by E.A. Paul

Created on: May 14, 2009   Last Updated: May 20, 2009

If an animal is hungry enough, they will eat anything. A deer will eat almost any type of vegetable. A rabbit will too. These are the two most prominent animals you need to worry about. But, there will be others depending on the area you live in. So, with this in mind, the big question is, how do you keep herbivores from eating out of your vegetable garden?

The first thing to do is to determine what type of wildlife is eating out of your vegetable garden. But in general, you could put a fence around your garden. This will keep most animals out. The smaller animals and climbers such as squirrels and raccoons will need more than a fence to keep them out. Products such as dried blood may work, but most of the time this is only a temporary solution as the rain will wash it away. A fence will keep deer and rabbits away, but what about the climbers?

The best solution to keeping these smaller animals out of your garden, falling short of poisoning them, which I don't recommend, is to plant what I call diversion vegetables. These are vegetables that are planted for the specific purpose to attract an animal so they will eat that vegetable instead of eating the intended vegetable. All you need to do is to plant these diversion vegetables on the perimeter of your garden. In fact, plant them a good distance away from your garden, but make sure you plant plenty of them The reason you would plant these vegetables on the perimeter is that the animal comes to these vegetables first. If the veggies are a good distance away from your main garden, the animals may never even come into your garden.

There are products on the market that claim to keep wildlife out of your garden, but many of them don't work 100%. Of course, the manufacturer claims they work, but in most cases, you're wasting your money. There are sprays, dried blood and a number of other products. But if you do try one of these products, stay away from any type of poison. You don't want to intentionally kill an animal.

Always remember one thing when you plant your vegetable garden. There may be a good chance that some type of wildlife will invade your vegetables. Don't assume that this won't happen to you. Although you don't see any type of wildlife on your property, they usually come out at night. Be prepared in advance to protect your garden. As previouslly mentioned, try planting some diversion vegetables or plants. If this is successful, then you've found a way to not only protect your vegetables, but to also feed some hungry wildlife at the same time. It's a win win situation!

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