Step 1: Identify the Animal

Knowing how to keep animals out of your garden starts with the right diagnosis:

Why Animals Come Into Your Garden

Animals visit a garden for food, water and shelter. Removing those attractions is the first step in how to keep animals out of your garden:

• Food: tender vegetables, fallen fruit, bulbs, spilled birdseed, pet food left outside and open compost.
• Water: birdbaths, ponds, dripping faucets and saucers under pots, especially in dry weather.
• Shelter: brush piles, tall grass, dense groundcovers next to beds and open spaces under decks and sheds.
• Easy access: gaps in hedges and low borders along a regular route through the yard.

Many animals follow the same route every day. Watch for tracks and trampled paths, and place deterrents where they enter the garden.

How to Keep Animals Out of Your Garden Without a Fence

These methods help keep animals out of the garden without a fence. The best results come from using several at once:

Natural Animal Repellent: How to Use It

A natural animal repellent works by smell, taste or both. Common ingredients are hot pepper, garlic, putrescent egg solids, dried blood and mint oils.

• Apply early, before animals get used to feeding in your garden.
• Reapply every few weeks and after heavy rain, and treat new growth, which is not protected.
• Rotate between products with different ingredients so animals do not get used to one smell or taste.
• Spray on dry days above freezing, so the repellent can dry on the leaves.
• Do not spray edible parts of vegetables and herbs unless the label allows it.

Research on commercial deer repellents at the University of Maryland found clearly less browsing on treated plants than on untreated plants, but repellents work best when animal pressure is low to moderate. A dedicated hand or pump sprayer makes regular application quick.

Scare Devices That Help

• Motion-activated sprinklers: a sudden burst of water startles deer, rabbits, cats and dogs. Connect one to a garden hose; our expandable garden hose guide helps you choose a light hose to reach it.
• Reflective tape and old CDs: movement and flashes deter birds and squirrels for a while.
• Decoy owls and hawks: move them every few days, or birds soon ignore them.
• Lights and sounds: motion lights or a radio can deter deer temporarily.

Deer and other animals quickly get used to scare devices. Move them regularly and combine them with repellents and plant protection.

Protect Individual Plants

Protecting individual plants is often the most reliable way to keep animals out of your garden without a fence around the whole yard:

• Wire cages: chicken wire or hardware cloth cylinders around young shrubs, perennials and vegetables.
• Tree guards: plastic or wire guards around young trunks stop rabbits and voles from chewing bark in winter.
• Bird netting: over berries, fruit and seedlings; secure the edges so birds cannot get caught underneath.
• Floating row covers: light fabric over vegetable rows keeps out rabbits, birds and many insects.
• Wire mesh under mulch or soil: stops squirrels and cats from digging in beds and bulb plantings.

Raised beds with a mesh bottom and a simple hoop cover are one of the easiest ways to protect vegetables; see how to build a raised garden bed.

How to Keep Deer Out of the Garden

Deer are the hardest animals to stop without a fence. To keep deer out of the garden:

• Use and rotate deer repellents from early in the season, and apply them again before winter when deer change feeding patterns.
• Cage or net the plants deer like most, such as hostas, tulips, roses and young fruit trees.
• Plant deer-resistant species near the edges: daffodils, ornamental onions, yarrow, coneflowers, lilacs and Russian sage.
• Add a motion-activated sprinkler at the spot where deer enter the yard.

No plant is completely deer-proof. Hungry deer in a hard winter eat almost anything; where deer pressure is high, a 6-foot fence remains the only reliable way to keep deer out of the garden.

How to Keep Rabbits Out of the Garden

• Remove hiding places such as brush piles, tall grass and gaps under sheds and decks.
• Protect young plants with chicken wire cages at least 2 feet high; rabbits can also stand up on their hind legs.
• Use a natural animal repellent on ornamentals and rotate it every few applications.
• Cover vegetable beds with row covers while plants are young and tender.
• Put guards around young tree trunks for the winter, above the expected snow depth.

These steps keep rabbits out of the garden without a fence around the entire yard.

Squirrels, Birds, Pets and Other Visitors

• Squirrels: lay wire mesh over bulb beds and pots, pick fruit promptly and use netting on fruit trees.
• Birds: net berries and seedlings and move scare devices often. Read how to keep birds out of your garden and how to keep crows out of your garden.
• Dogs: motion-activated sprinklers and clear bed edges help. See how to keep dogs out of your garden.
• Chickens: see how to keep chickens out of your garden.
• Ants and insects: see how to keep ants out of your garden and our guide to garden insects.

Plants Animals Usually Avoid

Planting less tempting species is a low-effort way to keep animals out of your garden, or at least make it less attractive:

Aromatic herbs are a good edge planting; see how to grow herbs indoors to start some on the windowsill before planting them out.

Keeping Deterrents Safe for Pets, Kids and Wildlife

The goal is to keep animals out of your garden, not to harm them. Keep these points in mind:

• Read the repellent label: some products must not be used on edible plants or where pets and children play.
• Avoid loose netting on the ground: birds, snakes and hedgehogs can get tangled; use fine, taut netting and check it regularly.
• No poisons or glue traps: they also harm pets, birds and beneficial wildlife.
• Leave one area for wildlife: a wild corner away from your beds gives animals an alternative and supports pollinators.
• Check local rules before trapping or relocating animals; in many areas it is regulated.

Fall and Winter Protection

Animal damage often increases in fall and winter, when food is scarce. Before winter:

• Put tree guards and wire cages around young trees and shrubs.
• Apply a fresh round of repellent in late fall, on a dry day above 40°F.
• Clear fallen fruit and cover the compost bin.
• Pull mulch a few inches away from trunks, where voles like to hide.

These tasks fit well into the rest of your fall work; see our checklist to winterize your garden.

Frequently Asked Questions