Since the first farm, man has battled with the animals to try to keep them out of their gardens and food. The act of growing your own food in a garden is one of the most wonderful natural ways to get close to nature and our roots. As wonderful as this is, nothing is more frustrating than to find an animal is in your garden eating your prized tomatoes. Raccoons, possums, mice, deer, boar, and any number of other rascals can absolutely destroy a garden. Fortunately, there are a number of effective ways to keep animals out of your garden.

One of the first considerations is fencing. Ironically, this is usually not the most effective methods. Different fences have different weaknesses. This can lead to extreme frustration. When picking a fence, you need to consider and identify the animals that are giving you the trouble.

Electric fences do work with many types of animals, but they are also just as effective against your dog or cat. If you have a dog or cat, or even small children, this may not be your first choice.

Barbed wire is similarly effective, but again the dangers are clear to others in the yard that it is not intended for. Keeping animals out of your garden needs to be prioritized.

Most of the time, people go with a large, tall, standard fence. This is effective against most animals and can be made to be quite attractive. Then again, if you have a flower garden it defeats the purpose of having the flowers in the first place.

One of the best home remedies to repel animals is the old human hair trick. Generally, animals will avoid contact with humans. Sprinkling human hair clippings throughout your garden and it’s perimeter is a highly effective way to keep animals out of your garden. That is, until they figure out that you are not attached to it. Extremely intelligent squirrels for example, will figure this out in no time.

Peppers and fragrant soaps are also effective at keeping animals out your garden. The scents seem to freak them out, and they will stay away. Rabbits in particular seem to be afraid of peppers and soaps.

Another effective way to keep animals out is to bring animals in. A good outdoor cat or dog is one of the most highly effective methods around. The problem is, if you live in the suburbs or city, this is not an option for most. In the country where you have no immediate neighbors, there is no better solution.

When all else fails, you need to fake out the animals in your garden. Put up a good old fashioned scarecrow. If the problem is birds, then you might even place a fake snake in the garden. They will see the potential predator and stay their distance in most cases. Then again, you might give yourself a heart attack one sunny afternoon as well.