There’s nothing more frustrating than putting a lot of time, effort and expense into a garden only to go outside and find that your plantings have been nibbled, trampled and destroyed.

There are measures that you can take to protect your garden but it helps a lot if you know who the culprit is.

There are a few factors to consider.  Is it happening during the day or night?  Is the damage at ground level or up high?  Are there obstacles that they would have to overcome to get to your plants?

There are many possibilities.  The list includes insects and bugs, chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, deer, woodchucks, raccoons, bears, birds and even your neighbor’s pets.

Holes in the center of the leaves indicates insect damage.  Vine borers can kill your squash and cucumbers by chewing on the stem near the roots.  Tomato caterpillars will chew on the leaves along the edge, devastating the plants by eating more each day as it grows.  Beware of these guys – they have a painful bite!  You won’t see the damage from potato borers until you harvest your crop.  They also eat other tubers such as Jerusalem artichokes.

Sprinkling diatomaceous earth on the ground around your plants will keep away bugs that crawl to your plants.  Unfortunately, many come from eggs laid on the plants by flying insects.  Use an appropriate spray or pick off any visible bugs.

It’s hard to block out some of the smaller animals unless you have a fine mesh barrier that has no gaps and that extends underground a bit. Chipmunks and squirrels are climbers and can usually go over any fence unless you have fencing on top.  Rabbits can only hop so high, but woodchucks can climb.  I was amazed to watch one climb a tree to his favorite perch on top of a 12’ tall shed.  Birds will only be deterred if you have a top on your fencing.

Your neighborhood dogs and cats would be more likely to cause damage by digging or laying down on the plants.

Repellant sprays can be effective as well as motion-detecting water sprinkler such as the ScareCrow Motion Activated Animal Repellent.  The downside to these is that repellant sprays need to be reapplied frequently and the water sprinkler doesn’t know the difference between animals and people (apologies to my mailman!)

Rabbits and woodchucks leave clean bites where deer tear off foliage.  Raccoons will tear down entire plants to get to a tasty morsel or ear of corn. 

If you don’t want to purchase a game camera, you can sprinkle lime on the ground and then identify the footprints.  The ultimate solution is a sturdy fence.