Keeping Those Pesky Deer at Bay

As I mentioned in my last post, we have a raised bed garden that puts the back-breaking work of garden tending at a less back-breaking level - which I LOVE. Unfortunately, it puts the tender new growth at the perfect level for the darn deer.

They think we've built the perfect dining table just for them!

What we've learned about the deer from studying up and trial and error is that if we can just break their habit of including our garden in their nightly foraging rounds, we are pretty much in the clear in regard to deer destruction of our crops for the season.

Fortunately, that makes this a short-lived battle that we win (or lose) within a 2-4 week period. 

This year we have a four-pronged approach to reprogramming the deer. 

First, it is our custom to border most of the garden with smelly marigolds. This seems to make the deer think twice, but to be honest, does not do the trick on it's own. In fact, one year, a deer simply jumped over the marigolds and into the garden where we found her delightfully chomping off the tops of our green bean plants!

To further deter those rascally deer, we sliced up bars of Irish Spring soap and set them on top of the garden wall. Irish Spring is a long-standing critter deterrent used under the hood when storing cars, or under the wrap when storing boats. The problem with resting it on the garden wall is that it melts into the stone, making an ugly white circle.

We are the (fortunate?) caregiver of two cats; one of whom possesses that long silky "cotton-candy" fur.  With the help of a Furminator, we are able to assist Kushka in her grooming ritual while gathering plenty of cat fur which we place in the crevices at the edge of the garden wall. It is commonly believed that cat fur deters deer.

And finally, my husband mixes up an organic potion of both stinky and spicy ingredients and sprays the tender shoots voted most likely to be eaten, each evening as the sun sets. We originally found the recipe in one of Jerry Baker's book, purchased about 15 years ago!

Mix the following ingredients in a good quality hand-held squirt bottle.

• 1 squirt of natural, organic dish soap
• 2 caps of standard mouth wash (think original Listerine, not the minty stuff)
• 1 tsp garlic oil or very fine powder (minced garlic clogs the spray bottle)
• 1 T Frank's Red Hot sauce (Tabasco or any hot sauce would work)
• Fill with water

Once mixed, take the bottle out to the garden and spray the crops most likely to be chewed. Spaying on a nightly basis for 2-3 weeks is typically all it takes to nudge the deer into reestablishing their nightly rituals.

I'll be honest, spraying all those tender shoots by hand can be down right painful - and I don't have arthritis or other hand maladies. I'm sure this concoction would work just as well put it into a hose-end sprayer. Let me know if you try this!

You can also find lots of spray recipes that include eggs, which as they rot in the sun, can make your garden quite a "treat" for your olfactory senses. We have used these as well, but the egg-less spray is more to my liking.

There are also other natural deer deterrents, like dryer sheets, fish emulsion and smelly shoes! If our current strategies stop working, maybe we will resort to this list.

I'm happy to report that after early deer attacks, our four-pronged approach appears to be a success!

That's not to say the deer won't return - fingers crossed.

Happy deer deterring,

Miriam

The Garden in My Life

Living on a lake lot with many lovely shade-producing trees made it hard to find a spot to plant a sun-loving garden.  Luckily, since we are on a private lane in a neighborhood where concern for the rules has long since vanished, the garden was easy to add in the front yard!

Not so easy was how to place it to avoid the gas and phone lines coming right through the center of the yard. Enter my friend, the Landscape Architect who developed a beautiful front yard plan, complete with raised bed garden. The garden wall is about 3 feet tall and curves in a semi-circular fashion.  Two ground level perennial flower beds, placed a few feet away, complete the concept of a mouth with two eyes. In fact, many visitors comment that they see a smiling face in our front yard!

Now gardening has typically been my husband's hobby. At our last house, he did all the work and I just helped harvest and eat. Even when we added the garden at this location, he did the lion's share of work.

However, since I retired and he is still slugging it out at a very demanding job, the garden has beckoned and convinced me to dig in the dirt. There's something about digging and planting and pulling weeds that is relaxing. Every time I walk past to get the mail or take out the garbage, I find myself stopping to admire the fruits of our labor... and to pluck some weeds.

This week was exciting as I picked the first zucchini, cherry tomato and snow peas!  And since a deer accidentally picked a beet as she was chomping on the greens, I brought that inside as well.

Seriously, it is amazing how exciting it is to have helped mother nature produce these beauties!

So what all do we plant? Well, there's really not that much room and essentially it's all about the tomatoes. We adore fresh, home-grown, vine-ripened tomatoes and it is impossible to buy them at the store. Honestly, finding juicy, sweet tomatoes can even be dicey at the farmer's market. 

We garden organically as well so we are never concerned about chemicals when eating our own goods. Since an entire garden of tomatoes would be way too much for us to keep up with, we only put in about a dozen plants. 

Zucchini and green beans are pretty much mainstays in our garden and this year I added the peas and beets - which I L-O-V-E! Unfortunately so do the deer. This year they've munched on the beet greens and pea flowers with delighted vigor and we have had to take measures to change their habits.

Look for our deer deterrent strategies in a future blog post!

What do you grow in your garden?

Happy growing,

Miriam