A very common complaint of gardeners these days is often how to deal with various different animals in the garden. Cats, dogs, rabbits and deer can do a great deal of damage, so I thought I would pass along a few tips that may help you to deal with them.

A motion activated sprinkler will work on most pests, including deer, cats, dogs and raccoons. They can be purchased from Lee Valley Supplies in Alberta and if you are interested you can check out their web site @ LeeValley.com. The good thing about using the sprinkler is that most animals like cats and deer only need to be caught a couple of times with the sprinkler to make them stay away for a while, and you can set it to keep them out of whichever part of the garden they frequent most often. The down side is that the gardener is often caught more often that the animals since it is easy to forget you have it set up.

For cats and dogs that are digging in the garden, and sometimes they are your own animals, you may want to try laying thorny branches or broken pinecones in the garden beds. Rose pruning work very well laid in crisscross patterns between your flowers, to keep the animals from digging. Flat rocks and paving stones work in a similar manner. Some plants have a scent that cats don't like, and you may have some success using Lavender, rhue, geraniums, lemon thyme and coleus canina. Tea leaves, coffee grounds and citrus peels are all products that help repel cats also.

For animals that are eating your plants, like rabbits and rodents, you might try mixing Tabasco sauce or some other hot sauce with water in about a one to four ratio [one being the hot sauce] spray this on the plants that are being eaten. It usually sends them to forage elsewhere. Another recipe for this is 2 Tbsp hot pepper sauce, 1 Tbsp liquid dish soap, 1 Tsp garlic powder mixed in one gallon of water. Rabbits and deer also do not like the scent of blood meal. This can be spread in the area they frequent quite easily and it is also great for the garden.

Many gardeners with deer problems try to plant trees and shrubs etc that the deer won't eat. This is getting more difficult as they tend to disregard many of the lists and munch away on plants that they are not supposed to like. So hopefully some of these other remedies may help you. Many of these ideas come to me from people who have been gardening and dealing with the problems for years. I hope they are successful for you.

2006-07