered an animal trail forming in my Pacasandra ground cover. I followed it to a place in the center that has been flattened out as if some critter is sleeping there, probably at night. I want to stop this from continuing before the Pacasandra is permanently damaged. I'm thinking it's either cats or deer. I was wondering if human urine can be placed there or perhaps hanging a urine soaked sponge from the tree would work? Any ideas would be welcomed.

I say give it a go. What do you have to lose?

Since you haven't given a clue where on this planet you are located the only other thing I can say is if it was a deer or woodchuck you should see signs of plants being eaten.

The point is if you know which animal it is you can be more successful. I say if it is a cat it is prob doing more good than harm.

Well gumby since no one else put there global locations on their posts, I didn't realize it made a difference.

Point is, I don't know what animal it could be, hence the words "some critter" being noted in my post. I'm guessing it's either cats, since my neighbor has several outdoor cats or deer. But thanks for your helpfullness

angel523_jg said:

"Well gumby since no one else put there global locations on their posts, I didn't realize it made a difference."

Guess I am "no one".

You can put it in your profile (preferred) and why is it there?

You can type it in your text - either helps if you want help from someone who may be familiar with your territory.

Keep in mind a Zone 5 in CT is NOT the same as a Zone 5 in MI.