Have you ever wondered how to keep bugs and pests out of your garden? Now you want to have a full crop with beautiful results, what could be more frustrating than food disappearing? There are many easy ways to make your yard more secure without breaking the bank. Protect your investment of time and money by building or expanding a security barrier. Here are some ways you can protect your delicious fruits and vegetables.

1: Raised beds are a great start to securing your growing area. Along with the design of raised beds, you should make the beds (10 feet by 10 feet) or larger so that you can walk on them. Using the proper length of railroad ties, stack them about 3 feet high so you can build extensions around the perimeter that a fence can be built from and have room to walk around the perimeter. It is important to leave an opening to place a gate, as well as the height of the fence. A six foot high fence would keep most animals out, if your raised bed was 3 feet high and the fence was also 3 feet high to create a total height of 6 feet from the ground.

2: If you don’t have raised beds and only have a piece of land for your garden, there are also options. If the area is larger than 20 feet by 20 feet and you have about an acre of crops, building a fence could be quite expensive. One solution to this is to plant dense, year-round evergreens to surround your crops. Yes, they are slow to grow, but you can always buy 4 foot ones to start with and then let them get to 30 feet tall. Adding beauty to your land, evergreens will keep larger animals and curious people away. Planting the trees close enough to each other will create an almost solid barrier.

3: Putting up a chain link fence is a cheap way to keep some things out, but you would have to put up a lot of extra strands to keep out stronger animals. So an easy way to not have to run a thousand strands is to just run 3 strands 2 feet apart and grow vines along the strands and finally you will have a solid vine fence that is both beautiful and functional. The vines grow quite quickly so in the right climate they could be full in less than a year, but in a harsher climate you will need to opt for a more vigorous vine plant to survive the cold. Be sure to choose the correct species before you do all the work of preparing the garden area for vines.

4: A greenhouse that you would think would be a piece of cake, but believe it or not, hungry animals will break into most greenhouses. If your greenhouse is made of plastic or glass, it is vulnerable to scratches or glass shards. Plexiglas sides are an inexpensive solution, as well as surround your greenhouse with something solid so the vulnerable sides aren’t exposed to critters. A solid or natural fence will beautify your greenhouse and also give you another platform to grow things in and around it.

5: Lattice fences are quite expensive to build and make a great garden look for growing vines and protecting your crops. The size of your garden plot will be the determining factor in which method to use to protect your food from vandals. While the lattice is usually prone to rot, I suggest using PVC or composite material that will withstand the weather and the plants that live outside the lattice create moisture.

6: Technology is another weapon you can use to protect your crops from food thieves. On the corner post of your fence or mounted in trees, infrared security cameras are cheaper than you might think. For less than 300.00 you can outfit your grow area with 24 hour surveillance and catch potential culprits red-handed and make security adjustments to prevent the same breach. Using deer whistles, you can nail them to trees and barns or whatever is closest to your yard and it will help deter deer. When the wind blows a little, the whistle will create a high-pitched noise that deer can’t stand. Electric fences are fine if you don’t have kids but can be a headache to maintain and operate, however they do make a solar fence charger that is easy to plug in. I think electric fences have their place in livestock management, but for a garden or farm plot there are more creative solutions.

There are many clever ways to block the view and access to your garden or crops using natural things around you. The expression of your personality in your garden is the most rewarding feature of your garden aside from the food, of course; trellises, trellises, wires, wood, bushes, tall thin trees or any creative way to protect your food is a recommended idea for any gardener or farmer.