Vegetable gardens, flowers, and even woody ornamentals can be a tasty buffet for squirrels, chipmunks, voles, rabbits, woodchucks, gophers, moles, deer, raccoons, and birds—particularly crows. It’s a daunting list, but your plants and carefully curated outdoors can be protected.
The first step is to remove items from the garden that will attract four-legged or winged pests. Bird feeders help local wildlife stay healthy in the winter, but the downside is that they’ve probably marked your garden on their Google Maps app under “Good Eats.” To lessen the attraction, use hanging feeders, and consider squirrel baffles or trick poles to keep squirrels and other climbers away. Also, remove the feeders as soon as the weather warms.