There’s nothing quite like having your own fruits and vegetables growing in your backyard, but sometimes it can be difficult to make sure that your harvest isn’t stolen by critters out in the wild. It is incredibly frustrating to put hours of work into your garden, only to find unsightly and damaging holes in your plants when you check on them later. These holes are presents left to you by garden pests. Some of the main garden pests are worms, birds, caterpillars, slugs, snails, and sometimes even a gopher. It’s nearly impossible to get rid of all of your garden pests, but left unchecked, they could completely destroy your garden.

There are plenty of different methods you can use to protect your crops, but you’ll have to put a little extra work into your overall garden structure. Once you have everything setup in a secure manner, you won’t have to worry about any critters bothering your crops in the near future. Here are a few options to look at when you want to protect your backyard garden.

What is the best way to keep  garden pests out of the garden?

Use a Fence

This is the most basic form of protection that you can use for your garden. You can find plenty of cheap fence wiring at your local home and garden store, and the process of building a fence is actually much simpler than you might think. It’ll probably take you a few hours on one of your days off to put up the fence, but it will definitely be worth it if you’re having trouble with squirrels, deer, and other animals. You usually don’t need to worry about putting a top on the fence because most critters won’t simply dive in from the trees above.

Get Rid of Possible Living Spaces

Help your garden by removing objects such as weeds, decaying plants, and old leaves that can be home to bugs and diseases that can harm your plants. You can also encourage insects to find new living spaces if you regularly till your garden soil so that any tunnels or dirt clumps are taken care of. By getting rid of possible living spaces, you let your garden claim ‘no vacancy’ to pests that can harm it.

Use Dormant Spray

Another way to rid your garden of the pests is to use dormant spray, which is used to keep destructive insects and diseases under control. It is best that you use dormant spray when your plants are dormant, usually around February or early March. I have used dormant spray many times on my garden and it has worked wonders on keeping insects out. However, make sure that you are correctly following the instructions of any pest killing/repelling sprays, as if you use them haphazardly, you can end up doing damage to your garden.

Use Bird Feeders

The solution for birds is quite different from the approach you needed to take for insects. Rather than encouraging birds away by destroying their homes, you need to offer them a better place to eat and play. This can be offered through bird feeders and baths. This way, the birds have something to eat instead of your garden. Bird feeders will save you money in the long run and help lessen the problems that birds can cause for your garden.

Set Traps

If you start seeing mounds of dirt around your yard, and your plants keep dying, you can assume that you have a gopher problem. Gophers are rodents that are five to fourteen inches long. Their fur can be black, light brown, or white, and they have small tails. One method of getting rid of these root-eating pests is to set traps. The key to successfully capturing a gopher using a trap is to successfully locate the gopher’s tunnels and set the trap correctly. Another way to get rid of them is to use smoke bombs, which you place into the tunnel and the smoke spreads throughout it and hopefully reaches the gopher.

Get an Outdoor Cat

Another method to scare birds away is by employing the use of those who enjoy chasing them, such as cats, dogs, or kids. But keep in mind that cats, dogs, and kids can also cause damage to your garden. Cats are the perfect animal to choose when you need something to protect your garden, and this is especially true if you live in a residential area. Your cat will be happy to chase away any critters out in your yard, and they will also be able to get rid of a mouse problem if you live out in the sticks. Squirrels, chipmunks, and birds will no longer be a problem once you have a cat in the yard.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Them Out

If you cannot seem to find anything that works in curbing your squirrel problem, then you can’t be afraid to take them out. A simple pellet gun is usually enough to get the job done, but you also need to think about what the neighbors will think. They may get a little nervous if they see you taking out squirrels in the backyard on a regular basis.

If you suspect that your gardens are being pillaged by any of the pests I mentioned, I encourage you to try your hardest to eliminate the problem as soon as possible. The longer you let the species stay, the more established it will become.

If you need help in eliminating garden pests from your backyard , call us at 805-773-5395 or