Living with the wildlife

I think most people see wildlife as "pests" when it comes to growing your own food. In many ways I agree, particularly when I see squirrels eating my tomatoes or I go out to pick peaches and find almost none left.

Yet, the wildlife is one of the things I love most about my small property. It's not a farm exactly, though I dream of one day being able to raise most of my food here.

But I'm wondering what tricks I can learn from those who do farm. What do you do to live with nature instead of trying to control nature when you're also trying to grow enough food?

I already mentioned the squirrels, but I also have deer as well as the smaller critters like raccoons, opossums, groundhogs, chipmunks and probably various other things as well.

I put mesh bags over my grapes in hopes of protecting them from the birds, but I'm at the point where I'm thinking I need to put mesh over anything edible. 🙄

My fruits are different from yours, but I also put netting over the whole darn tree when my jabuticaba has fruit, otherwise the birds get it all. I have a few big pieces of screen/tulle kind of material.
I know I have rats/mice, so anything that might attract them (compost, bokashi bucket) I put in the far corner of the garden, far from whatever might cause me problems. That also helps with the biggest problem, cats, which love to come in. If I can keep the mice farther from my back door, the cats stay off my porch (and then my dogs are slightly less mental).

One thing that hasn't happened yet this winter is the birds eating the pea leaves: we usually get a dry spell, and the birds come to eat the foliage, and that's the end of my snow peas. It's a wet winter, so I think we've escaped, but in past years that's been a hard one, and I don't have a solution. I have way too many peas to cover them all.

That's just it too. If you're producing a significant amount of food, it's just not realistic to cover everything. At the same time, I enjoy seeing the animals. Is this just a no-win situation?

Attract a blue jay nesting pair on your property, they will chase away the cats, birds and squirells. They mostly eat bugs and I they seems really found of the elderberries, which is fine, because it requires processing and I never get around to it.

I have read here on the forum that some folks plant extras just so everyone can have a share.

Then there is the method of planting smelly plants like French Marigolds.

Since we do Wildlife Management and have a large deer population we used four-wire electric fencing with chicken wire at the bottom to keep out the smaller critters.

Some folks on the forum have good luck with the double row fencing (two fences), string fencing, or even zig-zag fencing.

Hi Kathleen,

This is a really good question and I think a lot of it depends on your specific situation. In regards to fruit specifically, I have noticed that cultivars of native plants with differing fruit colors (When ripe) will often be left alone when the birds come through, while straight species of the same plant will be stripped bare.  From an evolutionary perspective, such caution is wise.

Beyond physical barriers, I think the best option is to accommodate predator/competition populations of the animals that are causing you the most problems. As some examples, frogs and snakes are particularly helpful for garden pests, and even owls can be used in the landscape if given the right homes. Of course, not all problems can be solved with this method, but I think it has good potential for your situation. While it is likely impossible to prevent such critters from accessing your land, they can be controlled by their natural enemies sometimes.

Hope this helps,
Eric S.

I eat those critters that would eat my garden. Im a hunter.

Good question Kathleen and I hope you get some good answers from people with larger properties. I also find that the wildlife don't seem to understand "sharing" (which is fair enough!).
One of my strategies is to plant a diverse range of fruit. I have one variety of blackcurrant which is slightly smaller and sweeter (I think it is Bellorussian black) and the birds seem to go for that one leaving most of the rest for me. I also mix my crops in with my trees, but I'm not sure how successful this is yet. The idea is that the wildlife won't find all the fruit, or will get distracted by wild fruits or insects rather than stripping each bush one by one.
Mice (or voles) are my current problem and I hope to provide more predator habitat for them in time. I've got a stoat house (uninhabited as yet) and am working on some bird perches. My dogs would love to help, but they are more destructive that the voles, so I have fenced them out!

Predator Urine. If you can find some ethically/humanely sourced predator urine, it'll keep the herbivores away. I'd recommend local predators because the local fauna would be more likely familiar with it. Now, it may attract the predator, but you won't see any squirrels.

This was one of the biggest reasons for us going no till heavy mulch and intensively cropping a small area. We can cover everything for a reasonable cost when it needs it and uncover it as soon as the pest species moves on to let everything else back in.

I think there is a real sharp point of diminishing return where more land just brings in less and less yield unless you throw money at it and then it's pointless because it's profitless

Logan Melton wrote:Predator Urine. If you can find some ethically/humanely sourced predator urine, it'll keep the herbivores away. I'd recommend local predators because the local fauna would be more likely familiar with it. Now, it may attract the predator, but you won't see any squirrels.

Seems like my dogs near the garden should have the same effect. 🤷🏼‍♀️ Guess the squirrels don't think they are a danger.

It’s funny how things work out. Yesterday I wrote a piece explaining how we deal with the wildlife on our small homestead. Also, if you don’t want the birds to eat greens and fruit, make sure they always have access to water all year round and that you put out food for them during migration season in fall. Anyway, here is what I wrote.

When animals help
I will be the first one to say, that some days I am pulling my hair out in frustration, because of something the wild life has done. One dead plant after another being the victim of gophers, squirrels and birds stealing seeds from the ground, June bugs eating my melons and peaches, and don’t get me started on ants.
It took me many years before I realized, that in some way or another they were all helping me. It’s not always the help I want, but mostly it is, and what if they eat some of what I grow? It’s payment for their hard work. Now I try to compromise and guide the insects, birds, reptiles and critters toward food I don’t mind them eating, and have made for them.
This year I am harvesting tomatoes for the first year in a long time. Before they would always get eaten up by either rats or worms. This year our Night Guard Gawain (a stray Simi feral male cat), are protecting the produce in the back yard, from rodents, while the large bird population took care of the worms.
Both of our cats have strong confidence in their fighting skills, since we have seen them even take on and chase away coyotes. We have two, one who guards the garden at night and one who goes hunting with my husband in the evening and hunts during the day too. The front yard are protected by the snakes who lives in my prickly pear and under my orange trees.
As for the June bugs, yes, I hate it when they eat my food, but my chickens grow fat from the grubs that they produce.
We live on the edge of a desert, so the soil we starters out with were sand and clay. Let me tell you that it’s almost impossible to dig in. Guess who are experts in digging? If you think gophers, you got it right. We have an agreement now, they can eat anything that’s not wrapped up in metal armor, and to pay for it, they mix the sandy clay filled soil, with the mulch and compost I provide.
I love birds, they are beautiful and sing to me. They also make a mess and don’t always agree with me on what to plant and where to plant it. This year, I wanted to have a sunflower forest out from, but nope, no matter what I did, the seeds either disappeared or was eaten when it came up. It made me a little mad, I admit, since I have a very large critter feeding station set up for them. Well now I have sunflowers coming up all over the garden. Mostly my raised beds, where the squirrels also decided to plant corn. It’s beautiful plants, with lots of big cobs on it.
The seeds were from the feeding station. It made me think that in a way they (the wildlife) are now growing their own food.
I will also say that having sunflowers popping up everywhere looks a lot better than the sea I had imagined. Next year I will follow their advice and add seeds to random beds and places.
People always ask me why I sow so much lettuce and every kind of brassica you can find. Well, if I do this and make some of it ready available, the wild rabbits and insect pests, will eat that and leave the rest alone. As for the rabbits, their job is to keep the California grasses cut down and they keep the coyotes fed, so they don’t go for our livestock.
I have learned to take things as they come, adapt and grow food for everyone. I am not always happy about what they do, but I am happy to have them. If I hadn’t had gophers, then food forest garden wouldn’t be thriving the way it does. They have changed desert sand and clay to rich dark soil, and they never stop digging and mixing.
So, my advice is:
- work with the wildlife and compromise when it comes to what they can eat and what we can eat.  
- Try to strengthen the balance of the eco system you are working with, so you have a balance between predators and pray.
- When you calculate how much you need to grow to survive, add extras so there is enough for everyone including the wildlife.
-  pay attention to the weather and migration patterns of the birds.
- Leave out plenty of water when it’s hot and dry, will help both birds and insects. It always fascinate me watching a honey bee or bumblebee landing on a leave in my small pond to drink, and it’s wonderful to see the birds playing in the bird bath.

Happy gardening.

I find a mixture of 'sacrificial' pollinator/wildlife gardens and passive discouragement has kept a healthy balance with the local wildlife.

One part of my property faces a wooded area where the majority of wildlife come from to my are in the village. I have placed a garden between the majority of my property and the woods as a passive buffer. It is loaded with pollinator plants, grasses, grains, and some fodder plants like turnips.

The majority of my vegetable garden has a small four foot fence supported by 1x1s tacked to my raised beds and has done wonderful keeping out the larger mammals. I did have some squirrel pressure when I first seeded the garden but that puttered out once plants started to become established.

I made a long unfenced garden this year against a forsythia hedge and was delighted with how little damage happened to it. A mixture of watermelons, pumpkins, cucurbits, beans, turnips, and gourds did wonderfully. I noticed a few nibbles here or there on a melon and a pumpkin but whatever did it lost interest.

I have a pond and a small waterfall in my yard, as well as a large pollinator garden on either side of the waterfall. Those things help immensely to keep wildlife hydrated, but may be something of a problem because it attracts everything. If I wasn't trying to grow food, I'd be thrilled with all the visitors.

Oh who am I fooling. I'm thrilled even if my garden is being eaten. lol

This year I didn't put in a veggie garden. After multiple injuries, I felt like I wouldn't be able to care for a garden and couldn't even plant without help.

Now I am doing better so I thought I'd try a fall garden. Half of my green beans have died and have been munched. All of the broccoli is gone. It's very frustrating.

To top it off, I didn't harvest any of the fruit growing on my property, so this entire year has been a wash. Maybe I'll get some green beans if I'm lucky. I still plan to put some garlic and onions in, so we'll see how that goes.

Next year I hope to get some netting. I also hope to expand my garden space. That will only happen if I can get some help though, so I'm not super hopeful on that.

I hope you all have had a productive garden this year.

HI,

It sounds like youre having the challenge of sharing your garden with wildlife! :O

In my country, elephants, peacocks, and monkeys are the major crop destroyers. Managing them can be tough, especially since religious beliefs protect these animals. Monkeys are incredibly intelligent and know how to use tools! Elephants, on the other hand, can destroy an entire farm in just a few minutes.

In your case, why dont you try making physical barriers like electric fence for larger animals like deer and wire mesh fence for raccoons and opossums.?

Enjoy nature while protecting your garden! Happy gardening!