How to Keep Raccoons Out of the Garden

Shortly after we were moved into our new home in a sprawling Florida neighborhood, we noticed the cutest little raccoons coming up to the back door at night.

They poked around the patio and played in the bucket of water I had put out for my cats.  They did not seem afraid of us, or my cats.  Wildlife has to eat and survive and I thought let them be.

Once I had my raised bed garden planted, and filled my fabric bags with dirt and plants, I waited patiently for the tomatoes to grow.  I had three red tomatoes on the plant and picked one, saving the others for the next day.

The next day the tomatoes were gone.  This is when I began to strongly dislike raccoons.

I've been reading up on how to keep raccoons out of the garden and there is a lot of information out there.  Most of it is either not true - like the page that said "raccoons don't like tomatoes" - or it's not practical.

From soaking rags in ammonia and placing them around the trouble area, to spraying hot sauce all over the plants, one has to be discerning when choosing a method.  I don't want my yard to smell like ammonia!  And hot sauce does work to keep animals away but it also has it's downfall.  Rain washes it away.  I also don't know about spraying my vegetables with hot sauce.  Will everything I pick to eat be spicy hot?  And will raccoons even realize the item is covered in hot sauce until AFTER they've picked it off the vine?

I happened to have an old roll of netting in the garage and brought it out the other day.  I painstakingly unrolled it and then put it over the raised bed garden, holding it in place with flower stakes.  This was not something I really planned, I just decided to try it last minute.  I used what I had.

My netting is difficult to work with.  It snags on everything.  According to the description of the heavy-duty bird netting pictured, it does not have this problem.  I plan to buy some.  Then again, maybe my cheap, snagging netting helps deter the raccoons.

Growing a vegetable garden takes time, work and patience. Seeing the vegetables ripen and waiting for the day they can be picked is fun. But to have that day arrive and find that raccoons helped themselves to the produce you grew is aggravating to say the least.

At first I thought they would just take the red tomatoes, but then I began to notice small green tomatoes littering my grass.  The rodents were pulling off the little ones just for fun!

They've also pulled seashells out of the flower gardens and dragged them around.  I find them out of place in the morning.

And worst of all, they stole one of my pricey water shoes!  I had left my shoes on the back deck to dry, and in the morning only one shoe was left!  Fortunately I found the shoe near the raccoon tunnel entrance that leads into the woods next door.