Picture this: you’ve spent hours planting your dream garden, hunched over a curated lineup of flowers, herbs, and vegetables. After all that hard work, you can’t wait to see your efforts pay off. But instead of being full of flourishing greenery, your garden has become the neighborhood feast for local deer, woodchucks, rabbits, and other critters!
If this story sounds familiar, you’re not alone – gardeners throughout the area are having similar issues, including our Horticulture Team at Green Bay Botanical Garden. To help you combat the critters, here are a few words of advice from our garden to yours!
En Garde!
One key strategy the Garden is using to keep the critters away is excluding them from garden areas altogether! Fencing is a great way to separate your garden from the surrounding flora and fauna, protecting it from any animals looking for a snack.
“There’s a lot of ways to use different kind of fence to exclude those mammals from your garden,” says Mark Konlock, Director of Horticulture.
For starters, making a shallow trench and “burying” the bottom of your fence can prevent critters from digging underneath it. Using tall, sturdy fencing helps ensure deer won’t be able to knock down or jump over your fences, and to keep smaller animals – like chipmunks, squirrels, or rabbits – out of your garden, Konlock recommends using fencing with a finer mesh that they can’t squeeze through.
“Chicken wire works to keep out rabbits, but we found that woodchucks will climb right over it to eat your plants,” adds Lindsay Hendricks, Horticulture Manage. “So if you have woodchucks, good luck!”
Stink It Up
If you aren’t able to put up an actual fence, try a liquid one! “Liquid fence” is a spray made of rotting eggs, garlic, capsaicin, or other smelly ingredients that make your plants less appetizing to animals in your neighborhood. While the spray has a strong stench during application, it (thankfully) becomes odorless once it dries. However, the remaining residue still tastes terrible to any unwanted guests looking for a snack.
While liquid fence is generally non-toxic, it’s not recommended for use on any vegetables or herbs – the taste lingers, and might ruin your next recipe!
Remember, our neighborhood critters are friends, not foes – they just like our gardens as much (or more!) than we do. Please refrain from using harmful pesticides or chemicals as pest deterrents, as the runoff from these toxins can pollute our waterways and harm wildlife.
Natural Solutions
Some animals seem to have favorite menu items when it comes to your garden. According to Konlock, deer seem to prefer tulips, hostas, and rose buds, while Hendricks has noticed that woodchucks are partial to kale crops and sunflowers.
However, there are other plant varieties that may not be as popular menu items for our furry friends. Some plants that are said to be resistant to both deer and rabbits include marigolds, sage, lilac, boxwood, columbine, and plants in the allium (onion) family.1, 2
As you investigate critter-resistant plants, be sure to avoid any invasive species (found on the NR 40 list), and keep in mind that animals may still take an occasional nibble because, as Konlock puts it, “nothing is foolproof.”
We hope at least one of these garden tips helps you grow the garden of your dreams this summer! Have a success story to share? We’d love to hear it – email us at marketing@gbbg.org, or tag us on social media.
Sources
- Clawson, B. (2011, November 10). Oh, deer. Oh, dear. MSU Extension. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/oh_deer_oh_dear
- Penn State Master Gardner Program (n.d.). Rabbit-Resistant Garden and Landscape Plants. Penn State Extension. https://extension.psu.edu/programs/master-gardener/counties/pike/publications/rabbit-resistant-garden-and-landscape-plants
