woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada what do you think,

Beautiful job on the deck. I would build a skirt around the entire deck to match the small area to the right of the steps. Possibly create an access door for maintenance/ storage. Then you can plant whatever you want and nothing will get under. The deck will also look more finished.

I would continue just like the the side of the steps. The create a garden bed around the deck. Beautiful deck love the rails

I would build something similar to this, making one of these panels a hinged door. Your deck and railing looks fantastic so I would definitely continue that look for the skirting.

Yes, you have a done a handsome job on the deck. If you don’t want creatures living under there, you must close it off very well. I mean VERY WELL. I like the skirting that Glo shows. That type of closure, set right down on bricks or landscape blocks dug down into the ground, would be great.

Thanks for the recommendations and compliments so far but as I said in the post im pretty set against closing it up with a skirt. Racoons and skunks are pretty resourceful little buggers and I really want to avoid creating a home for them. What's more is material is HECKIN expensive and there's a shortage of lumber at the moment too.

Once you decide on the skirting, there are plants you can put around the perimeter that discourage racoons and skunks.

You have already created a home for varmints. (And stray dogs and cats and snakes and mice.) They love under-deck and under-porch spaces and will cozy right up next to your house. They don’t need it to be enclosed.

http://community.homedepot.com/howto/DiscussionDetail/How-to-Stop-Animals-from-Making-a-Home-Under-Your-Deck-906500000000J9n

then put a garden around it.

https://wildlifehelp.org/solution/new-hampshire/woodchuck/how-keep-woodchucks-burrowing-and-denning-under-my-porch-deck-or-shed/108

Hardware cloth, which is metallic and densely woven, installed behind a decorative skirting and then laid on top of the soil outside the skirting will keep most of the critters out. Says the woman who had a skunk tenant for years...he/she came with the house and it was a trial.

Your deck is too high off the ground to be attractive to wildlife. It's not sheltered enough. They really love my deck which is about 18" off the ground so it's very protected. I'm in Toronto and we have a long-time resident groundhog there. The rabbits use it as a passageway across the yard but don't live there. We've never had a raccoon live under the deck, although they've tried to live in our attic twice. Skunks have dug dens under my neighbour's concrete porch but not under my deck. The chipmunks prefer to live behind my small rock wall, and who knows where the opossums live. Yeah, it's an urban jungle LOL but we haven't had any problems except for the raccoons and squirrels in the attic.

I'd landscape it with tallish shrubs. How tall do you want them to be? Do you want to see blooms through the glass or have the view? You could do a hedge of the same shrub, or a variety. Hydrangeas are long-blooming and trouble-free, and come in just about every height. Maybe go to a local public garden and see what appeals to you. If you see something you like but it's not labelled, take a photo to a garden center and they will know what it is. With full sun, you have lots of options, even a tall rose hedge.

Tall shrubs will take up some width too. If you don't want that, you could just plant something like Emerald Cedar (Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd') and keep it sheared to the height and width you want.

If you want to keep it open, you might like something like #7 in this link.

You've done a really nice job on your deck. If you try to hide the space underneath your deck with plantings, it will look unfinished and your eye will always be drawn to that area and not to your beautiful deck. It's too big a space not to skirt so don't cheap out at this point. Maybe tackle it next year when lumber supplies will be resolved. Hopefully! Skirting can be built that will keep wildlife out, it's a big job, but it can be done. Involves burying a perimeter of something like chicken wire below the actual skirting. Lots of info online.