I was recently on the phone with a friend talking about her garden, and in the midst of regaling me with tales of beautiful vegetables nurtured from tender seedlings, she lamented about the Godzilla of a beast wreaking havoc on her plants.
Deer.
No matter who I talk to, outside of someone who just hit one with their car (and even then the feedback is sometimes positive), everyone in Michigan loves deer. Some people like to watch them and some people like to eat them.
There is a certain joy that comes from spotting a large herd in a nearby field, or waking to a group of doe in your yard, or pulling back a bowstring with trembling fingers as a monster meanders below. We love deer, until they’re killing our landscapes.
Watching a deer nibble at leaves is cute… until those leaves are in our gardens.
Finding a buck rub is thrilling… until we find it on our baby Crabapple.
And finding (cough, cough) scat is interesting in the wild… but when it’s planted in our backyards where our children play we want to scream, “Get the crap out of here!”
So what’s the solution?
There are many differing opinions on how to keep deer out of your gardens. Inevitably landscapers and gardeners swear by some products and methods while others completely refute them. But all in all there is one resounding agreement – there’s no such thing as deer proof, only deer resistant. There are a variety of deer resistance methods that you can try.
For young trees, try surrounding them with a fence until they’re old enough to stand up to deer rubs. For flowers and shrubs, try surrounding them with other plants that are naturally deer resistant. For vegetable gardens, try staggered fencing (deer can jump 8-10 feet high) or see-through fencing with clear obstructions on the other side, like lawn ornaments or hoops, which will signal to the deer that it’s not a safe place to land. As an add-on to all of these, you can try the deer repellents at your local garden store, but keep in mind that without additional deterrents the deer may become used to these sprays and techniques over time, so mix up your methods!
Deer resistant systems can funnel deer away from your plants and out of your yard. With strategic deterrents they may very well decide that the buffet next door is better than your beautiful, but deer resistant, landscape.
Try these methods today!
