Any solutions for protecting outside gardens?
I have six outdoor gardens in my backyard, framed in with railroad ties, and they are level with the grass. I have a chain link fence on two sides of the yard, but my neighbor and I share a massive rock wall between our yards and I have a pest problem. Anything ranging from squirrels and birds to cats and dogs. I live in the Lake Tahoe area (Truckee) and we have a large range of predators. I’ve seen black bears in the neighborhood, and heard stories of mountain lions on the prowl. I hear coyotes howling every night. My thought was instead of protecting the gardens with chicken wire or using a greenhouse, to place a couple drops of urine scent on the railroad ties. I want to be able to "scare" away the other animals without inviting the big ones into my yard. Has anyone used synthetic urine as a deterrent for pests? My thought was to use something along the lines of Brown Bear scent or Mountain Lion/Cougar scent.
Let me add that my gardens are 3′ x 6′ (2), 4′x4′(3) and 2′x20′. I have a lot of ground to cover, fences degrade the extensive landscaping I’ve done in the yard. I just want an invisible deterrent with nominal side effects.