Crop cage for my mom.

A few years ago my mom bought a cage for her garden.
It was supposed to keep out the deer,  squirrels, rabbits,  birds and groundhogs.
I
I put together the cage and built a pair of raised beds inside it.
Even with lots of modifications, the cage never worked that well and last winter the weight of  accumulated snow destroyed it.

I'm building a new one out of the same cedar I built the beds out of.
I wish I built the beds level and plumb,  but I've managed correct that in the cage.
Here's what I done so far.

We've had to do similar things here, and back in California. My parents use PVC and hardware cloth to protect their crops from squirrels, but it does exclude many pollinators, especially bumble bees that like squash.

I'm building a ground squirrel proof section in my raised bed area. The ground and walls will be covered with hardware cloth, and the top will have bird netting.

Good luck with your endeavors.

I had terrible issues this spring with squirrels digging up my garden. I looked for similar help on Instagram and got some great feedback about cayenne pepper and other possible solutions (@FoodForestCardGame around May 19th if you want to see the feedback). I replanted about 200 seeds and was pleasantly surprised that the squirrels seemed to leave things alone... until the rain came and washed the pepper away. Fortunately, some of the seeds had a chance to sprout before it rained. I don't know if there is some way to use cayenne powder or pepper spray to help prevent mammal damage, but it's worth considering. Still, the constant application does make it difficult as a longer-term solution.

I was also told that blood meal was a good deterrent for many of these creatures. However, it is irresistible to cats, which also like to dig in my gardens, so I decided not to try it. This might be more helpful to your mom, but she should realize that frequent applications of blood meal might add too much nitrogen to the soil over time.

With the wide variety of pests, it looks like you might need a multi-pronged approach. While I can see the caging working for deer, groundhogs, and rabbits (if also laid under the raised beds), it seems like there are many smaller animals which might simply slip through the holes. I would look into techniques for dealing with birds, squirrels, etc., and see what you can find. Some nearby perches for hawks and owls might serve you well, but there may be other easier ideas.

Best wishes!