Not Tonight, Deer

Critters in the garden 

can cause a real headache.

One of the most common questions I get is

'how do I keep the deer from eating my plants?!?'

Overnight, a deer can literally ruin your potential harvest in a vegetable garden.

They'll mow down your chard, pull up your carrots, and take a bite out of 

every. tomato. on. the. plant.

But, they'll leave your radishes alone.
Wanna know why?  Read on.

Don't get me wrong.  Deer are not the enemy,
but they do tend to cherry-pick in the summertime
and will go for delicacies when they can find them.
And.
The average whitetail deer eats 7 pounds of food per day.

There are several ways you can deter the deer (and other noshing
animals such as groundhogs, rabbits, and chipmonks).

Some are cheap, some are easy, and some are effective.
But no method is all three.

Fencing is by far the most expensive option.  To properly deter deer,
the fence must be at least 6-8 feet high.
In my experience, most deer will not jump into a small fenced area,
but larger areas or lower fences don't stop them.


Fencing will not keep out squirrels and chipmunks, that can easily climb
nor groundhogs that will happily tunnel underneath.

On the cheap end of the spectrum, old time home remedies such as raw egg mixture
in which you put raw eggs in a gallon of water and let them ripen
to maximum pungency (read: hurl-inducing stage)
have some efficacy.

As do commercial products, such as Liquid Fence.
But these products have to be reapplied diligently to work,
and are not cost-effective for an entire yard.

Irish Spring soap and hair clippings from the barber shop?
Fuhgettaboutit.  Don't work.

What I have found are two almost sure-fire 
solutions to deer in my yard and gardens:

The easiest method, which is also the most effective,
to deter deer from your gardens is motion-sensing sprinklers.
I have been using this system for over 10 years,
and can honestly report that the deer leave my plants alone.

All you need is a 9V battery and a hose connection.
Sink the stake into the ground, and you're done.
These sprinklers have a 180 degree radius and will
spray and startle anything that activates it.
Yes, I'll admit it.  Even me, when I forget it's there.

The second effective tactic is to
PLANT THINGS THAT DEER DON'T LIKE.

If you are planting a yard full of apple trees, hostas, tulips,
chard, lettuce, etc., you are in effect setting up a banquet table for deer.
Why do you think deer hunters plant apple trees to attract deer?

Don't forget the neon 'All You Can Eat' sign.

It should be noted here that a hungry or starving animal will
eat ANYTHING. And if you feed the deer in the winter,
they'll learn that there's food in your yard.

But common sense dictates that under normal circumstances,
deer will eat according to a descending order of tastiness and then resort to what's left.

Kind of like eating your pie for breakfast on Thanksgiving Day
because you are afraid that you won't have room after the turkey dinner.

Deer don't like plants with fuzzy or hairy leaves.
Lamb's Ears, Canadian Wild Ginger, Sunflowers, Black-Eyed Susans, etc.
THIS is why they don't eat your prickly leaved radishes.

Spiny leaves are avoided, but roses are not immune to deer browse.

Deer avoid plants with milky sap, such as Milkweed.

Lobelia Cardinalis is a Minnesota native plant that contains not only milky sap,
 but also lobeline, a compound that deters deer.

Deer will leave your peonies alone.

 Herbs are largely avoided by deer due to the
high concentration of essential oils in the leaves.



If you are having trouble with deer eating you out of house and home,
come in and talk with me.