gardening amongst plentiful wildlife?

[steelymaam]

Hi! Are any of you gardening in a place with abundant wild animals? We recently moved waaaay out in the country, surrounded by 65 acres of woods and fields. I see rabbits and deer in my yard every day.

So how do you deal? I'm not really interested in "battling" the animals, nor am I committed to any particular ideal of gardening at the moment. I love growing things but I don't have an abundance of time right now. I'd just like to get something planted somewhere that won't disappear over night. We have a large front porch that gets sunlight right now, but probably won't once all the trees' leaves grow in. We do have an area in our yard that will get full sun all year.

Any ideas? For some reason, I'm not feeling into fencing off a garden plot. Maybe I should just go portable for this year? In future times, I'm sure I'll want a full-on garden, so what would you recommend then?

I know I'm getting a late start for Georgia, but this is the first chance my hubby and I have had to even think about it, what with moving and kids and school and work...(We're on spring break right now from various schooling endeavors-- a much-needed reprieve.)

Thanks! I appreciate any input at all.

[Theoretica]

We use netting over our beds and cayenne pepper around them. We're not as far out as you, but we are on the edge of a state forest so we get HERDS of deer, possums, raccoons, rabbits, you name it. It's a zoo out there!

[tinuviel_k]

The only thing that has ever worked for me is a nice, tall deer fence. If you can sink the fence down a couple of feet so much the better. If you don't want fencing and are more into flowers and such I think there are varieties that deer don't care for, but veggies are pretty much going to get taken down.

[Rabbit8]

The only way you'd keep deer and rabbits out of your garden is with a fence and netting over that (if you don't want to bury chicken wire under the fence to keep the rabbits out, a raised garden would work well). Even veggie containers on your deck would be chowed unless brought inside the house every night.

So if you're not into doing a fenced garden, I'd research flowers and shrubs that deer aren't interested in eating.

I don't have a deer problem at my house, more of a dog problem. He's a really big dog (Malamute) and likes to dig/pretty much destroy any gardening. I have a raised bed for my veggies that he can't get at, plus my front yard where I do my flower beds. The backyard I figured was a lost cause, between a kid and a dog? Yeah, not even going to bother. lol

My daughter LOVES helping me in my gardens, it's a fun thing we do together.