On today's Q&A, I am going to answer a question, or at least begin to answer a question,

that sometimes first-time gardeners don't think to ask, but if you don't, you may be very disappointed.

And that is how do you protect your garden from critters? This is a big question, but anyone who has had a garden in the past has probably

experienced the sadness of walking outside and you've just planted brand new crops or you've just

had seeds sprout and you walk out one morning and they're gone. It is devastating.

I'll never forget the first time it happened to me,

my very first garden, I had planted all these strawberry transplants.

I could not wait and then they were gone just overnight.

The problem with knowing what to do to protect your garden from critters is that, especially

if you're a first-time gardener, you're not really sure what critters you're going to be facing.

Because protecting your garden from deer is going to be quite different than protecting your garden from rabbits.

Those are probably the most common ones, but you talk to any gardener and they will probably

list a slew of different animals that have shared their garden in the past.

And sometimes it's just really hard to know what to do to protect from all of it,

especially if you're a new gardener and you don't know what you're dealing with exactly.

What I recommend, honestly, if you can, is to use some kind of a

barrier. Yes, I'm talking about a fence. And I know that if you are on a budget or if you just

have a small garden, that may seem like overkill. But I hate to suggest one of those remedies that you see

online and you try it and it not do any good.

I remember collecting hair from my hairdresser because I'd heard that human hair deters certain

animals.

So I was on a budget and I was trying to do everything as cheaply as I could.

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