#38. Protecting Your Vegetable Garden
All God's creatures are wonderful and you may be a passionate animal lover, but when you are growing your own vegetables, you need to take precautions. A variety of wildlife will make its way into your vegetable garden to forage for food at night. Here's what you need to know about the good and bad wildlife in your vegetable garden.
The different types of wildlife that could grace your garden - depending of course on where you live - include bats, deer, badgers, foxes, mice, moles, rabbits, hedgehogs and toads. Some animals will feast on your newly planted seeds; others may prefer the insects in your garden.
Let us take a look at some of the wildlife to determine whether they fall into bad or good category. The good guys versus the bad guys!
Moles are actually quite wrongly maligned. They are delicate creatures that eat the nasty pests and help improve the soil. They are constantly being blamed for damage they did not do, and often get killed for the good they do. A good strategy is to leave the mole; it can be beneficial to the garden.
Badgers are seasonal creatures that feed on the rodents, slugs, frogs, snails and grubs commonly found in gardens. That's the good news, the bad news however, is that they will eat vegetables like potatoes and carrots. A chain link fence will effectively keep badgers out of your garden.
Mice, well we know all about the damage these little things can do! Mice will feed off your early plants especially peas, beans and root vegetables. You certainly don't want mice in your vegetable garden. Mice deterrents include planting thorny brambles and shiny objects that frighten them. Why not get a cat to keep your vegetable garden mice free!
Rabbits are cute but they certainly do a lot of damage to the leafy greens in vegetable gardens. And boy can they eat! You can use rabbit fencing, hot pepper spray or dog urine to keep them at bay.
Bats are good for your garden. These insect eating machine mammals will consume enormous quantities of mosquitoes, moths, beetles and midges in your garden. Put up a bat house in your garden and hopefully you will get some to come live with your vegetables.
Birds are pests, but they are also beneficial because they enjoy feasting on the caterpillars, grubs, slugs, aphids and other pests that destroy your vegetables. Bird netting is generally useful in keeping them away.