What kind of mesh/fencing will protect my garden from wild animals?

[SueT]

You're lucky. Critters eat EVERYTHING in my garden. All parts of the plants and at all kinds of heights. Also, my tomato and pepper plants are as tall as me, so it's hard to put cages around them and be able to remove them to pick ripe fruit... And I have lots of plants, too - 30 pepper plants, 15 tomato plants, etc. so it's impractical to cage individual plants. So I'm looking for a way to cover the entire garden up and be able to walk inside and pick easily.

They don't bother my tomato and pepper plants at all, I don't bother to cage those, nor okra, squashes, beans. As I said, they eat some of the low hanging tomatoes. Mainly the cages are for my cold weather veggies. I do have livestock fence around the garden to keep deer out but anything smaller can go right under..

 

[K0k0shka]

Here's the kind of chomping I'm dealing with:

Here's my current setup (though the plants aren't full grown in this picture, and the berry bushes are still in their pots... this is from a couple years ago but is the best picture I have of the whole setup):

I thought rabbits were the main culprits, and maybe they can't get in (the fencing is 3 feet tall) but I realize that this setup is a piece of cake for raccoons and squirrels to conquer....

This is what they look like when they're almost full grown - very dense and impractical to cage individually:

 

[azygous]

The fruit being nibbled while still being left on the stem is evidence of rats and mice and perhaps squirrels. My experience with skunks and larger rodents is fruit being yanked from the stem and partially eaten and strewn about. (Fun fact: raccoons are the largest in the rodent family.)

Mice are the most difficult to keep out of a garden because they manage to slip through any mesh except quarter inch hardware cloth but they easily climb up any vertical surface to gain access. For example, I have a trap in my run and I bait it with peanut butter. The trap will be empty but I find mouse droppings on the high shelf where I keep the peanut butter. You would think they can sprout wings at will.

 

[K0k0shka]

Yeah pretty much all of my damaged fruit are still hanging on the plant... It's rare that I'll see any on the ground. Damn rats! Or squirrels, or whatever. I don't know if chicken wire comes in 1/4 inch. I'll try 1 inch and hope it works. I can't afford to put HC around the whole garden...

By the way the capybara is the largest in the rodent family. And the raccoon is not a rodent at all

 

[azygous]

I stand corrected. Thanks. Raccoons are part of a different family called Procyonidae. Goes to show that anyone can be fooled by wrong information while researching on the internet, and it always is wise to double check facts.

 

[K0k0shka]

The internet is too big, you gotta screen your sources
Internet or not though, these ain't no rodent teeth!

 

[BReeder!]

Here's the kind of chomping I'm dealing with:
View attachment 2043533

Here's my current setup (though the plants aren't full grown in this picture, and the berry bushes are still in their pots... this is from a couple years ago but is the best picture I have of the whole setup):
View attachment 2043539
I thought rabbits were the main culprits, and maybe they can't get in (the fencing is 3 feet tall) but I realize that this setup is a piece of cake for raccoons and squirrels to conquer....

This is what they look like when they're almost full grown - very dense and impractical to cage individually:
View attachment 2043540

You would have to cover the entire garden with wire (hardware cloth or chicken wire) to keep out raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and birds. Building a tall frame and covering it like a chicken run is the idea. I don't go to that extreme, but I too have to fight off squirrels, chipmunks, birds and RABBITS (so many rabbits!) in my garden. The rabbits are easiest to stop. I'm running chicken wire and hardware cloth (I have some of each already in different areas) all the way around my garden and watching diligently for digging activity where they may be trying to get under the fencing. I simply pulled certain plants the squirrels and possibly chipmunks ravaged last year away from the privacy fence which 2 sides of the garden perimeter and is effectively the squirrel highway. I cannot cover my garden economically because it's now 55ftx24ft plus a compost area that's connected in one corner. I'm trying marigolds as a deterrent this year and I'm going to try these repellent granules that are suppose to be safe for the garden. Tomcat's website include this statement in the product description: "The smell and taste of Tomcat® Repellents Animal Repellent Granules is unpleasant to animals like rabbits, squirrels and groundhogs. Its long lasting, rain resistant formula is safe to use on edible fruits and vegetables as well as around people and pets when used as directed."
https://www.google.com/search?q=tom...0KHVxlAYEQ9QEwAHoECAMQAw#imgrc=DIbexQW_fU-rsM
P.S.: I have to give credit for the repellent product recommendation to @cavemanrich.

 

[K0k0shka]

You would have to cover the entire garden with wire (hardware cloth or chicken wire) to keep out raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and birds. Building a tall frame and covering it like a chicken run is the idea.

I think I'll get a metal greenhouse frame and put 1-inch chicken wire all around. That would be faster, easier and probably cheaper than building a wooden frame myself. I can't find a frame that fits my dimensions well, but I found one that would fit well enough, I just need to make it a few feet wider (the hoops disconnect in the middle so I'll just put "spacers" between them to make it wider).

I'm trying marigolds as a deterrent this year

Tried that last year... Something ate all my marigolds, too!!! The ones in my photo above lasted a few days. First, something decapitated them and ate the heads. A few days later they were eaten down to the ground. Nothing left, not even stems!!!

Tomcat's website include this statement in the product description: "The smell and taste of Tomcat® Repellents Animal Repellent Granules is unpleasant to animals like rabbits, squirrels and groundhogs. Its long lasting, rain resistant formula is safe to use on edible fruits and vegetables as well as around people and pets when used as directed."

Oh I didn't know about this one, thanks! Rain resistant sounds very promising. I've been using several different kinds of repellents (pellets, sprays) but they all get washed away by the rain. I'll try this one and see if it really is what it boasts to be!

 

[SueT]

A few years ago, a box turtle was living under my cucumber vines and helping himself to the low hanging fruit.

I took him and let him go several hundred feet away. Next day he was back! So I took him over a mile away and let him go, first taking a photo of him. (box turtle shells are like finger prints, no 2 individuals alike) Then my sister told me that box turtles will always return home or die trying. I felt really bad. There was no way this poor little critter would make it all that way across a road, a soybean field, woods, creeks, a hay meadow, a pasture, more woods, another creek etc. But 3 months later, he was back! I was so thrilled that ever since, he is welcome to eat parts of a few cukes. I see him every year, and look forward to seeing him this year. He's the only one I see in my garden.

Last summer:

 

[K0k0shka]

Awwww, that's adorable actually! I wouldn't mind a turtle. They don't seem as destructive as the other critters, because they don't reach as far up. I've never seen turtles around here. I don't think they'd be able to climb up over the fence anyway.