VIDEO: Protect your garden produce from unwelcome animal visitors

GARDENING is contradictory. For example, ecologically minded gardeners strive to increase the range of creatures, great and small, that resides in their gardens, while knowing that the introduction of predators sustains a healthy food chain and keeps pests in check.

However, certain ‘wildlife’ should be kept out of the garden, as they tend to be more harmful than helpful.

For that reason, vegetable plots have traditionally been enclosed and our gifted gardening ancestors, the Victorians, went to considerable expense and effort, by using ten-foot high walls, to do this.

Granted, these walls provide more perks than pest protection: the stone and brick is an idyllic backdrop for plants, a support for trained fruits and ornamentals, and creates clement climatic conditions, while also giving maximum rabbit, deer and other four-legged pest protection.

Birds, slugs, aphids and caterpillars are the usual garden suspects, not to mention microscopic fungi and bacteria, but a few four-legged creatures are primed to wreak havoc in the plot, and these include:

Rabbits

Rabbits are furry, soft and very cute, with their long ears and bushy tails, but if you have lots of them munching their way through your vegetable or flower garden, their cute look will soon wear thin. Rabbits love a good garden feast at night, early in the morning, and in the evening, and being non-specialist pests they cause a lot of general damage.

They are not fussy eaters and enjoy a wide range of plants — especially grazing on young shoots and feasting on the bark of young trees.

They seem to be at their most voracious in spring and early summer. It is estimated that rabbits can eat 0.5kg of vegetation daily, so you can well imagine what damage a number of these gregarious garden gorgers can do.

There are many garlic powders and sprays that claim to repel rabbits, but only a rabbit-proof fence, or guards around or over plants, will keep them at bay.

Fences need to be at least 1.2m high, with a further 30cm buried below ground level. Mesh size should be at least 2.5cm to 3cm and the buried part must be angled outward to prevent burrowing.

Ensure that fences are well-supported with adequate posts and inspect regularly for holes. If the population of rabbits is small or there is a not a huge amount of vulnerable suspects, protect individual plants with netting or tree protectors.

Some plants are said to be less attractive to rabbits than others, but, unfortunately, these mostly tend to be ornamentals, such as buddelia, hostas, foxgloves, etc.

A resident dog or cat will also chase rabbits away, but these domestic dwellers bring with them their own set of problems. Hares are less common, but also a threat, and the same rabbit rules and fencing apply.

Cats

In either a rural or urban environment, cats, be they your own pet or strays, can cause extensive problems, especially at this time of year.

Cats damage emerging plants, while rabbits base their diet on your crops. For example, a freshly prepared seedbed is a magnificent moggie magnet, as it is perfect for digging, for rolling, for use as a litter box and for disturbing freshly sown seeds.

The most serious aspect of this is that cat faeces can host a parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, that is especially dangerous to pregnant women, so always wear gloves when gardening.

Yet again, there are many products on the market, ranging from those that utilise ultrasonic sounds, to scent repellent, to water squirters.

These may potentially also keep beneficial visitors at bay, so a physical barrier is the best option.

If cats are a problem, cover prepared and sown seedbeds with fleece, or simply surround them with twiggy prunings, which will make them unappealing for sunbathing and digging and rolling.

Dogs

Dogs can certainly be a garden asset, as they will keep unwanted furry friends, such as rabbits, rats and mice, at bay, but without training they may be tempted, especially at the puppy stage, to run across beds and bound through borders.

Strict training, involving plenty of hand signals and severe looks, will get the message across and, with age, a dog will learn good garden ways.

If your dog is a slow-learner and hell bent on digging, consider fencing-off beds to reduce temptation and allow sufficient time for training.

Foxes, being a somewhat wild relative of dogs, will suffer the same temptations, so, in the absence of training, fencing is the only option.

Mice

Mice are one of the smallest of our furry, four-legged unwanted friends, but they can still cause lots of damage.

Mice simply adore peas and beans and devour seed and seedlings straight from the propagator, or in the ground.

Old-fashioned mousetraps work well on the propagator, but are not so practical for direct-sown seed.

I’ve recently learned that by soaking seeds in liquid paraffin overnight, the alluring scent of a freshly germinated legume is masked and meandering mice are kept at bay. Granted, paraffin and food crops do not seem like likely friends, but chemists actually stock liquid paraffin, as it is a known laxative.