The plant types you’re growing influence what types of pests will visit your garden. As a rule of thumb, springtime is a time of vegetative growth, while active fruiting and flowering can come later in the season. In Tennessee Zone 7, we’ve noticed possums and raccoons going after some of the newly budding plants in spring. Deer like to eat flowers as soon as they begin to blossom. Birds seem to always be looking for a place to build a nest and hatch their chicks. There are usually no mosquitoes until summer, but it is good to take some precautionary measures, such as removing pooling water to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching!