Veggies that animals leave alone

[Nan6b]

Which vegetables, herbs, edibles, etc. do ALL the animals leave alone? I'd like to expand my planting space outside the deer fence if possible. I have deer, ground hogs, rabbits, raccoons, and rodents to deal with.

So far, I've found rhubarb and lamb's quarters work.

What about
American groundnut (apios americana)
Artichokes
Basil
Caucasian Mountain Spinach (habilitzia tamnoides)
Chinese artichoke, Stachys Affinis
Fiddlehead fern
Good King Henry, a chenopodium like lamb's quarters
Hosta montana
Kale
Lemon balm
Lemongrass
Lovage
Pepitas
Radiccio
Ramps/ wild leeks, (Allium tricoccum)
Scallions
Sea Kale (crambe maritima)
skirrit (sium sisarum)

[ponyexpress]

I've found that sometimes my alliums do get chomped on but it's rare. Not sure what eats it, probably a ground hog.

Deer will eat hostas.

Basil, Kale are safe in my experience.

[habitat-gardener]

Gophers were a problem last year and ate the roots of a garden neighbor's artichoke plants. My garlic and onion plants got eaten from above and below a couple years ago -- gophers, rabbits? rats?

[Cole_Robbie]

What the deer will eat depends on how hungry they are. Some people on here say their deer eat okra, but that doesn't happen near me.

Hemp farmers in kentucky often have rabbit damage, but I have not had any problems, despite having a lot of rabbits. I think what makes the difference is that my rows have a strip of untilled ground between them. There is plenty of other stuff to munch on. I think that trick might work to deter rabbits from other crops, too.

[brownrexx]

Deer LOVE hosta but they have never touched my garlic and neither has anything else. Garlic seems pretty safe.

I don't have a lot of deer at home but I do fence 1/2 of my garden to keep out the rabbits. Outside of the rabbit fence I plant all of my herbs, tomatoes, peppers, squash, pole beans, potatoes, rhubarb and okra. So far no problems with any of those. I have skunks, rabbits and the occasional groundhog but not many raccoons. The deer really liked my sweet potato vines last year.

[TXTravis]

I had a girlfriend back in high school whose dad Ron (who I still keep in touch with) hated okra. They lived in S. Africa at the time, and everyone else liked okra, so he planted it anyway just to give away. One time a legion (batallion, division?) of army ants came through. They ate everything down to the dirt, including the yard grass, but didn't touch the okra. After that Ron quit planting it, on the logic that if it wasn't even good enough for army ants, it wasn't good enough for people. I tend to think he's right. I can't stand that junk. Obviously, ymmv.

[ponyexpress]

After that Ron quit planting it, on the logic that if it wasn't even good enough for army ants, it wasn't good enough for people. I tend to think he's right. I can't stand that junk. Obviously, ymmv.

Have you tried okra roasted with EVOO S&P ? That's how I cook mine and it's very tasty.

The big pest problem I have is with voles. They love to munch on potatoes/carrots. The plant looks healthy and then the next day, the top has fallen over. They eat from the bottom and work their way up. I'll have to put out traps for them soon when there is no food and they're hungry.

[bower]

What Cole said. If there's forage available that they recognize and freely eat unfenced, it will discourage them from your crops. I honestly have come to the conclusion that the hares here prefer grass to anything else, with a few exceptions. I would question mark radiccio. I grew some chicory aka 'Italian dandelion' which looks identical to dandelion until it flowers, but the hares were very interested and bit down all they could get without ever touching a 'real' dandelion. Moose eat cabbage or kale but they don't bother much in my garden, unless it's very late season or very early.
Perennials are a good bet because if they do get browsed a bit it's not enough to stop them from coming back. Most herbs are a good bet. I only have moose hares and squirrels, and grouse, that eat in my garden regularly. I have never seen any of these animals touch any of the woody herbs like sage and thyme. Neither do they touch lovage at all, and if they eat oregano, it's not enough to stop it from being super abundant regardless. Lemon balm is untouched too.
In alliums I''ve not seen any browsing on chives, leeks, or garlic (well one nibble was apparently enough), but onion and shallot were appealing to the grouse and perhaps rodents too in early spring. They seem to rapidly lose appeal when there are other things to eat, and that including grass and weeds, so leave it a bit wild and you're good. Bigger risk for garlic is of being trampled, but it seems to survive that pretty well too....

[rxkeith]

garlic is the only thing i grow that deer won't touch, that and rhubarb
deer will eat kale down to nubby stalks.
i'll have to try some herbs outside the garden, and see what gets touched.


keith

[MissS]

If the deer are hungry they will eat anything. This year they have taken to eating our Spruce trees. Sigh...