Varmints!

They're back again! Stripped my lilac half bare. Stripped the potatoes half bare. Sliced the moonflowers to ribbons, and ate every single carrot sprout. The marigold sprouts are little sticks. The basil and catnip sprouts are gone. And the strawberry leaves are cut to ribbons.

What can I do short of an electric fence or sitting out there all night with a shotgun? And next year I had intended to start on fruits (watermelon, tomatoes) and flowers: tulips, daffodils, crocuses, iris, columbine, pansies, bleeding hearts, and lily of the valley. Am I doomed to *never* have anything green in my yard? Or should I just grow peppers and garlic because that's what all my vegetables, fruits, and flowers are going to smell like between the hot pepper wax and Shake-Away?

How do people manage to grow full yard full of beautiful flowers and bountiful edibles? I'm clueless here.

I am still stuck on your house spiders and now you got these things. What are varmints? Is this something your neighbors struggle with?

Varmint -- generic term for a four-legged vegetable vandal.

When I lived in Chicago, all I had to deal with were roaches, mice, and pigeons. I didn't even know there WAS this much wildlife. And they're all after my plants!

I think you have deer coming thru your yard. Deer netting is very effective for them, if you can figure out a way to put the deer netting over the plants.

Is your yard large? You could use deer fence . I don't remember where I got mine, maybe deerbusters.com. It's practically invisible.

Zeppy, thats the deer netting that I am talking about, you can buy it at Home Depot or Lowes. It comes either in a 3'x100' or a 7'x 100'. Its is very cheap-like $ 12 for the 7' high roll

Tiger, that's netting, and the netting's actually *more* invisible. (That kills me, "more invisible.") I mean the poly stuff that's really strong. It's like that orange snow fence or construction fence, but a finer weave, and not stretchy. I'm not explaining it very well... but it also comes in 7' heights.

oh ok, Zeppy, good to know and I know now what you mean because of the orange reference! Its more sturdy and it may be a better option for me than the netting.

I have a six foot tall privacy fence, and I'm in the middle of a residential/urban district. Usually deer, bear, and cougars stick to the left side of the city, near the foothills. Besides, I'd see footprints, wouldn't I? Especially if they get onto the patio, or for that matter step onto the soft dirt of the veggie patch.

Ah, but not *flying* deer. Didn't think of that, huh?

I'm stumped. Times like these, wouldn't it be nice to have a night camera & tripwire?

I wish I could set something up like that! Sort of like the way people do to film their nannies with their children.

I bet it's not hard. You could make a webcam! I love those Africam webcams by watering holes in various game preserves. I remember checking in once at like 2 a.m. and seeing a family of elephants...

You have to have a fence higher than 6' to keep deer out...at least 7', but I would aim for higher than that to be safe