I'm used to gardening in suburbia, where there were no deer. Now I'm deep in a heavily deer-overpopulated area. They leave the gardens along the sides of the house alone, but I am preparing two areas for new gardens now -- a flower garden and a vegetable garden -- and every morning and every evening (and all night long) they are grazing in those areas. I know I am going to have to put up fences, which I hate, but can everyone please post suggestions for plants (flowers and vegetables) that might be safe from the deer outside of the fences?
So far, I've heard that onions, garlic, potatoes and marigolds will be safe from them. One gardening friend says that her tomatoes have never been bothered by the deer, which seems hard to believe.
Any other ideas??
Deer: What WON'T they eat?
Here is an excellent site on the matter -
http://www.cowichan.com/dinternursery/newslett.htm
Paris
You can put up an electric fence about 4 feet high. Be sure to hang little strips of aluminum foil over the wire. The deer come to investigate, stick their noses on the fence and don't come back.
Calalily
Thank you both for the suggestions. The link was very interesting, but I don't see how I'll manage to limit myself to those plants.
A fellow animal enthusiast told me that deer don't like ferret dung! So, I'll be collecting that now! I just sprinkled some around some half-nibbled hosta.
The electric fence may be the least unsightly, but I will have to research the expense....
Meanwhile, I guess it's predator scent and Irish Spring for me! I was wondering why the local stores sell Irish Spring by the case!
Paris if you erect a fence that slopes towards your garden the deer won't jump over it - like this sign / but the other way around - and if you plant some shrubbery that they won't eat that too will deter them. They will only jump a fence if they can see clear land the other side.
Someone I know just told me today she sprayed her plants with a product called "This 1 Works" (1 not One). She said it kept the deer from eating her plants the whole 10 days they were away on vacation. Anyone here tried it? Thank goodness, we don't have an issue with deer, knock on wood.
louisa, That's interesting about the fence. I have been planning to build a very tall fence using curved birch trunks but angled outward from the garden. It would be straight up from the base, then gradually curve outward. I thought that the overhang would deter them and would allow the most sun to get to the plants. Any ideas about that?
GW, any idea about where to find "This 1 Works"? I'd like to try it to protect some plants that are scattered around -- away from the house and not in a fenced area.
Paris that sounds a great idea and I think the principle should work.
Paris, if it's an option....get a dog! We live 6.5 miles from town, and our house borders the woods in a semi-circle. We regularly see deer nearby right out the windows, but they don't eat *anything* at all that grows in my yard, because I have a nice big dog....not a mean one (he does bark when people come, but if they know his name or we tell him it's OK, he stops) he gets along fantastically with our small house dog and our cat and kittens, but apparently the deer don't like him.
Here is a list of plants deer have eaten in my garden from that list of plants that deer won't eat.
Astilbe(flowers)
Dicentra-Bleeding Hearts(flowers)
Digitalis-Foxgloves(flowers)
I'm having the same experience -- deer eating plants and flowers that they are supposed to shun. Most recently, they have dined on morning glories, but only in one area -- in other parts of the yard, they leave them alone.
An interesting aside -- one 3' length of morning glory vine that had buds on it when it was chomped off at the base, has continued to bloom daily for four days now. That's an impressive will to live.
I have read that deer are very affected by smells. People around here use bars of Irish Spring soap to repel them. I raise small exotic pets and they have not come near the house -- possibly also because of the neighbor's dog as well as the scent of strange animals.
I have tried scattering ferret waste in areas where deer have struck. It seemed to work for a while. In case you're wondering, ferret waste does stink indoors, but outdoors the smell dissipates and is not noticeable.
After they got my morning glories a few days ago, I brought out the big guns and scattered some catbox contents around the vines (again, the smell is not so bad outdoors as indoors, and it is about 75' from the house). We'll see how that works.
Paris ,I sprinkle dried blood (the soil additive) I got it at Agway.They haven't touched the plants I sprinkled it on.They have been especially fond of my hot pepper plants,swiss chard and broccoli.They've still been here but have let the sprinkled plants alone.I heard its because they are vegitarians,and the smell of blood bothers them .Gee, I wonder why that would be???Duh!!!Any how ,the only drawback is you have to re-apply after rain..Good luck
Last winter when deer jumped into my garden over a 4 foot fence I placed some poles angled outward over the fence and put electric wire tape on them, not hooked up to power. They never came back. I had looked at their tracks in the snow and noticed that they leaped when about 3 feet from the fence. My poles extended out about 4 feet, so when they got to the take off point this mess was over their heads and they decided not to jump. They were after my strawberries.
Very creative and analytical thinking, Mary! My plan for an outward arcing fence were along the same lines, but I had no real proof that it would work. Unfortunately, the gardens nearer the house, where the deer fear to tread, kept me too busy to get the pool garden going.
Thanks for helping me puzzle it out for the next time I have to deal with them.
I don't know about American deer but in this country I've heard of human hair, collected from a friendly hairdresser, as a deer repellent.
Unfortunately we aren't blessed with this particulasr problem.
Elaine
As a deer hunter I can tell you that hair is not fool proof. Deer get used to almost any/all smells.
I've heard there is a product called "Not tonight deer." It is suposed to work very well.
I Also heard there is a new sprinkler that is motion sensative, when they deer come up to dine they get a blast of water from the sprinkler, just don't forgettot turn it off before gradening. :-)
I'm sure human hair woudln't work here as I feed the deer apples out of my hands as do some of my nieghbors. LOL I've also hear human urine is suposed to keep them away but again the ones here are so used to humans I dought that would work even if I could talk my hubby into it. LOL
My husbnd says he can rig me up one of the motion sensative sprinklers. The added benafit of this is that if we set it for a high enough sensativety then it should also keep the nieghbors cats from using our garden beds as a litter box. This is all hypotheticle as I don't haev any gardens yet. I'm still gardening in planters on my deck far out of reach of the deer and the cats, but NOT the slugs. :-p
Good luck with your deer problem. I think they will eat any new growth on plants especaily in the spring time. I even saw them eating the new growth tips off from cedar trees early this spring. They also keep my ferns pruned but loose interest in them once the fronds are no longer young and tender. I bought a big package of Irish spings soap and plan to see if that will work untill my husband gets the sprinkler made for me.