The age old problem of keeping critters away from you garden.
What do you do to keep them out?

Myself, I have always thrown seeds a few hundred feet away from my garden, and it works pretty well.
Another thing I've done is to build a deer fence, and about a foot and half off the ground, line the entire outer perimeter of the fence with corrugated roofing.
By having it a foot or more off the ground assures that the critters can't jump above it, nor can they get a grip on it allowing them to climb past it
This is an excellent barrier against squirrels and raccoons, neither of which ever made it into the garden.

Of course this was all helped by having dogs.

So what have you done to strengthen your borders?

Make some fist sized bags of dog hair in old Nylon stocking material and drop them around the edge of your garden.

Quote from: Eyesabide on October 15, 2012, 07:06:18 PM
Make some fist sized bags of dog hair in old Nylon stocking material and drop them around the edge of your garden.

I heard about that, I'll have to try it.
I did try the hair in the mole hole, but the mole just dug a new hole.
We were plagued all summer long, then just yesterday my wolf was playing with his trophy, the mole.
I was so pleased he fed himself as well as stopped a family from emerging next year, I was worried this rodent might find a mate.
Netting a barrier to the underground of the garden is a whole other job on it's own.

I'm considering starting on a vegetable garden. I'm in a suburban-type environment, so I don't have a great deal of land to work with, so I'm thinking of caging it in with chicken wire to keep out squirrels, possums, and raccoons.

Quote from: CubaLibre on October 16, 2012, 06:54:52 AM
I'm considering starting on a vegetable garden. I'm in a suburban-type environment, so I don't have a great deal of land to work with, so I'm thinking of caging it in with chicken wire to keep out squirrels, possums, and raccoons.

Skunks and raccoons will tear right through the chicken wire, you may want to consider a no climb fence or hog fence to keep them out.
My neighbor raises chickens to sell, the varmints opened holes in the chicken wire and damn near killed them all.

His pen looks more like a jail now, but it works.
That is, unless you have dogs, then chicken wire should work well.

Quote from: Solar on October 16, 2012, 07:50:32 AM
Skunks and raccoons will tear right through the chicken wire, you may want to consider a no climb fence or hog fence to keep them out.
My neighbor raises chickens to sell, the varmints opened holes in the chicken wire and damn near killed them all.

His pen looks more like a jail now, but it works.
That is, unless you have dogs, then chicken wire should work well.

I have a beagle. He's 9, but his nose is so sharp he knows when the possum is crawling on our fence, even when he's sound asleep.

Quote from: CubaLibre on October 16, 2012, 08:01:51 AM
I have a beagle. He's 9, but his nose is so sharp he knows when the possum is crawling on our fence, even when he's sound asleep.

Critters hate hounds.

Gardens and critters critters and gardens, the age old battle.... I live in suburbia also. I have raised beds,,,not so high . Still they are raised,,, it is good for planting lots in a small space...
Chicken wire never helped,,,neither did moth balls,,,, I have found a spray called Bobeks.  It is a natural spray you spray it on the plants themselves and  here and there on the perimeter... Seems to work against skunks and bunnys...  Cardinals like the red tomatoes. I've had to get creative and use flaming red ornements as a decoy..... so I use those kid whirlly birds,,, also a plastic snake will help keep birds out of a strawberry garden area...Good luck with that,lol.... I put all kinds of stuff out,,,,

Something my mom used to do was paint English walnuts with bright red nail polish, place them around the strawberry plants as soon as she planted them.
The birds would peck the crap out of them to no avail, once the berries became ripe, the birds had already given up thinking the new berries were rock hard.

Bugs were another story...

Quote from: Solar on October 16, 2012, 11:25:00 AM
Something my mom used to do was paint English walnuts with bright red nail polish, place them around the strawberry plants as soon as she planted them.
The birds would peck the crap out of them to no avail, once the berries became ripe, the birds had already given up thinking the new berries were rock hard.

Bugs were another story...

My kids found that IF you eat the berries as fast as they turn red there no problems.  It was the same way with green beans.      

and blackberrys and raspberrys,lol   I love raw green beans....

Quote from: Elfie on October 18, 2012, 07:35:03 PM
and blackberrys and raspberrys,lol   I love raw green beans....

The blackberrys were fantastic this year down on the lower farm.   You could pick a gal in about 1 hr. or less if we were not eating as we were picking.   

I need to plant some more blackberrys and red raspberrys.  I miss having them in the yard..... Next year when the new gardens go in, I will get some and slap them in....

Quote from: Solar on October 16, 2012, 11:25:00 AM
Something my mom used to do was paint English walnuts with bright red nail polish, place them around the strawberry plants as soon as she planted them.
The birds would peck the crap out of them to no avail, once the berries became ripe, the birds had already given up thinking the new berries were rock hard.

Bugs were another story...

Oh, come on. I love the idea of painting the nuts bright red, but I think the concept of the birds concluding that the berries were no good is a bit of a stretch. I think that asking any common songbird to mentally connect "Gee, this red thing is really HARD and I can't eat it!" to "All red things are really HARD and I can't eat them!" is considerably more than the bird is capable of. There is a reason we call idiots "birdbrains."

Quote from: TboneAgain on March 05, 2013, 03:40:01 PM
Oh, come on. I love the idea of painting the nuts bright red, but I think the concept of the birds concluding that the berries were no good is a bit of a stretch. I think that asking any common songbird to mentally connect "Gee, this red thing is really HARD and I can't eat it!" to "All red things are really HARD and I can't eat them!" is considerably more than the bird is capable of. There is a reason we call idiots "birdbrains."

It seemed to work, but she still couldn't keep up with us boys.