by Disinvestment Supporter

Created on: May 14, 2009   Last Updated: June 09, 2010

So, you want a garden full of tasty vegetables all to yourself? It's not going to happen, at least not unless you vigilantly spread costly pesticides and set traps, in which case you're going to look more like an agribusiness-man or wildlife manager than a gardener. The primary culprits I've fought from here in the city are fire ants and squirrels. In other regions, gardeners have a tough time protecting their food, themselves, and their children from other wildlife, such as snakes, deer, moles, the many varieties of ants, birds and other critters that value a tasty meal as much as we do.

Short of going all out with a permaculture-based garden, every gardener will have to put up with some level of intrusion. After all, your garden makes use of the processes that sustain the natural world, so it's only fair that the natural world makes use of your garden. The level of intrusion tolerated however is up to you, and there are many time-honored ways of protecting the fruits of your labor and yourself.

As mentioned, permaculture is probably the best, certainly the most comprehensive, way to cut down on unwanted wildlife. It's based upon the idea that every living thing is food for something and takes an ecological approach. You create food niches when you set up a garden and put a lot of thought into ways to fill up all those niches with things either you, or your food, most want to eat. It leaves little room for anything else without putting a damper on the excitement of watching an ecosystem at work.(1)

This does take a lot of time and preparation though relative to just dealing with problems as they arise. Let's take a look at some of those problems and possible solutions. We can start with my absolute least favorite wildlife intruder,

ANTS! Having battled with fire ants for many summers, I've heard it all. Ants will take over a corn patch, and sugar-rich vegetables be warned. They'll also treat you like the intruder. Most of the ant gossip going around is only useful for one kind of ant. There are many kinds. Building up humic acid in your soil will discourage, but not stop them. You can do this with coffee groups and crushed eggshells mixed, which is good for most vegetables by the way. Human urine will kill ants on contact, but the ants living underground will go unfazed, same with boiling water.

For fire ants, I've found the deterrents work best, a mixture of coffee grounds, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon left to brew for several days in the sun should be sprayed

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