My mom has waged war on her local deer, rabbits, and moles as they have all but killed all of her perennials and annuals. She has a decorative pond with a creek rock water fall and five backyard flower beds plus trees and typical landscaping space. It looked like something out of a magazine until the critters discovered all of the foliage, buds, and bulbs!!
Oh no! That's terrible! Those critters, I love them but I also hate them! Lol
I love sunflowers so every year I try to plant them. But they always get eaten by something! And last year I planted some ground cherry tomatoes, they were all eaten before i could harvest any!
It's squirrels and o'possum that eat all my pears, and crows/mocking birds that walk along the rows and pluck out every little veggie shoot as they come up, but the biggest varmint to cause me problems is our dang cat. Digs and poops in any bare ground and much of the planted flower beds.
I went with just a few crookneck squash and tomato plants this year for me, and some cucumbers for my wife..
The deer like to eat the apples but we have several apple trees and there are plenty to share with them so I don't mind. My garden is fenced in but not with chicken wire, so the chipmunks can get through. Last year some rabbits got through because there was a big enough gap at the gate that they squeezed through but I fixed that as soon as I saw them. I want to plant some corn this year but haven't decide if I want them in the fenced garden or another area that's not fenced. I know the deer and birds will have a field day eating my corn if they are not fenced in, so maybe I shouldn't take that chance.