While insect feeding is subtler and causes incremental damage over time, larger critters can eliminate an entire plant — or row of plants — almost right before your eyes. You can, however, keep damage to a minimum by getting to know their habits:

• Birds: Birds in the yard are a mixed blessing. You appreciate their appetite for insects, but when they nibble on the plants themselves, they cross the line into nuisance territory. Keep birds away from your plants by draping bird netting or row covers over them. You can startle birds with noise, fluttering objects, and, of course, anything resembling a predator. Birds catch on quickly though, so change your scare tactics regularly.
• Deer: You can try a few things to make your garden less appealing to deer. Install a fence so that it slants outward away from the garden, which can intimidate the deer by making the fence appear wider than it really is. In early spring, row covers can deter the deer long enough to give your plants a head start and allow time for wild food plants to become plentiful. You can also buy deer repellents, but avoid spraying fruits and vegetables, because you don’t want to eat the stuff yourself.
• Rabbits: The best way to keep rabbits away from your plants is to fence them out. Because they burrow, a fence must also extend underground. We’ve had good luck repelling rabbits with mothballs or hair gathered from hair salons and dog groomers. Sprinkle it around the boundary of a garden and replenish it every few weeks. You can also purchase commercial repellents.
• Groundhogs: Groundhogs can climb up almost as well as they can dig down, so use a sturdy 4- or 5-foot fence and bury the bottom 18 inches underground. Bend the top of the fence outwards so the groundhog will fall over backwards if it attempts to climb over. You can also use repellents. Traps are available that capture a live groundhog, which you then release into the wild. Be sure to check with local and state ordinances about restrictions on live trapping and releasing of wild animals.
• Gophers: You can plant gopher spurge (Euphorbia lathyrus), a natural repellent, as a protective border around the garden or spray castor oil on your plants. Or, stick vibrating devices, such as large whirligigs, in the ground near tunnels to send them packing. If gophers are a serious problem, you may want to go to the trouble of lining the sides and bottom of your garden (at a depth of 2 feet) with hardware cloth to keep them out. Gopher-resistant wire baskets, which you place in planting holes prior to planting, are commercially available. For persistent problems, use traps.
• Mice: Mice cause the most damage to plants in the wintertime, when food is scarce and the bark of your favorite tree makes an easy meal. Even during the summer, if you have a thick layer of mulch surrounding the tree right up to the trunk, a mouse can hide in the mulch and feed undetected. Leave a space of several inches between the trunk and the mulch to deter feeding. During winter, the snow cover provides a similar hiding place, so wrapping the trunk with a tree guard made of wire or plastic provides the best protection.
• Moles: These critters are the innocent burrowers of the garden pest realm.  ....read more