Planting FOR raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, songbirds etc.

Yes, I want to grow food FOR wildlife, please share their favorites. Please tell me the items MOST preferred by these critters!

I am on the West Coast of BC Canada, we do wildlife rescue, and I would prefer to NOT feed store bought due to concerns their systems may not cope with insecticides, etc.

I purchase a LOT of grapes, melons, peas, corn on the cob and greens; but only when in season. Nothing can be preserved in any way (dried/canned/frozen) they can only be given fresh, preferably still on the branches, with leaves.

Ideally they would be fast growing, delicious for humans AND the wild critters, with a long, prolific season, requiring very minimal care.

Trees: cherry and plum (I call them prune but they may be called Italian) are at the top of my list, any suggested varieties?

Berries: blueberries and strawberries were a hit with songbirds, but a fail with the mammals.

Growing grapes is not an option.  We also foster rescued K9's, grapes are generally considered toxic and cause a fatal renal complication (truth is there has not been enough research to determine if it is grapes, a mold or fungus ON the grapes, certain strains or a genetic anomaly with dogs). The nightshade family, and rhubarb are also potentially fatal to dogs.

Plants/veggies: sugar snap peas are a hit, they seem to HATE beans (at least grocery store ones).

Please share the items that were targeted in YOUR garden, and still suitable to our West Coast climate. Thanks!

Hi. I'm in zone 9b. In my area all the animals loved my sunflowers and of course all of the berries. Zucchini, avocados, mandarins and aprium also seemed to be enjoyed by all. I know persimmons, apples and all kinds of nut trees get hit hard here.
For the rabbits I would succession plant a lot of lettuces and greens and maybe grains.
For the birds I would plant something like a pollinator garden that attracts insects. I would also plant grains. I hope this helped you a bit. Good luck with your project.

From the title I was going to suggest wood chips but now I see that wasn't quite what you were getting at. My 4-12 inches of wood chip mulch produced all kinds of grubs that the raccoons went crazy over and accidentally dug up my garden in the process. :-(

As far as foods they and we like, I know the tomatoes and strawberries both were eaten some, though it could have been squirrels or raccoons.

Squash are another option. You can eat the flesh and the squirrels will eat the seeds.

Nuts would probably be at the top of the list. But seriously, can you think of anything normally grown in a garden that either squirrels or raccoons won't eat? Maybe greens but not much else.

Do you have native oaks around you? Those are normally major animal foods. I'd look into wild, native species for your area.

Daniel

To clarify, this is not for free roaming wildlife. It is for the sick, injured or orphaned kept in captivity, short term, until ready to return to the wild.

This would be to harvest and feed those recovering or just learning to eat solids, inside their enclosures.

For the rabbits I collect and scatter dandelion and clover seeds; squirrels get greens, mushrooms, fir cones, fruits and veggies; beaver get willow and root veggies; Coons get stone fruits, corn, melon, grapes, and greens, shellfish and 'roadkill'; fawns get dandelions, clover, and brush....

The forests here are Doug fir and cedar, slowly giving way to big leaf maples as the climate seems to no longer support the historical evergreens.

For cherries that are loved by birds and very hardy I'd recommend Nanking bush cherries, they're quite disease resistant and beloved by pollinators as well. As for plums I don't have much experience beyond wild American plums, which are extremely tough plants that are quite popular with squirrels. Please note that all cherries and plums are potentially dangerous to dogs that eat too many. Birds go gaga over mulberries, to the point that if you plant them the wild birds might strip the trees before you can harvest any for your rescues; luckily, they also provide high protein leaves and twigs that my rabbits love to munch on. Squirrels love all tree nuts, but they ESPECIALLY go wild for hazelnuts. Raccoons will eat anything but I've found they really love my persimmons.

Allen Ayers wrote:Squirrels love all tree nuts, but they ESPECIALLY go wild for hazelnuts.

I can vouch for this.  I have a lot of hazelnut bushes.  A LOT.  I've never harvested a single one.

I don't know what raccoons like to eat as they pretty much stay out of our living area.

We do see them on the game cameras at the deer feeder eating the corn and/or protein.

I give the wildlife all my veggie scraps and I assume the raccoons are the ones that clean them up.

This year, we are growing birdseed, the rabbits eat the plants that come up from the tossed seeds.

Squirrels seem to like the dropped birdseed also.  I also seed the squirrels eating the juniper seeds, too.

We have a mulberry (morus alba) that birds, raccoons, squirrels all love.  This is a fast-growing weed tree with dense foliage. Left to grow it will be a 25 ft tree producing more berries than you can ever hope to harvest. However. It can be coppiced or pollarded at a more manageable height.

Who knows exactly what to look into, but bird tend to prefer small, bite sized fruits, nuts & seeds whose plants don't produce thorns. Hummingbirds tend to go for both tiny & brightly colored, or long, tube-like flowering plants the most. Squirrels will obviously take any nuts & a variety of fruits. Often, in the US, plants certain animal's eat usually contain the name of the animal, but so do also a few plants which are poisonous to them, like cow bane.

Maybe this site can give you a starting point of what to look into https://www.pbase.com/terrythormin/wildflowers_of_bc