humane way to keep animals from eating my garden?

[boredgame______]

I have a vegetable garden, it's my first one. I've noticed this morning someone's been nibbling at it. We have mostly squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, cats and occasional possums and skunks in my area. The sprays I found at the store were either inhumane, or 'not to be used on feed crops'.
Any ideas?

Comments

[emmalovessasha]

doesn't sound like insects and that's good b/c that can be more complicated.

you can try sprinkling human or dog hair around your veggies (most animals don't like the smell and snails and slugs stay away b/c the hair sticks to them)

you can also have a male friend pee around the perimeter occasionally, animals hate that too.

planting marigolds in the garden helps with bugs and animals b/c they have a strong smell

I have also heard of sprinkling cayenne pepper or cinnamon on the leaves

and off topic......omg! i love your domain pic. that movie is my FAVORITE from when I was a kid

[sherarara]

Ah, yes, cayenne! I've actually had quite good luck with this in the past; just be careful when you're picking your veggies ;)

[boredgame______]

thank you! It's still my favorite movie ^^
I'm definitely trying the cayenne pepper, thanks. We have cats, so I'll throw their hair out there too. I did plant marigolds around the perimeter, but a recent hail storm beat them up pretty bad =(

Thank you!

[supercarrot]

not to mention pee is a great fertilizer. *looks guilty* ... :-)

i collect my own and dilute it 5:1 to 10:1 (roughly translates to 1.5 to 3 cups/gallon of water)

http://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-use-urine-as-a-fertilizer

it's so environmentally friendly and perfectly safe.

[sherarara]

Have you ever had trouble with it? I always had trouble with over-nitrogenization (or whatever the word is for that) when I've tried that. Maybe I just wasn't diluting it enough, which is really probably the case.

Thanks for the link - I've been meaning to try that again.

[supercarrot]

i don't use it on the same plants every day. maybe once a week? and i usually only use 1 cup of pee per gallon. and then i rotate throughout the garden. i often forget to collect it. the 32 oz bottle from sweet cactus farms agave nectar is the perfect size for us ladyfolk. (especially for morning pees.) hehe. the handle really helps. i tried using a cup, and that was messy. i have to put a second bottle in our downstairs bathroom so i am less likely to forget.

[supercarrot]

pic for those who haven't seen these bottles:
http://gourmeton.com/honey-syrups-and-sweeteners/sweetcactusfarms-uk.jpg

[sherarara]

When I first tried it, that's basically what I did; I just used it as I would other fertilizers. I vacillate between blaming insufficient dilution and super-duper nitrogen rich soil.

Anyway, I'm up for trying again. Thanks for the bottle recommendation!

[boredgame______]

that's incredibly awesome. Now I can flush the toilet even less than I already do! :P